Orientador: Ildeberto Muniz de Almeida / Resumo: Introdução: No Brasil, o serviço de Reabilitação Profissional – RP é oferecido pelo Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) e destinado aos trabalhadores contribuintes da Previdência Social com incapacidades para o trabalho, seus dependentes e pessoas com deficiência. Entende-se a prática da RP como resposta pública à questão da incapacidade, a saber, um processo para eliminar barreiras existentes ao retorno e permanência no trabalho após o estabelecimento de limitações. Porém, nas últimas décadas, transformações ocorridas na prestação do serviço de RP, pela previdência social, fizeram emergir problemas que refletem descompasso entre seus reais resultados e o que se espera como política pública de inclusão social. Objetivo: Este estudo objetiva compreender as causas sistêmicas e históricas dos distúrbios que ocorrem no serviço de reabilitação profissional desenvolvido pelo INSS na Agência de Previdência Social de Jaú/SP. Com isso, busca-se identificar as principais contradições e fontes de dificuldades percebidas pelos atores envolvidos no processo de RP e, assim, produzir informações que ajudem superar as contradições do modelo vigente. Método: Trata-se de pesquisa qualitativa apoiada em intervenção segundo Laboratório de Mudança (LM). A casuística do estudo foi composta por profissionais atuantes no serviço em estudo, representantes de empresas e segurado em processo de RP. O trabalho envolveu coleta de dados etnográficos, com análise documental, entrevistas individuais,... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction: In Brazil, the Professional Rehabilitation (PR) service is offered by the National Social Security Institute (INSS) and is intended for contributing workers of Social Security with work disabilities, their dependents and people with disabilities. The practice of PR is understood as a public response to the issue of disability, a process to eliminate existing barriers to return and to stay in work after the establishment of disability. However, in recent decades, changes in the provision of PR services by social security have created problems that reflect a mismatch between their actual results and what is expected as a public policy of social inclusion. Objective: This study aims to understand the systemic and historical causes of the disturbances that occur in the professional rehabilitation service developed by the INSS at the Social Security Agency of Jaú / SP. With this, it is expected to identify the main contradictions and sources of difficulties perceived by the actors involved in the PR process and, thus, produce information that helps to overcome the contradictions of the current model. Method: This is qualitative research supported by intervention according to the Change Laboratory (CM). The casuistry of the study was composed of professionals working in the PR service, representatives of companies and insured in the process of PR. The work involved the collection of ethnographic data, with documentary analysis, individual interviews, which served as m... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students are at-risk for high rates of bullying and harassment in the school setting. School counselors are uniquely positioned to provide support to LGBTQ youth and work alongside building principals to create safe and welcoming school environments. To build on existing literature, this researcher set out to examine how demographic factors and the school counselor-principal relationship influenced school counselor advocacy for LGBTQ youth. By examining these factors, school counselors are better informed about the roadblocks or barriers that might influence their advocacy efforts. In addition, this information helps counselor educators to better prepare school counselors as advocates and change agents. An anonymous survey with questions about demographics, attitudes, knowledge, and advocacy activity was completed by 169 practicing school counselors in the United States. Results revealed that sexual orientation of the counselor, the state in which the counselor works, the community setting, state and local policies influence a school counselor’s advocacy activity. Additionally, the number of years school counselors and building principals work together and the perceived collaborative working relationship are predictors of school counselor advocacy activity. Using a systems perspective can help school counselors identify how to advocate for LGBTQ students at the individual level, at the school, district, and community level, to the public arena.

