The general purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge about graduate-level trained personnel in the area of deafness. The first group of subjects were master's and doctoral degree graduates from The University of Arizona Rehabilitation Counseling with the Deaf Program who graduated during the period of June, 1969, to June, 1977. A total of 45 of a possible 60 graduates were included in the study. The second group of subjects were employers of the graduates. A total of 36 of a possible 45 employers were included in the study. Information from the two groups of subjects was obtained from questionnaires especially developed for use in this study.The results of the study show that the sex of the graduates was evenly divided between male and female; that the majority of graduates started the Program in the early 1970s and that twelve of the graduates had a hearing loss. Twenty-eight of the 45 graduates worked with the hearing impaired before entering the program. The employment history of the graduates since graduation from the Program showed that the majority worked in positions related to the profession of rehabilitation and that they have stayed in the field over a period of years.Furthermore, 86% of the graduates who were working at the time of the study were employed in positions related to hearing impaired populations. The majority of the master's degree graduates worked in positions as counselors or administrators , whereas the doctoral degree graduates worked in positions as professors or administrators. The median salary at the time of the study was $13,994 for the master's degree graduates and $24,000 for the doctoral degree graduates . The results showed that slightly over one-half of the graduates were working in school or rehabilitation education settings at the time of the study. Another one-fourth were working for State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation programs. The graduates performed a wide variety of duties in the various settings. The 29 graduates who listed counseling spent a median amount of only 25% of their time on this activity. The amount of "paper work" that the graduates were doing increased substantially from past positions to the positions they held at the time of the study. The graduates gave a large number of reasons for entering the Program. The most frequently mentioned reasons for entering were to fulfill a goal of working with deaf people and to increase their skill in counseling deaf people. The graduates rated "Manual Communication Skills" as the component of the curriculum they thought was the most relevant to their present position. This component was followed closely by that of "Practicum and Internship" and "Medical-Psychological-Social Aspects of Disabilities." "Rehabilitation-related Knowledge" and "Research and Testing" received the lowest ratings. The most frequently suggested way to improve the program was through more emphasis on counseling theory and practical applications of the theories. The second most frequently mentioned suggestion was to provide more exposure to deaf residents of the community.The employers of the graduates seemed to be satisfied with the professional competence of the graduates. Their rankings of specific areas of professional competence were for the most part in the "Above Average" or "Excellent" categories. The employers listed a number of other strengths which included such positive adjectives as empathic, caring, capable, effective, responsible, dependable, dedicated and hard working. The employers mentioned some weaknesses but in less frequently occurring numbers than the strengths. The largest single category mentioned was overcommitted or overinvolved.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of motivational interviewing (MI) counselor training in a public vocational rehabilitation (VR) setting. Data were collected from a total of 347 participants (67 counselors and 280 clients) in the experimental and comparison groups, during the pre-and-posttests. The counselors in the experimental group received a 4-hour standardized MI training and a 4-week follow up coaching sessions. Results of this study indicated that counselors in the experimental group demonstrated significant gains in their MI competence scores compared to the comparison group. The clients of the experimental group’s counselors significantly improved their engagement in VR services and working alliance with their counselors. Also, counselors’ education level and CRC status showed strong correlation with the posttest MI competence total scores. Finally, working alliance was found to be a significant predictor of client engagement. This study established the preparatory knowledge for the relationship between MI counselor training, client engagement, and counselor-client working alliance in a public rehabilitation setting. The results of this study contribute to the rehabilitation literature by providing evidence-based knowledge and tools designed to improve the quality of VR service outcomes, such as employment, for people with disabilities. With the findings of this research, there is evidence available to provide rehabilitation administrators to justify investing time and other resources into training rehabilitation counselors on the use of MI intervention. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The debate on the quality of services has continued since the establishment of related legislation, and more recently, the implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; Sect. 412, 2014). Prior studies revealed that rehabilitation counselors with a master’s degrees achieve significantly better outcomes than their counterparts with bachelor’s degrees and unrelated master’s degrees (Sherman, Eischens, Leierer, Meola, & Scroggs, 2017; Szymanski, 1991; Szymanski & Parker, 1989) and tend to have higher competitive closure rates for severe disabled consumers (Cook & Bolton, 1992; Szymanski & Danek, 1992; Van Houtte, 2013). Additionally, knowledge domains central to effective rehabilitation practices of professionals in state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) agencies and cluster of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) programs (Chan et al., 2003; Saunders & Leahy, 2010) continue to be of interest. Empirical studies recognized the importance of data-driven research in all states and have suggested that future research in this area should include participants from each state VR (Beveridge, Leconte, Shain, Del Toro & Penrod, 2015; Froehlich & Linkowski, 2002). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between successful employment outcomes for Florida (a) significantly, (b) severe, and (c) non-severe disabled consumers. Furthermore, the rehabilitation counselors’ (VRC) perceived importance of rehabilitation knowledge as measured by the Knowledge Validation Inventory-Revised (KVI-R; CRCC, 2016), and the VRC’s educational level. Fifty-eight (N = 58) rehabilitation counselors employed within Florida DVR agencies volunteered to participate in this study. The diverse participants reported having earned a bachelor’s (n = 12, 20.7%), master’s (n = 44, 75.9%), and doctoral (n = 2, 3.4%) degrees. The majority of the counselors obtained their degree in rehabilitation counseling (n = 22, 37.9%), followed by degrees in psychology or other fields (n = 13, 22.4% each), social work (n = 5, 8.6%), education (n = 3, 5.2%), and sociology (n = 2, 3.4%). This was the first study in the state of Florida to explore the correlation between the VRC education and employment outcomes in DVR. Non-statistically significant correlations resulted between the criterion and predictor variables. The relationship between the VRCs education, client outcomes, and perceived importance of rehabilitation knowledge was measured using bivariate regression analysis. The implications of the findings, study limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Research reveals that rehabilitation counselors who are satisfied with their work environment tend to be more effective and have increased productivity. Rehabilitation counselors work with persons with disabilities to assist them in maximizing their ability to live independently in their communities.

No description available.