Educators’ Perceptions of Clinical Judgment Skill Competencies in Rehabilitation Counseling

Rehabilitation counsellor perceived importance and competence in assistive technology

PURPOSE

Assistive technology (AT) has received much attention for its capacity to improve quality of life for individuals with disabilities. While AT can be promising, the high AT abandonment issue persists. Rehabilitation counsellors are considered important in solving such an issue. However, how to effectively prepare rehabilitation counsellors to provide AT services remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the field experience of rehabilitation counsellors and identify the most relevant AT knowledge and skills to the profession.

METHOD

A survey that explores rehabilitation counsellors perceived AT importance and competence was used. A total of 237 rehabilitation counsellors in the United States were recruited via the email listserv provided by Commission on Rehabilitation Counsellor Certification.

RESULTS

The results indicated that while rehabilitation counsellors considered AT important to them, they felt ill-prepared in providing such services. Of the three subscales, the ability to use AT was rated with the highest importance and the knowledge of AT was rated with the lowest competence.

CONCLUSION

Although it is impossible for rehabilitation counsellors to know every aspect of the AT services, five training areas were identified to be a priority. Specifically, these five areas include training to improve rehabilitation counsellors' (a) awareness of AT benefit, (b) knowledge and skill of AT assessment, (c) knowledge of computer based AT and the use of social media, (d) skill in using AT to increase service accessibility, and (e) ability to assist clients decision making that addresses both physical and psychological needs.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION•Confirm the importance of AT in rehabilitation counselling practices.•Recognise the limited AT competence amongst rehabilitation counsellors.•Identify five areas for more AT training that improve rehabilitation counsellors'•Awareness of AT benefit,•Knowledge and skill of AT assessment,•Knowledge of computer based AT and the use of social media,•Skill in using AT to increase service accessibility, and•Ability to assist clients decision making that addresses both physical and psychological needs.

Importance of Clinical Judgment Skill Competencies Across Practice Settings: Certified Rehabilitation Counselors’ Perceptions

Accurate clinical judgments are critically important for counselors in their work with clients. To date, there are no studies that have assessed rehabilitation counselors’ knowledge of clinical judgment and its importance to implement in practice. In this internet-based study, a random sample of certified rehabilitation counselors (CRCs;n= 579) were surveyed using the clinical judgment skill inventory (CJSI). The CJSI measures clinical judgment skills across seven clinical judgment skill areas (scientific attitude, cognitive complexity, cultural bias, confirmatory bias, memory bias, negative bias, and evidence-based practice). CRC participants overall rated clinical judgment skills to be important. Significant multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test indicated significant mean differences between practice settings (Wilks’ LambdaF= 3.31,pvalue <.01) in “scientific attitude” (F-statistic = 3.91,pvalue <.01), “cultural bias” (F-statistic = 3.71,pvalue <.01), “confirmatory bias” (F-statistic = 3.02,pvalue = .01), and “evidence-based practice” (F-statistic = 5.62,pvalue <.01). Specifically, CRCs working for a college or university perceived clinical judgment skill areas to be more important than CRCs working in other practice settings. Implications for rehabilitation counseling practice are discussed.

Utilizing the ICF to Enable Evidence-Based Practice Among Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides an appropriate framework for conceptualizing cases within vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs. VR counselors can improve service delivery by using the framework and tools of the ICF, including the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0), the ICF Checklist 2.1, and the ICF Core Sets. VR counselors can more readily begin the initial step of evidence-based practice (i.e., formulating well-defined, answerable questions) by using the ICF framework and its tools to identify and categorize common barriers and facilitators among VR consumers. The ICF framework and its tools are described in relation to their potential utilization in VR practice. In addition, specific case examples are given, describing how VR counselors can incorporate ICF perspectives and tools into their practice. The authors briefly describe training resources, future directions, and other considerations for the use of the ICF in VR settings.