Challenges and Opportunities in International Partnerships in Rehabilitation Counselling: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

We provide a comparative case study of rehabilitation counselling across the U.S., Japan and Taiwan focusing on the common challenges facing international constituents in the field. Through interviews with students, faculty and administrators from each of the respective countries, we use thematic coding analysis to identify key points of tension. Emergent themes comprise (a) systemic challenges, (b) student and faculty mobility, (c) cultural and linguistic differences and (d) lack of sustainable international leadership. We further discuss mitigation of these recurrent challenges and conclude collaborative research, student exchange and institutional partnerships may advance teaching, research and service scholarship of rehabilitation counselling programs, and, in turn, enhance the lives of people with chronic illness and disability worldwide.

The Academic Study of Rehabilitation: Prioritizing University Curriculum for the Preparation of Practitioners in the International Field

“…Faculty members who seek to initiate the development of URE programs at their universities can find support in these settings and gain access to resources and materials that can initiate the processes of brainstorming and evaluating university needs. Local and international collaboration needs regarding the education of rehabilitation professionals are a recurring theme throughout the research literature, with recent emphases on decolonized collaboration (Lor et al, 2018;Ned et al, 2022). This should include appreciating local cultural nuances, the impact of local histories, underpinnings of theoretical frameworks and models of disability, and the need to instill leadership competencies that embrace community-based collaboration with future clients and patients (Ned et al, 2022).…”

“…The World Health Assembly's vision will require a trained and mobile international workforce. There is an international shortage of professionals who are specially trained in rehabilitation services (Agho & John, 2017;Lor et al, 2018). In addition to the continued recruitment of rehabilitation practitioners and researchers from the Global North to serve in lowerand middle-income countries (LMIC), itinerant in-country experts in LMICs will also be necessary to reach the hard to reach.…”

“…Likewise, health and rehabilitation agencies that create jobs for rehabilitation practitioners by default create the demands for standardized education and graduates with rehabilitation degrees. People with disabilities who require rehabilitation services experience better program outcomes when practitioners have formal education within the rehabilitation field, as opposed to having undergraduate and graduate degrees in disciplines that are unrelated (Lor et al, 2018).…”

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Challenges Faced by Counselors in Places Where Professional Counseling is Nascent

“…Furthermore, with the acceleration of technology in distance training, workshop organizers can easily offer their programs and invite subject matter experts across disciplines to present transcontinentally. Such spaces would provide opportunities for interdisciplinary contact, dialogue, training, and collaboration (Lor et al, 2018). They can promote a climate of mutual respect and shared values and knowledge, while fostering alliance among counseling professions, particularly when the organizers prioritize and target their programming to promote interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations.…”