Strengths and challenges of intervention research in vocational rehabilitation: an illustration of agency-university collaboration

Journal of Rehabilitation, April-June, 2005 by Fabricio E. Balcazar, Cecile Lardon, Christopher B. Keys, Curtis Jones, Margaret Davis

Empirical research on the evaluation of skill development programs for people with disabilities is more extensive. For example, Balcazar, Fawcett and Seekins (1991) developed a training program that helped college students with physical disabilities develop sound goal-setting and help-recruiting competencies. Results indicated that participants showed consistent improvement in help-recruiting skills and were able to attain 75% of their stated goals as a result of the training. Comparable results were observed in similar studies involving a group of inner-city African-American high-school students (Balcazar, Majors, et al., 1991), a group of adjudicated male adolescents with disabilities (Balcazar, et al., 1995), and a group of low-income Latino and African-American youth with disabilities transitioning from high school (Taylor-Ritzler, Balcazar, Keys, Hayes, Garate-Serafini, and Ryerson-Espino, 2001).

Related to the role of the VR counselor in supporting client progress over time, Rubin and Roessler (1995) noted that consumers often seek services not only to begin or resume a career but also to maintain it. For example, consumers frequently encounter barriers they cannot overcome without help, which often results in failure to secure or retain employment or to accomplish educational goals (Rubin & Roessler, 1995). Gibbs (1990) reported that of 2,500 VR consumers whose cases were successfully closed in the state of Virginia, 25% lost their jobs within 90 days and 85% were unemployed one year after case closure. The role of the VR counselor in providing support and feedback to consumers, as well as helping them solve problems as they arise, is critical. The availability of follow-along support services is important to help consumers identify the accommodations necessary to maintain their goals such as staying in school and remaining employed.

Unfortunately, there is an implicit expectation in the counseling process that consumers are responsible for following through with agreed upon plans, and VR counselors often report that increased caseloads prevent them from keeping regular contact with many of their consumers (Balcazar & Keys, 1994). In fact, Lott, Guarino and Millington (2001) reported that counselor training and on-the-job experience are becoming increasingly irrelevant to rehabilitation outcomes due to counselors' large caseloads which puts tremendous time constraints on the other roles and functions of a rehabilitation counselor's job. Together, these factors often prevent regular ongoing contact with counselors that could aid consumers in overcoming barriers and avoiding major setbacks in attaining and maintaining their goals.

This intervention required VR counselors to help consumers attain their goals using skills development training that emphasized goal setting, action planning, and help-recruiting skills. In addition, a follow-along support procedure was implemented, designed to enhance VR counselors' support of their clients over time. Several hypotheses were tested: First, trained participants will demonstrate more help-recruiting skills than those who do not receive training. Second, participants who receive training and follow-along support from their counselors will experience significantly more goal attainment than participants who receive either training or supervision alone, as well as participants in the active-treatment control group. Third, participants who receive either training or follow-along support from their counselors will attain more goals than participants in the active treatment control group. Fourth, participants who received training and/or follow-up support from their counselors will experience more employment success than the participants in the active-treatment control group.