Students receiving special education services occasionally experience problems with accessing adult services after graduation. Mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act reauthorization of 2004, the summary of performance (SOP) is a document that should ideally provide necessary information to adult service providers on needed services and eligibility of a student after graduation. This project examined student-completed portfolios and teacher-completed SOP forms to determine which form was more useful for providing necessary documentation for eligibility. Participants were vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors and special education teachers who evaluated a student-completed portfolio compared with a teacher-completed SOP form in an online survey. Variables assessed by VR counselors included (a) value of the information provided for determining eligibility, (b) value of the information provided for plan development, (c) value of the information provided for identifying functional limitations, (d) comprehensiveness of information, (e) usefulness for communicating with other professionals, (f) usefulness for communicating with family members, (g) usefulness in creating familiarity with student, (h) time required to conduct review, and (i) time required to read/comprehend the document compared to value. Special education teachers evaluated and compared a student-completed portfolio with a teacher-completed SOP form using a similar survey. Variables assessed by special education teachers included (a) value of the information provided for determining postsecondary goals, (b) value of the information provided for transition plan development, (c) value of the information provided for identifying functional limitations, (d) comprehensiveness of information, (e) usefulness for communicating with other professionals, (f) usefulness for communicating with family members, (g) usefulness in creating familiarity with student, (h) time required to conduct review, and (i) time required to read/comprehend the document compared to value. The results show that a student-completed portfolio was rated more favorably than a teacher-completed form on most variables. VR counselors reported receiving a more complete picture of a student in the student-completed form. Special education teachers rated the student-completed portfolio as higher in value than the teacher-completed SOP. Findings suggest the need for more research on a student-completed portfolio as an SOP.

Older women constitute a growing segment of Puerto Ricans and the U.S. population. A limited number of studies have examined the activity level in response to alcohol use in late life. Generally, older women present risks and benefits from alcohol use. Alcohol misuse may decrease health and in some cases, psychiatric symptoms may develop. However, some benefits are found in moderate alcohol consumption including improved physical function compared with nondrinkers (Blow & Barry, 2002). Since activity level may depend on factors such as health, functioning, emotional well-being, and perception of alcohol effects, these factors were then assessed in response to alcohol use in order to identify the degree of greater or lesser activity among elderly Puerto Rican females. This study examined the activity level in response to alcohol use in a sample of elderly Puerto Rican females (N = 419) and investigated factors that influence the practice of alcohol consumption. The independent variable was daily and weekly consumption of alcohol. Five dependent variables were examined, which included self-rating of physical health and emotional well-being, self-perception of activity level, function, and perception of alcohol effects. After conducting MANOVA analyses, no significant association between activity level and alcohol use was found. In addition, regarding the negative and positive effects of alcohol, the researcher found that elderly females who drank heavily reported having alcohol-related problems compared to those who drank moderately who described their drinking behavior as positive. The MANOVA and ANOVA analyses determined a significant relationship between higher self-perception of functionality and moderate alcohol use, but the relationship between moderate alcohol use and physical health and emotional well-being was not significant. Considering the increase of alcohol use in the older adult population, principally in the baby boomer generation, these findings are important not only to rehabilitation counseling professionals, but to many individuals in the helping professions, including educators and researchers. Rehabilitation counseling professionals should focus on initiatives to decrease and prevent alcohol misuse in the older adult population. Information revealed from this study will also contribute to knowledge of the cultural characteristics and psychosocial aspects of older Puerto Rican females regarding their alcohol use to promote better outcomes, as well as support literature in the area.

Research suggests the collaborative role school counselors can have with administrators to bolster school reform and facilitate a safe and positive learning environment for all K-12 students (College Board, 2009a, 2009b) is vital. Unfortunately, research that explores the roles and efforts of school counselors and administrators in their collaborative work for and with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students is scare. Yet, according to Goodrich, Harper, Luke, and Singh (2013), LGBT students “have long struggled in schools with little support” (p. 319). To address this gap, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of school counselors and administrators in their work to support a safe and supportive school climate for LGBT students. The following research questions informed and guided this study: a) What are the lived experiences of school counselors and administrators who make concerted efforts to improve the educational environment for LGBT students? b) How do school counselors and administrators make meaning with their relationships in their work with LGBT students? The methods used to recruit participants for this study were modeled after College Board’s (2009b) study with seven exemplary school counselor-principal teams. In College Board’s (2009b) study, researchers identified school counselors and principals who received recognition for demonstrating exemplary contribution in their respective professional organizations. These exemplary professionals were than paired with their school counselor/administrator counterpart for joint interviews (College Board, 2009b). By paralleling the best practice protocol established by the College Board (2009b), this study consisted of three rounds of interviews with four school counselor-administrator teams. Participants were selected from national and/or state level LGBT educational organizations, where a school counselor and/or administrator were awarded/recognized for creating a safe and inclusive school environment for LGBT youth. Additional participants included school counselors and administrators identified as the school counselor or administrator counterpart to the awarded. The researcher completed an inductive approach to data analysis, utilizing both open coding and horizontalization to reduce the data. Thematic categories emerged from the data and are presented and discussed as they relate to the overarching research questions. The between-case themes include: Learning firsthand, leading by example, intentional partnering, moving beyond turf wars, and pushing the system. Recommendations for school counselors, administrators, and school counselor-administrator teams are provided. Directions for future research are also discussed. Keywords: School counselors, administrators, interdisciplinary collaboration, LGBT youth

