Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation

The Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE; H264K200003) is a national technical assistance center funded, beginning in 2020, by the Rehabilitation Services Administration and intended to provide a sustainable national platform for state vocational rehabilitation agencies (SVRAs), their affiliates, persons with disabilities, employers, and policy groups to increase capacity in their ability to improve the quality and impact of vocational rehabilitation (VR) services leading to high quality competitive integrated employment (CIE).

This program description is designed to provide an overview of the VRTAC-QE and report activities and progress toward its goals and objectives.

At the conclusion of the fourth year of this five-year project, our purpose in this article is to describe the VRTAC-QE, to update the readership on our progress to-date in meeting our goals and objectives, and to share considerations for the final year of this national technical assistance center.

In this article we describe the structure of the Center, the process of identifying and delivering training and technical assistance (TTA), and summarize the delivery of TTA to date, in terms of the project's scope and in the context of program evaluation metrics.

We conclude the article with a review of lessons learned and next steps as we enter the final year of this project.

State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies (SVRAs) are the leading provider of employment services for disabled adults in the United States, with achievement of competitive integrated employment as their main outcome.

Current data collection policies and practices require counselors to record extensive information for case documentation purposes, however, these data offer limited utility for service planning or for determinations of whether services are having the intended impact. Available data is not structured to support continuous improvement for individual providers or to establish evidence of best practices in day-to-day service provision.

In this article, we present the many potential benefits of including pre-post assessment of services in measuring the impact of SVRA services.

The Transition Readiness Toolkit offers a concrete example of the advantages associated with pre-post assessment and continuous use of data to guide services and quality improvement in SVRAs.

Recommendations and implications for implementing pre-post assessment for other SVRA services are provided.

Career pathways are critical in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) of individuals with disabilities, linking education, training, and employment to improve career outcomes.

This report explores the establishment of the Career Pathways Learning Community, the development of the Career Pathways Toolkit, and the transition to the Implementation Group, highlighting how these initiatives support effective career development frameworks for individuals with disabilities within VR systems.

A nationwide recruitment process brought together 61 stakeholders, including counselors and administrators from various state VR agencies, to form a Learning Community focused on six key elements of Career Pathways. This effort facilitated the design of a customizable Toolkit and established an Implementation Group to apply it.

The Toolkit consists of four sections: an introduction to the Career Pathways model, an exploration of its advantages, a comprehensive implementation guide, and evaluation strategies. It provides valuable resources for enhancing career development for individuals with disabilities, while the Implementation Group fosters systems change within VR practices.

The development and implementation of Career Pathways within VR systems are crucial for enabling individuals with disabilities to achieve sustainable employment. The Career Pathways Toolkit, created by the Learning Community facilitated by VRTAC-QE, serves as a practical resource for fostering systems change. Collaborative efforts through the Implementation Group aim to enhance access to meaningful employment opportunities and promote a more inclusive workforce.

Since their inception, State Vocational Rehabilitation (SVR) and American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS) have played pivotal roles in assisting millions of individuals with disabilities in securing and sustaining competitive integrated employment.

This article aims to inform readers about the historical context and key issues concerning AIVRS while proposing strategies for enhanced collaboration between AIVRS and SVR programs in joint service provision.

While published research on providing VR services to American Indians or Alaska Natives (AI/AN) is limited, much of the information in this article is based on the extensive knowledge of the authors, who collectively possess decades of experience in SVR and AIVRS.

Key topics include (a) challenges encountered by the AI/AN population; (b) prevailing attitudes toward disability and employment within AI/AN communities; (c) a comparative overview of the histories and operations of SVR and AIVRS; (d) supporters of and advocates for AIVRS projects; (e) considerations when sharing cases; and (f) recommendations for fostering cooperative practices that benefit AI/AN communities.

By integrating culturally appropriate services, including holistic traditional healing, AIVRS projects and SVR agencies can offer complementary support while honoring the cultural heritage of AI/AN clients.

Underserved populations face many barriers to vocational rehabilitation (VR) services. However, outreach can build bridges with underserved populations.

This study compares Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) client data with US Census data to identify which demographic groups are underserved at the national level. This data analysis strategy can also be applied by agencies and providers to identify underserved populations at the local level.

RSA 911 data from 77 agencies in the United States and its territories between the first quarter of 2021 through the third quarter of 2023 was compared to US Census data. RSA 911 data was analyzed, quantifying VR populations by demographic type. Diachronic analysis was utilized to identify service changes over time.

This study found that several historically underserved demographic groups—including African Americans and Native Americans—were being served by VR at or above those groups’ representation among the general population. However, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and female populations were underrepresented in VR applications.

VR agencies and providers have made significant progress with many traditionally underserved groups. However, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and female populations are groups that require enhanced outreach efforts. In addition, agencies and providers can compare local client data with local Census figures to identify local underserved populations.

Individuals with disabilities are at an increased risk of trauma exposure. The cognitive model of posttraumatic stress, combined with Self-Determination Theory (SDT), provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding how trauma exposure leads to reduced basic psychological needs satisfaction at the work.

This study aims to investigate the structural relationships among trauma exposure, posttraumatic cognition, and basic psychological need satisfaction at workplace, showing how traumatic experiences of employees with chronic illness and disabilities (CID) affects their basic psychological needs fulfillment at work, with posttraumatic beliefs as a mediator.

An online survey of 183 participants with CID was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Two competing models were compared to determine the model with better fit. The selected model was then examined for structural validity and coefficient estimations.

The full mediation model was selected with strong measurement structures. Path estimations revealed that increased trauma exposure has a negative indirect effect on basic psychological needs, fully mediated by increased posttraumatic cognitive beliefs.

