Search

Post-doctoral mentorship and training is considered a critical research capacity building approach vital to successful research career development. Existing models, however, may be insufficient for improving research skills among fellows at minority-serving institutions. This study evaluated a Peer Multiple Mentor Model (P3M) at a historically Black college and/or University (HBCU) designed to provide advanced research training to post-doctoral fellows and alleviate long-standing employment, health and function, and community participation inequities among multiply marginalized people of color with disabilities. The results showed that fellows experienced improved research skills, scientific productivity, and collaboration/networking opportunities. The model represents a promising research training pipeline component. Keywords: Minority-Serving Institutions, Disability/Health and Rehabilitation Research Mentorship, Equity Research and Evaluation, Policymakers and strategists, researchers, educators and other higher education stakeholders increasingly recognize the critical role that minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in the United States (U.S.) can play in both diversifying the [...]

With the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the focus of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies' work with businesses and development of partnerships with employers will increase. This study explored employers' perspectives regarding their relationships with the VR agency to assist VR personnel in business development efforts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with employers and content analysis was performed on transcriptions from twelve usable responses. Employers discussed their relationships with the agency, additional supports needed, and provided advice to VR agencies developing relationships with businesses. Findings support previous studies and identify new information, including the importance of one-on-one relationships and utilizing connections from job retention cases., Negative employer attitudes are considered one of the biggest barriers to employment for consumers who are blind or visually impaired (McDonnall, Zhou, & Crudden, 2013; Crudden & McBroom, 1999; Crudden, [...]

Post-employment support is an essential part of supported employment for people with psychiatric disabilities. However, little information is available about how best to provide this support. The aim of this study was to collect the views of experienced practitioners on how to conceptualise and plan post-employment support in the workplace. Seventy-eight staff of a large supported employment service voluntarily participated in a nominal group technique. Participants were encouraged to provide suggestions to a series of questions and then their responses were compiled into a two-page checklist. This consists of 32 prompts and is organised into four themes: (1) preparing for a workplace visit; (2) conducting a workplace visit; (3) conducting a situational assessment; and (4) strengthening relationships with employers. This checklist has good face validity and appears useful for guiding employment specialists when preparing for a workplace visit. Cautious utilization is recommended as there is no evidence yet to suggest that planning post-employment support in this manner is more effective than not doing so., Competitive job tenure remains relatively brief for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI) receiving supported employment assistance. This is the case even when the form of supported employment [...]

Given the prevalence of bipolar disorder in the U.S. population and lost productivity of wage earners, this study explored influences upon rehabilitation professionals to place consumers with bipolar disorder in jobs. The Rehabilitation Professional Survey-Bipolar Disorder, grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior, was completed by 91 public rehabilitation placement professionals. Participants identified eight likely outcomes of placement, three groups of persons influencing consumer placement decisions, and six barriers to consumer placement. Findings suggest that public rehabilitation placement professionals identify the placement of consumers with bipolar disorder as beneficial. However, placement was influenced by (a) consumer noncompliance with prescribed medication; (b) the consumer's family; (c) peer rehabilitation placement professionals; (d) consumer's limited knowledge of bipolar disorder; and (e) barriers to, rather than resources for, placement. This study provided a conceptual context to apply employment research relevant to the placement of consumers with bipolar disorder. The key study findings are presented as potential practical implications for rehabilitation professionals to enhance placement of consumers with bipolar disorder., Of the U.S. population aged 18 and older, 57.7 million people have a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the [...]

The New York State Education Department awarded sixty Model Transition Program (MTP) grants in 2007 to school districts throughout New York State. The objectives of the MTP were to (1) strengthen partnerships between the New York State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system and high schools, (2) increase participation of youth in employment, VR-related services, and post-secondary education, and (3) develop partnerships between the schools and community service partners, including postsecondary education and businesses. Preliminary findings indicate that students who had greater involvement in career development activities, measureable postsecondary goals in their Individualized Education Programs, and received services from community partners were more likely to engage in work-related experiences and the state-federal VR program., Young people, transitioning to adulthood, are challenged to adapt and embrace increasing societal expectations of greater community engagement via employment, higher education, and community participation. This process is especially complex [...]