The advantages of having a strong professional identity include ethical performances, promoted wellness, and increased awareness of roles and functions among individual counselors (Brott & Myers, 1999; Grimmit & Paisley, 2008; Ponton & Duba, 2009). Scholars in the counseling field have underscored the importance of unified professional identity of counseling, but have yet to create or comprehensively measure the construct. The purpose of this study was to construct a reliable and valid instrument the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC). The PISC is a 62-item instrument designed to measure professional identity in counseling professionals across all counseling sub-specialties and sub-populations. The PISC's development was based on a comprehensive definition of professional identity derived from the counseling literature. To investigate the factor structure of the PISC, an exploratory factor analysis with the Principle Component Analysis extraction and the varimax rotation method was conducted. The factor analysis produced a meaningful six-factor solution with a total of 54 items. These six factors were Engagement Behaviors, Knowledge of the Profession, Professional Roles and Expertise, Attitude, Philosophy of the Profession, and Professional Values. They approximately accounted for 43.54% of the total variance in a sample of 371 participants. Reliability was supported by internal consistency values as reflected in high Cronbach's coefficient alpha for four factors and acceptable Cronbach's alpha for one factor. Regarding validity, support for convergent validity of the PISC was illustrated as all six subscales significantly correlated with one subscale of the PIVS, Professional Orientation and Values, and five subscales significantly correlated with the other subscale of the PIVS, Professional Development. Social desirability that was measured using the M-C (20) did not appear to impact participants' responses to the instrument items, providing evidence of discriminant validity of the PISC. Additional analysis was conducted to investigate differences among participant groups on the PISC total scores. Results showed significant group differences between master's-level and doctoral-level counseling professionals. Implications for counselors and counselor educators are also discussed related to the findings.

State federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies are one of the most wide spread and oldest programs designed to help individuals with disabilities. Currently, VR agencies provide various services designed to aide individuals with disabilities obtaining and maintaining employment. Currently, VR agencies serve approximately 1 million individuals with disabilities and spend about 3 billion dollars annually. Given how large and the amount of state and federal dollars are spent on VR, it is important that the outcomes of this program are researched and evaluated. The purpose of this study was to examine how different variables are related to VR outcomes across states. More specifically, this study utilized the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a framework to study how contextual factors such as personal characteristics, agency level factors, and state-economic variables impact the employment rate of three different groupings based on state VR agency performance. This study utilized secondary data analysis to explore these relationships using the FY 2013 RSA-911 dataset was paired with the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationships that exist between personal characteristics and state economic factors across the VR performance groups. Further, a hierarchical linear model (HLM) was used to investigate how the relationship between personal level characteristics and state economic variables may be influenced by investigating this data by considering the levels of the agencies. Results of this study revealed that agency-level factors and state economic variables are important predictors of the employment rate. The final model of the HLM found that state economic variables and agency-level factors moderate the relationship between personal characteristics and the employment rate. Further, all agency-level factors and state economic variables except poverty resulted in a significant relationship regarding the employment rate. In this final model, none of the personal characteristics were significant. The results of the multiple regressions revealed different relationships exist among personal characteristics, agency-level factors, and state economic variables and employment rate given the performance group.

