This study examined Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) closed cases of Latinos and Caucasians with hearing loss to determine which characteristics would contribute to a successful case outcome. This study was conducted for several reasons. A review of the Florida VR closed cases (Fiscal Years 2004-2004) indicated that a large proportion of Latinos with hearing loss were closed unsuccessfully. The Latino population recently became the largest minority group in both the United States and Florida resulting in more Latinos with disabilities, including those with hearing loss, seeking VR services. The federal-state VR program recognized this as an underserved population. Very few studies were done on VR services to Latinos with disabilities including those with hearing loss. This study examined ten independent variables: consumer (ethnicity, age, gender, hearing loss, support at application, education at application), service (placement), and counselor (ethnicity, education, communication skills). The subjects were 481 randomly-selected Latinos (White Hispanics) and Caucasians with hearing loss from Fiscal Years 2002-2004 Florida VR closed cases. Survey responses were received from 107 VR counselors. Closed case status (successful and unsuccessful) was a dependent variable. Both a late-deafened sample and a training variable were removed prior to analysis due to inadequate size. The level of significance was set at .05. Chi-square analysis found six variables to be significant including gender (in the opposite direction), hearing loss, age, education at application, support at application, and placement service. Those who are hard of hearing, male, older, financially independent, having at least a high school diploma or equivalency, and receiving placement services were more likely to achieve a successful outcome. Consumer ethnicity and all three counselor variables were found to be insignificant. Similar results were found in logistic regression analysis. The forward stepwise logistic regression analysis also found consumer and service variable clusters to be significant, not the counselor cluster. The findings in this study contradicted published literature reporting consumer and counselor ethnicity as issues in the field of rehabilitation and the effects of counselor education and communication skills on the case outcome. Additional research was recommended. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Childhood Education, Reading, and Disability Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2006. / February 27, 2006. / Latinos, Deaf, Deafness, Hard of Hearing, Hearing Loss, Case Outcomes, Rehabilitation, Hispanics, Vocational Rehabilitationpanics, Vocational Rehabilitation / Includes bibliographical references. / Deborah Ebener, Professor Directing Dissertation; Howard Goldstein, Outside Committee Member; Mary Hanline, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_181713 |
| Contributors | Bradley, Cecil Flex (authoraut), Ebener, Deborah (professor directing dissertation), Goldstein, Howard (outside committee member), Hanline, Mary (committee member), Department of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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