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Vocational counseling for Australian spinal cord injury inpatients – Defining vocational role expectations and behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2020

Deborah Johnston ,
James W. Middleton ,
Gregory Murphy  and
Ian Cameron
Deborah Johnston*
Affiliation:
John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, Sydney Medical School, Northern, The University of Sydney, Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, Australia
James W. Middleton
Affiliation:
John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, Sydney Medical School, Northern, The University of Sydney, Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, Australia
Gregory Murphy
Affiliation:
School of Psychology and Public Health, Latrobe University, Bundoora, Australia
Ian Cameron
Affiliation:
John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, Sydney Medical School, Northern, The University of Sydney, Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: Deborah.johnston@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

A novel inpatient vocational counseling service (named “In-Voc”) was developed and evaluated in three Australian spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation hospitals, aiming to improve vocational outcomes after SCI. The program provided a trained Vocational Counseling Coordinator who worked alongside the allied health team, medical, and nursing staff at each hospital. The Coordinators were interviewed to examine the role expectations and role behaviors associated with the introduction of their novel, vocationally focused, occupational role. The Coordinators’ descriptions of their role behavior were very similar to those defined by rehabilitation counselors in North America. They reported the novel role to be a productive and satisfying one. Encouragingly, the In-Voc program was associated with significantly higher post-injury employment outcomes.

Keywords

Vocational counselingrehabilitation counselingspinal cord injuryorganizational behavior
Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , July 2020 , pp. 48 - 53
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press and The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling

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References

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