Counselor Educators are interested in assessing and promoting the professional and personal development of those in the counseling profession, including their ego and ethical development. While there has been much research concerning such development, there is insufficient research concerning the level of personal development of Counselor Educators themselves, and how such development progresses over the course of their tenure as professors. Thus, this dissertation assessed the ethical decision-making and ego development of Counselor Educators who earned their doctorates from institutions accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and who are currently working as Counselor Educators at a CACREP-accredited program. In particular, the following questions had sought to be answered: (a) What is the level of ego development of Counselor Educators and how do they develop over their tenure as professors? (b) What is the ethical decision-making level of Counselor Educators and how do they develop over their tenure as professors? (c) What is the relationship between ego development and ethical decision-making as Counselor Educators develop both of these over their tenure? and (d) How do the varying environments, qualities, and responsibilities of Counselor Educators relate to ego development and level of ethical decision-making? Essentially, the Researcher categorized Counselor Educators into two groups, according to their level of tenure: untenured (assistant professors) and tenured (associate professors and full professors). The Researcher then measured ego development, using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996), and ethical decision-making, using the Ethical Decision-Making Scale—Revised (EDMS-R; Dufrene, 2000). The Researcher then compared WUSCT stages and EDMS-R P indexes for each of the two group-mean scores through a one-way analysis of variance ANOVA), in order to ascertain if there were developmental differences between the two groups. It was anticipated that tenured professors, on the whole, would be more developed than untenured professors. The results from the present study tentatively indicate that Counselor Educators are well-developed, in terms of ego development and ethical decision-making. Of the four research questions, there was one finding of significance: participants who stated that they were not very challenged by their department had higher EDMS-R P indexes than those who were challenged.

Supervision literature has indicated the importance of the supervisory working alliance in the development of effective supervision (Landy, Ellis, & Friedlander, 1999). While there has been a wealth of research on the role of the supervisory working alliance within supervision, there is a dearth of information on how this alliance is formed (Cooper & Ng, 2009). The purpose of this study is to examine if supervision cognitive complexity is a unique aspect of cognitive complexity within counseling and better understand its role in the formation of the supervisory working alliance. Forty-two participants were selected from CACREP accredited masters and doctoral programs located in the North Central region of the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (NCACES). Cognitive complexity was measured via two different measures: the Counselor Cognitions Questionnaire (CCQ) and Supervision Cognitive Complexity Questionnaire (SCCQ). The supervisory working alliance was measured by the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory-Trainee (SWAI-T) which measures the supervisory working alliance from the perspective of the trainee. Results indicated a strong correlation between counseling cognitive complexity and supervision cognitive complexity. Further, the supervision working alliance was not significantly correlated with either measure of cognitive complexity. Supervision cognitive complexity did provide a significant contribution to the variance accounted for in the subscale of client focus in the SWAI-T. Implications for counselor educators and supervisors are discussed.

Students with disabilities often have difficulties transitioning from high school to employment. Many students lack the self-determination skills needed to make this transition. Self-determination involves students implementing strategies that enable them to modify and regulate their own behavior; and utilizing strategies that support them to track progress toward goals. The research literature has shown that self-determination instruction can facilitate positive transition outcomes. Collaboration between districts and outside agencies has also been shown to improve transition outcomes, according to existing research. This study examines the effects of self-determination training, taught by Vocational Rehabilitation counselors, on self-determination skills of students with disabilities. Participants included 11 students, ages 15-18, who have been identified as having a specific learning disability, intellectual disability, other health impairment, or autism. The target behavior will be increased self-determination scores on two instruments: a formal rating scale and curriculum-based assessment. The effects of the lessons will be measured by the AIR Self-Determination Scale and a Curriculum Based Assessment. Ten lessons were taught by a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. The researcher found that student self-determination scores did not substantially increase after receiving “Job Club” instruction taught by the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, but that participants showed an increased knowledge surrounding disability disclosure in the workplace and increased self-determination scores in the area of self-monitoring of progress towards a goal. The research also showed that participants who had been previously or were currently employed showed greater progress on a curriculum based assessment than those with no employment history.