Attitudes toward athletes with disabilities were examined using two approaches. The first considered implicit attitudes using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), while the second involved two widely used measures of explicit attitudes toward persons with disabilities. A broad sample of athletic activities, practiced by persons with and without disabilities, was used as target material for presentation to undergraduate participants (n = 115). The implicit measure showed a strong negative bias toward athletes with disabilities. Explicit attitude measures also showed a bias toward persons with disabilities, although their correlation with implicit measures was relatively low. Reasons for this lack of correspondence are considered, as are suggestions for future research on attitudes toward persons with disabilities., Negative attitudes toward persons with disabilities continue to exist (Link, Phelan, Bresnahan, Stueve, & Pescosolido, 1999). These attitudes are linked to behaviors such as social rejection (Davis, 1961; Evans, 1976; [...]

This study is an attempt to extend previous research regarding specific variables related to successful rehabilitation outcomes and to address the relationship among cultural competency, attitudes towards people with disabilities and quality employment outcome measures. Significant relationships were found among counselor education level, counselors' self-reported cultural competency and several employment outcome variables. Plausible explanations are offered and future research directions are suggested., Research suggests employment rates among people with disabilities have remained constantly low (i.e., between 29%-34%) over the past fourteen years (Harris & Associates, 1998; U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Subsequently, there [...]

The article examined the contribution of personal (demographic), disability and employment variables to the quality of life of 128 single adults with severe disabilities participating in extended employment programs in northern Israel. Major findings were that their quality of life score was substantially explained by three significant predictors: Perception of severity of disability as milder rather than severe, living independently and having less frequent participation in non-employment activities (mainly leisure and recreation) carried out by the extended employment programs. A regression analysis of the four factors of quality of life scale showed differential findings related to participants' perception of the severity of their disability and participation in non-employment activities in the programs., The lack of consumers' perspective is central in understanding the quality of life of persons with severe disabilities participating in extended employment programs in Israel. According to the Israeli National [...]

Although social skills training and supported employment have been widely accepted as effective treatment modalities to improve social and vocational outcomes of persons with severe mental illness, they are regarded as two unrelated and sometimes even conflicting strategies. Limited effort has been made to combine these two techniques to produce a better vocational outcome. In this article, the author traced the development and evidence in support of supported employment, reviewed the role of social functioning in employment outcome, and argued that the vocational outcomes in terms of job retention using supported employment could be improved with the addition of social skills training program specially designed and developed for job tenure. A preliminary service protocol for this integrated service was described. The application of this protocol was illustrated via a case vignette., Work has long been regarded as a potential contributor and a tool for the treatment of mental illness (Ekdawi, Conning, & Campling, 1994). It is an important part of a [...]

Millions of Americans who are of working age experience a hearing loss, yet they have relatively low levels of participation in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) system and there has recently been a noted decrease in the successful outcomes for VR consumers with hearing loss. In order to evaluate VR service delivery for consumers with hearing loss, this study investigated whether differences exist between these consumers and all other VR consumers in terms of acceptance rates, demographic characteristics, the services received (type and quantity), and employment outcomes. Findings indicated differences between groups in several important areas, suggesting additional research is needed., Many persons with disabilities are excluded from full participation in the nation's labor force (Louis Harris & Associates, 1998). This is a major reason for the existence of the federal-state [...]

This study examined the relationship between the provision of six vocational rehabilitation services to persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the employment outcomes of these individuals as measured by closure status and weekly earnings. The sample consisted of 1,073 vocational rehabilitation clients with TBI whose cases were closed in a southeastern state. The researchers employed a binary logistic regression analysis and a factorial ANOVA to evaluate the relationship between these services and employment outcomes. Logistic regression analysis identified a significant relationship between four services and closure status. A six-way between participants ANOVA yielded a significant main effect for one service on weekly earnings and a significant interaction for three services on weekly earnings. These findings are presented and discussed for closure status and weekly earnings., There is a substantial incidence of traumatic brain injury in the United States (Brantner, 1992; Taylor, Forbes, & Goodwin, 1998). It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1.5 million individuals [...]

This paper discusses the unique characteristics of Appalachian America, and the concerns that consumers with disabilities have in obtaining rehabilitative services. Rehabilitation counselors who work in this part of the country should be sensitive to the many challenges that can be encountered by individuals with a disability in this area. With the passage of Section 21 of the Rehabilitation Cultural Diversity Initiative of the 1992 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, accessibility and equity of services for people with disabilities who live in this area of the country need to be brought to the forefront. The lack of rehabilitation services should not be the result of the cultural limitations and barriers placed on Appalachian Americans with Disabilities., Americans who live in Appalachia experience unique and different ways of life than most Americans. Appalachian culture runs from the bottom half of the State of New York through the [...]

