Rehabilitation Counselor Professional Identity Development in Master's-Level Training Programs: An Exploratory Study of Potential Influencing Factors

Abstract

Unifying the field of rehabilitation counseling appears to be a daunting task. Many researchers have investigated this phenomenon and have also written position papers arguing for a specific identity perspective: either as a counseling specialty or as a separate profession. The current study examined beliefs about the field of rehabilitation counseling among trainees and investigated factors that influenced these beliefs. A scale was developed to collect data about perceptions of master's-level students in Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE)-accredited training programs. Data were collected from 67 participants in 12 programs. Results indicated that two-thirds of trainees believed that rehabilitation counseling is a counseling specialty. Previous work experience of the trainees was most likely to influence this position. Barnes et al.

Master’s Students’ Rehabilitation Counselor Identity Formation: A Descriptive Study

“…Comparable to prior research (Barnes et al, 2012;Nelson & Jackson, 2003), participants who felt that their identities had not yet emerged either believed that more time was needed or associated their identity to their upcoming clinical practicum or internship experience.…”

“…The development and selection of these items were based on a thorough review of the literature on counselor identity development. More details concerning the development of this instrument are described in a previous article (Barnes et al, 2012). One item represented the study's categorical outcome variable, professional identity.…”

“…Despite the need to strengthen rehabilitation counselor professional identity (Leahy et al, 2011;Shaw et al, 2006), there remains a significant gap in the rehabilitation counseling research (Barnes, Rak, Austin, & Louw, 2012;Barros-Bailey et al, 2009;Fleming, Phillips, Manninen-Luse, Irizarry, & Hylton, 2011) regarding studying how it develops.…”

“…Counselor identity development appears to be intimately related to counselors' theoretical orientation (Calley & Hawley, 2003;Mellin et al, 2011;Swickert, 1997); credentials (i.e., CRC, national certified counselor [NCC], state licensure; Mellin et al, 2011); job tasks and services they provide (Mellin et al, 2011); clinical experiences (Barnes et al, 2012;Nelson & Jackson, 2003); relationships (Brott & Myers, 1999;Nelson & Jackson, 2003); knowledge of counseling (Nelson & Jackson, 2003); leadership activities (Calley & Hawley, 2008); personal growth or accomplishments (Nelson & Jackson, 2003); and self-efficacy, motivation, commitment, and job satisfaction (Day et al, as cited in Flores & Day, 2006). Moreover, complex cognitive processes seem to be at play on an individual basis,…”

Considerations for Preparing Prospective Alcohol and Drug Counselors

“…Addiction knowledge and clinical supervision also varies in graduate counselling programs. 18,4 The inconsistent training in counselling programs and addiction education may contribute to students being less prepared to enter the alcohol and drug workforce upon graduation. This discrepancy has contributed to concerns about the preparedness of alcohol and drug counselors.…”