Rehabilitation counselors--Training of

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.

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.