Objectives: To identify salient dimensions and outcomes of the peer-mentoring relationship among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). To understand from the perspective of the mentee how the mentoring relationship differs from other supportive relationships. Study Design: Qualitative. Participants: Convenience sample of 7 mentees from a hospital-based SCI peer-mentoring project. Method: Telephone interviews with mentees were conducted 1-4 months postdischarge, and results were coanalyzed with grounded theory methodology. Results: Mentees emphasized the impact of the mentor in terms of his or her practical, emotional, and identity-changing influence. Relationship quality was influenced by multiple factors (e.g., age, friendliness). Five components of the relationship (credibility, equitability, mutuality, acceptance, normalization) differentiated mentoring from other supportive relationships. Conclusions: Peer mentors provide a unique combination of supportive elements not replicated by other relationships. Mentoring programs are useful interventions for facilitating adjustment after SCI. Recommendations for implementing a mentoring program are provided on the basis of participant suggestions.

A variety of measures have been developed and validated in disability and rehabilitation research addressing different models of community integration, with additional measures originally developed in the adjacent disciplines presenting potential for application to research in community integration for individuals with disabilities. Research is needed to further clarify the multidimensional nature of community integration and to develop sound measures of community integration. To the extent that community integration is a function of various factors (e.g., individual and contextual) and involves multiple dimensions (e.g., physical, social and psychological), the advancement in research in this area should, in turn, contribute to planning and implementation of interventions directed at individual and societal levels, including relevant policymaking, towards expansion of community integration.

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Objective: To evaluate the measurement structure of the Taiwanese Version of theJob Satisfaction of Persons with Disabilities Scale(JSPDS).Design: A quantitative descriptive research design using exploratory factor analysis (EFA).Participants: One hundred and thirty-two gainfully employed individuals from Taiwan with poliomyelitis participated in this study.Results: EFA result indicated a three-factor structure accounting for 54.1 per cent of the total variance. The internal consistency reliability coefficients for theintegrated work environment,job quality, andalienationfactors were 0.91, 0.77, and 0.59, respectively. Only theintegrated work environmentandjob qualityfactors showed positive correlations with life satisfaction. People with higher educational attainment also reported higher levels of job satisfaction than people with lower educational attainment.Conclusion: The three-factor measurement structure of the JSPDS appears to be parsimonious, psychologically meaningful, and interpretable, and can be used to improve the comprehensiveness of vocational rehabilitation outcome evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus; SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder, and is usually diagnosed initially in early to middle adulthood, which is the prime career-building phase of individual's life. Persons with lupus report considerable financial burden not only because of healthcare costs but also because of compromised ability to engage in paid work due to illness as lupus can have a significantly negative impact on a person's work participation, including loss of employment and reduced working hours. Rehabilitation counselors must be knowledgeable about the critical physical and psychosocial impacts of the illness and potential employment problems that the illness may cause. With this knowledge base, rehabilitation counselors can better assist individuals with lupus with obtaining and maintaining employment, economic independence, and balancing their life demands with their changing health care needs. OBJECTIVE: This paper first provides an overview of lupus and functional limitations that it may impose, followed by relevant vocational rehabilitation interventions, including workplace accommodations and education. CONCLUSIONS: We emphasize consumer advocacy, anticipatory coping and illness management, accommodations on the job, and need of active involvement of employers in problem solving as key elements of successful vocational rehabilitation for people with lupus.