The goal of the rehabilitation process is to promote the full integration of individuals with disabilities into American society, ideally, in a state of optimal economic self-sufficiency. Achievement of that goal can be expected to result from a process in which deficiencies in life skills are accurately diagnosed and reduced or removed via targeted rehabilitation services. Another important outcome goal is that the recipient of rehabilitation services should experience improvement in his/her quality of life. Therefore, changes in the life skills and quality of life of the individual with a disability from pre to post rehabilitation services can be considered as a valid index of the level of effectiveness of those services. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of addressing those two outcome measurement areas for assessing the effects of rehabilitation services., In addressing the goals of the rehabilitation process, Murphy and Williams (1999) state: The rehabilitation process is seen as a systematic approach to assessing and addressing the total needs of [...]

The person-centered planning approach has increasingly become popular in the rehabilitation arena, particularly for individuals from culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Given the rapidly changing U.S. demographics, this focus on ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity complements the principles of the person-centered approach, a process that embraces both cultural strengths and values. This article high-lights the positive impact of the planning process for a group of individuals with disabilities who participated in the Statewide Employment Services Department of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission which is the agency that administers the state vocational rehabilitation program., "For persons with disabilities, the journey to full community participation has been a long one that can be described as a work in progress. The movement away from the perspective [...]

The advent of new drug therapies has made it possible for many people living with HIV/AIDS (people living with AIDS = PWAs) to consider reentry into employment. The volatility of the disease and its medication process make designing and assessing an appropriate back-to-work strategy difficult. Because the drug therapies are new, little empirical research has been conducted on the process of considering work for PWAs. This report finds that a group counseling program can be effective in meeting client vocational counseling needs. However, concerns about health status and other stressors, as well as anxiety about entering the work process, continue to be issues. Suggestions are made for group counseling program modifications and for further research., This study reports on a continuing project of group employment counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS (People with AIDS =PWAs). The concrete program, called Making A Plan (MAP), explores the [...]

This article describes a workshop and consultation process utilized by four community rehabilitation services and other stakeholders. This process led to the development of an evaluation "Template" upon which to plan a service evaluation. The Template comprises a number of guiding questions within three broad domains. These are, the "people" domain (pertaining to the client, their disability, their family and service context), the "program" domain (pertaining to the service and its activities), and the "perspective" domain (pertaining to the broader social and community context). It is suggested that the Template, the process by which it was developed, and the guidelines for its use will have relevance to rehabilitation managers, administrators, and others involved in evaluation of community rehabilitation services., Balanced and realistic evaluation of rehabilitation services, which operate in community and `real world' settings, can be exceptionally challenging (Jaffer, 1993; Stilwell, Stilwell, Hawley, & Davies, 1998). As a result [...]

Rehabilitation in Zimbabwe is a combination of systems involving formal (scientific) and nonformal (traditional) systems. Sometimes, Zimbabweans with disabilities believe the traditional approach involving healers is more credible than the scientific approach. Similarly, some persons with disabilities from minority backgrounds in the U.S. trust and prefer a more traditional approach involving spiritual attributes. This article presents perspectives of rehabilitation in Zimbabwe and explores lessons that rehabilitation in the U.S. can incorporate from Zimbabwe., Conceptions of disability and the associated rehabilitation practices vary widely across societies, and are influenced by the unique sociopolitical and cultural histories of those societies. For example, differences in perspectives [...]

Research in the area of rehabilitation has long relied on the test of statistical significance as the primary means for evaluating the meaningfulness of empirical research results. The concept of [...]

Writer & Producer: Henry McCarthy Video/DVD and Toolkit Supplement Year: 2010 Video/DVD: 1 hour 57 minutes Toolkit Supplement: 51 pages It is said 'to know your history is to know [...]

The Positive Psychology movement is gaining ground and starting to shape psychology research. According to Seligman (2002) the primary mission of the positive psychology movement is to "catalyze a change [...]

Rehabilitation research is firmly grounded in the scientific method and has been primarily empirical in nature. The scientific method has been described as consisting of the following five steps: (1) [...]

This is my last issue as Editor of the Journal of Rehabilitation. After just over five years as editor, I felt that it was time to allow someone else to [...]

The articles in this Winter issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation have a decidedly applied focus. The article by Kuipers and Quinn provides a paradigm for comprehensively evaluating community rehabilitation [...]