This dissertation examines factors affecting the service outcomes of immigrant women with disabilities who received vocational rehabilitation services, from the perspectives of their rehabilitation counselors. The participants were eight rehabilitation counselors who had received their Master's degrees from programs accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE). Three counselors had Worker's Compensation caseloads, while the other five provided return to work rehabilitation services. Counselor perspectives on client experiences were obtained through the narrative inquiry method. Eight prevailing themes arose across the stories, regarding contributing factors,: immigrant status, amount of time spent providing services, level of client self-confidence, motivation, collaborative team member relationships and a strong client/counselor working alliance, counselor cultural sensitivity, the establishment of rapport, and counselor altruism. The theme of client immigrant status contained a number of related subthemes, including issues regarding acculturation, education level, legal status, refugee status, migrant femaleness, and English proficiency. Counselor disability policy knowledge was also explored as a basis for resources and services potentially valuable to this particular client group. The counselors' responses helped to identify a need for post-Master's continuing education on the topic of disability legislation. The narrative process also introduced reflection on practice to the field of rehabilitation counseling, as an effective research, education, and practice method.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/321310 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Akande, Abigail O. |
| Contributors | Chou, Chih-Chin, Chou, Chih-Chin, Shaw, Linda, Johnson, Philip, Parker, Sheila |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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