Practitioner perceptions of the importance of counseling in the vocational rehabilitation process

The vocational rehabilitation process includes counseling persons with significant physical and/or mental disabilities to help deal with the personal, social, and vocational effects of disabilities. Although counseling is considered a core service within this process, practitioners' perceptions of its importance are far from unanimous. This quantitative study explored practitioners' perceptions of the importance of counseling in the vocational rehabilitation process. It also examined the relationship between practitioners' perceptions and the influence of gender, ethnicity, education, licensure or certification status and years of service. The researcher administered 122 surveys in Arkansas. The results of the study indicate a significant difference in counseling practitioners' perceptions scores as compared to non-counseling practitioners' scores. Overall, a significant relationship was found between practitioners' perception scores and gender, ethnicity, education, licensure or certification status and years of service. However, this study found mixed results regarding the individual relationships of the factors that impact practitioners' perception of the importance of counseling in the vocational rehabilitation process. Empowering persons with disabilities to lead productive and independent lives proves to be no easy feat for rehabilitation practitioners. The impact of counseling in the vocational rehabilitation process can drastically improve the value of service delivery, increase successful employment outcomes and improve overall quality of life to persons with disabilities.