Publications

2024

Trauma informed career counseling for young adults with mental health conditions

This article discusses the challenge of providing effective career counseling services for young adults with mental health conditions (MHCs) who have experienced trauma. We reviewed studies on trauma, career development, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and their impact on vocational functioning of young adults with MHCs and discussed implications of this review. Three cases are also presented to illustrate the way in which trauma and PTSD impact career counseling services. While there are evidence-based PTSD treatment approaches for young adults with MHCs, trauma-informed career counseling needs more research and development to facilitate vocational development among this population.

2024

Telehealth noninferior to in person for vocational counseling: A comparison study of “Asking for Help” group intervention to improve soft skills

Employment success often hinges on crucial work-related soft skills, such as the ability to seek help and solve problems. This pilot study aimed to assess the practicality of a group intervention based upon a direct skills teaching (DST) approach to teach work-related help-seeking skills to individuals with disabilities. The “Asking for Help” intervention, conducted in either in person or via telehealth, involved 152 participants with disabilities. Both modalities showed improvement in participants’ perceptions of work-related soft skill of asking for help. Participants experienced increased confidence in asking for help at employment settings and expressed high satisfaction with the intervention. Both groups increased career adaptabilities, while the telehealth group also increased occupational self-efficacy, and the in-person group showed increased work-related soft skills. Both groups showed comparable positive results, supporting their effectiveness in teaching help-seeking skills using a preplanned curriculum. Implications of findings are discussed.

2023

Focus groups on employment related soft skills for transition age youth with disabilities

BACKGROUND:
Work-related soft skills can be an important factor for successful employment outcomes, particularly for individuals with disabilities.
OBJECTIVE:
This study conducted two focus groups with stakeholders for two state Rehabilitation Councils to identify the needs of specific work-related soft skills for employment success of transition age youth with disabilities.
METHODS:
30 participants including 10 individuals with disabilities, 5 family members of individuals with disabilities, 5 disability service providers, 9 disability advocates and 1 unidentified, completed two focus groups to identify a list of soft skills by importance for transition age youth with disabilities to succeed at work.
RESULTS:
Focus group participants reported that communication skills (face to face communication and emails to coworkers, customers, and employers), conflict resolution skills, advocacy skills, and professionalism are the most important soft skills for transition age youth with disabilities to be successful at work.
CONCLUSION:
Findings indicated soft skills are critical to work success for transition age youth with disabilities. Vocational rehabilitation providers should teach these critical soft skills when serving transition age youth with disabilities.

2023

Employment-Related Soft Skills Training for Young Adults with Disabilities

This study examined the effectiveness and feasibility of an employment-related small group soft skill development program (“Soft Skills at Work”) for young adults with disabilities seeking employment. METHODS: The program included four soft skills training modules “Presenting Qualifications”, “Conversing with Others”, “Asking for Help”, “Responding to Feedback”. Each module included four sessions designed to improve one targeted work-related soft skill. Thirty-three young adults with disabilities receiving vocational and mental health services from community-based agencies participated the study. Participant wage information and other employment outcome measures were collected at baseline, post-intervention and 6-month-post-intervention. Participant satisfaction surveys for each module were also collected.

2023

Conversational skills at work: Teaching small talk via telehealth to individuals with disabilities

Employment can provide numerous benefits to quality of life, mental health, and social inclusion, which can be particularly important for people with disabilities. In a pilot study, the feasibility of Conversing with Others , a direct skills teaching (DST) group intervention to teach individuals with disabilities a work‐related soft skill focused on conversational skills, was assessed. This mixed methods study delivered the Conversing with Others curriculum in‐person or via telehealth to 119 participants. The intervention was based on the DST method of teaching skills through smaller, digestible, structured lessons.

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2023

Responding to Feedback: Employment-Related Soft Skills Training for Persons With Disabilities

Workplace soft skills are critical factors to consider when seeking and maintaining employment. One beneficial workplace soft skill is responding to feedback on a job. This pilot study used a pre- and post-group design to evaluate a small group intervention that utilized a Direct Skills Teaching approach to instruct participants in responding to feedback in an employment setting to persons with disabilities. A four-session group intervention (“Responding to Feedback”) was delivered by graduate counseling students to 38 participants with various disabilities in six separate groups.

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