Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation - Volume 21, issue 3

Authors: Schenker, Jason D. | Rumrill, Jr., Phillip D.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This article describes causal-comparative research designs and examines the role these studies play in rehabilitation research. The goals, assumptions, and data analytic strategies that inhere to causal-comparative research are emphasized, illustrated with examples from the contemporary vocational rehabilitation literature.

Keywords: vocational rehabilitation research, casual-comparative research design

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 117-121, 2004

Authors: Shaw, Lynn | Sumsion, Thelma | McWilliam, Carol | MacKinnon, Joyce

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: More efforts to include consumers in the service process are emerging within vocational rehabilitation. In response to this trend, service providers have implemented a variety of innovative approaches, which offer opportunities for persons with disabilities to assume a more active role in goal setting, enacting choices, and self-directing employment plans. However, rehabilitation professionals report that including consumers in partnership or leadership roles is a challenging process. Thus, a better understanding of the …issues that hamper or enable consumer participation in vocational rehabilitation practice is needed. Therefore, a qualitative investigation was undertaken to examine service provider experiences in a consumer-driven program where consumer participation was expected. Fourteen service providers shared their views in focus groups on factors integral to consumer involvement. Data from service providers suggest that determinants of consumer participation coalesce around three basic components; consumer competencies for self-management responsibilities, service provider strategies for empowering others, and compatibility of resources at the system, agency and community levels. Implications for enhancing greater involvement of consumers in the vocational rehabilitation process are discussed. Show more

Keywords: consumer involvement, consumer-driven, empowering approaches, service provider perspectives, vocational rehabilitation

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 123-136, 2004

Authors: Brucker, Debra L.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Persons with disabilities may be involved with a number of public programs that use the idea of "suitable employment" to determine initial eligibility for services, guide service delivery planning, assess program compliance, and/or provide guidelines for case closure. Using documentary and interview data, the author conducts an embedded case study analysis of unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and welfare programs across three states to provide insight into variations in definitions and …uses of the idea of suitable employment. The author discusses implications for developing employment programs for persons with disabilities. Show more

Keywords: disability policy, suitable employment, Early Intervention, social insurance

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 137-147, 2004

Authors: White, Janis | Weiner, Jan S.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Least restrictive environment and community-based training that includes on the job instruction, were correlated with integrated employment outcomes for 104 transitioning students with severe disabilities. The participants of this three-year study included students with severe disabilities in the Orange County, California, public school system that exited school at 21 or 22 years of age. The variables that predicted successful integrated employment at the time of transition (a paid job with non-disabled co-workers …at graduation) were: duration of community-based training (CBT) that included on-the-job training, and age appropriate physical integration with non-disabled peers. Mental ability as measured by intelligence quotient (I.Q.), behavior problems, physical disability and participant demographics did not correlate with integrated employment outcome. Transitioning students in integrated age appropriate school settings, receiving CBT and on-the-job training demonstrated a 69.2% integrated employment rate post-graduation. Show more

Keywords: community based training, vocational training, transition, severe disabilities, natural contexts, employment, least restrictive environment

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 149-156, 2004

Authors: Christensen, Margaret H. | Boisse, Norman | Sanchez, William | Friedmann, Peter D.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if a one-day practice oriented workshop on substance abuse screening, assessment, and brief intervention (SBI) would improve vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors' SBI knowledge and practices. Design: VR counselors (n = 82) attended a one-day training workshop on SBI. Knowledge and practices were measured before and after the program and four months later. Participants also identified barriers to substance abuse in their practices before the workshop. …Results: Knowledge test scores improved immediately after the program, and remained higher than pre-test scores four-months later (p = 0.000). Before the workshop, counselors reported effective practices in all areas of SA probed, except screening. Four months later, improvements in the use of screening tools were incremental but highly significant (p = 0.001). The two most frequently identified barriers were (1) clients' not keeping referral appointments and (2) time to devote to substance abuse issues with clients. Conclusions: A one day continuing education training workshop on SBI improved both VR counselor knowledge and reported practice (use of formal SA screen) at four months. The implications of these findings are that VR clients might benefit from the early recognition of at risk use to pre-empt the development of greater problems around substance abuse. While this study did not measure outcomes at the client level, it justifies further investigations of both the routinization of VR counselor substance abuse brief intervention efforts (SBI) and the ultimate outcomes on clients over a much wider time frame. Show more

Keywords: substance abuse screening, practice barriers, active learning, training

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 157-163, 2004

Authors: Smith, Kaye | Webber, Lynne | Graffam, Joe | Wilson, Carlene

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper is based on survey responses from 656 employers who used disability employment services to employ someone with a disability. Relationships between employer satisfaction and employer perceptions of job-match and future hiring intentions toward people who have a disability are outlined and discussed. Employers' perceptions of the job-match process were found to be an important determinant of their perceptions of work performance and employer satisfaction. Comparative ratings on employer satisfaction for …employees with and without a disability were seen as an important indicator of future hiring intentions toward people with a disability. Findings reported in this paper provide important information on which to base strategies for improving future employment outcomes for people who have a disability. Show more

Keywords: employer satisfaction, employment, disability, job-match, work performance, hiring intentions

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 165-173, 2004

Authors: Horvath-Rose, Ann E. | Stapleton, David C. | O'Day, Bonnie

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper uses the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1981–2000 to compare long-term trends in socio-economic outcomes for youth (aged 15–21) and young adults (aged 22–29) with work limitations to those for youth and young adults without work limitations. We focus on the years 1988 and 1999: years that roughly correspond to the peaks of successive business cycles. We find that prevalence of work limitations declined for males but increased for females, mostly accounted for by …growth for African American females. Despite a substantial reduction in the educational attainment gap between young adults with and without disabilities, gaps in employment, earnings, dependency on public programs and poverty widened substantially. These trends could be due to factors that determine whether individuals report themselves to be work-limited, factors that affect individual outcomes regardless of self-reported work limitation status, or both sets of factors. Show more

Keywords: disability, work limitations, trends, demographics, employment, income

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 175-187, 2004

Authors: Niemiec, Bob

Article Type: Other

Citation: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 189-190, 2004