Trauma exposure and associated cognitive distortions can create significant barriers to successful work outcomes for individuals with CID. Integrating trauma-informed care into vocational rehabilitation (VR) services may help mitigate these challenges and support successful VR outcomes.

Physical and psychosocial contexts of employment and the quality of the work environments impact both physical and mental health, particularly among individuals with disabilities.

Given the relationship between health and employment and the need to understand the relationship between quality of work and COVID-19 acquisition risk, this project focused on studying the impacts of job quality following the emergence of the COVID-19 virus.

GLM logistic regression to explore odds ratios of employment quality factors on our dependent variable, contracting COVID-19.

The overall model was significant, indicating selection of predictor and control variables have an impact on COVID-19 risk (χ²(11) = 59.53, p < .001, N = 2325). Age and race were significant individual predictors. Finally, among the employment quality variables, only one comparison was significant. Individuals with some but not all markers of employment quality, compared to individuals who were unemployed, were 1.3 times more likely to contract COVID-19 (OR = 1.3, p = 0.03).

Employment, in light of COVID-19, is full of complexity and nuances. Even more so is the relationship between COVID-19, health, and employment for PWDs. The significant findings from the current study have important implications for the incorporation of employment, and specifically quality employment, as a predictor of physical health among PWDs.

Despite the prevailing view that apprenticeships offer many unique benefits to workers with disabilities, people with disabilities are vastly underrepresented in these programs.

This paper describes a 14-month apprenticeship learning community facilitated by the authors and the toolkit for practitioners and key stakeholders that it produced.

The learning community met 14 times as a large group over a 14-month period. During these meetings, facilitated by the authors, members shared problems, solutions, and insights related to apprenticeships, and actively worked towards creating the apprenticeship toolkit.

The toolkit is a comprehensive manual for potential apprentices, their families, rehabilitation/vocational counselors, employers, and other stakeholders. It covers topics such as basic knowledge of apprenticeships, steps for entering, navigating, and completing an apprenticeship program, tips for successful interagency collaboration, and guidance on disability disclosure.

The learning community model successfully brings together people from diverse areas and backgrounds to brainstorm solutions to shared challenges. The toolkit is an effective resource for any worker or professional interested in apprenticeships. Implications for practice are provided.

People with disabilities are one the most discriminated groups in the United States, and this discrimination negatively impacts the ability to find and maintain employment. While more companies are making it a priority to include people with disabilities in their workforces in order to diversify talent pools, many organizations still lack knowledge regarding the benefits of disability-employment and effective strategies for disability inclusion in the workplace.

There is a need to provide an integrative review of the disability inclusion literature for vocational rehabilitation professionals to expand employer engagement efforts by helping companies adopt strategies to hire and support people with disabilities in the workplace.

A review of disability employment and disability inclusion publications was conducted. Findings from the research were compiled into a discussion of lessons learned for vocational rehabilitation professionals.

The article shares the lessons learned from conducting disability-employment research with attention to the following domains: (1) stigmatizing attitudes of employers, (2) disability employment legislation, (3) characteristics of companies that promote disability-employment, (4) disability inclusion policies and practices, and (5) implicit bias and disability inclusion training for human resource (HR) professionals.

Providing employers and HR professionals with trainings on these domains will increase awareness of bias toward people with disabilities in the workplace and develop increasingly effective disability inclusion policies and practices for their organization.

The state vocational rehabilitation (VR) system has a long history as a leading public program serving individuals with disabilities. Hundreds of vocational rehabilitation counselors work in each of the 78 agencies representing every state and territory in the United States. However, chronic issues of employee turnover have served as a disruptor to vocational rehabilitation services while adding costs to the program for more than two decades. Turnover adds to the difficulty of maintaining a healthy work climate and serves to weaken agencies.

The aim of this brief report was to characterize the turnover phenomenon in state VR agencies and provides a synopsis of research findings indicating causes for the turnover.

A review and synthesis of the empirical literature presently available on turnover in state VR settings is provided.

Although this brief report is a synopsis of research examining the turnover phenomena presently experienced by state VR agencies, many of the reasons qualified providers of VR services are leaving have remained consistent over the past two decades.

Recommendations are provided in an effort to support VR agency leadership in their recruitment and planning efforts to retain qualified providers.

Digital tools can be important in the state vocational rehabilitation (VR) system. These tools can help rehabilitation counselors improve productivity and customer experience, make it possible for counselors to work from home or across multiple devices, improve communication, help make the VR process more straightforward, and improve work-life balance leading to high level of job satisfaction. However, there are factors that influence rehabilitation counselors’ motivation to use digital tools in their clinical practice, and as a result, there is a need to develop and validate a clinical assessment instrument to assess rehabilitation counselors’ motivation to use digital tools in the workplace.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Motivation to Use Digital Tools at Work Scale in a sample of VR counselors.

This study included 416 state VR counselors as participants. The sample was randomly split into two samples, with 197 participants used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 219 participants used for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Zero-order correlations were utilized to examine the relationships between the Motivation to Use Digital Tools at Work Scale constructs and related constructs in the nomological model.

EFA identified a two-factor measurement structure that was confirmed by CFA: Intrinsic motivation and external motivation to use digital tools at work with strong internal consistency reliability for both subscales.

The Motivation to Use Digital Tools at Work Scale is a valid and reliable scale for assessing motivation among VR counselors and confirms the impact of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation on technology interaction.

This paper summarizes a presentation made at the Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment at the 2024 National Symposium on Quality Employment.

The objective of this paper is to highlight the need for education of workers with disabilities on the process for requesting job accommodations.

The process of employment accommodations is reviewed in detail from the need to request a job accommodation to filing a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

Employees with disabilities, particularly young adults, are often unaware of the job accommodations process.