Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling

Department name when degree awarded

Special Education and Rehabilitation

Committee Chair(s)

Julie F. Smart

Committee

Julie F. Smart

Committee

Jared Schultz

Committee

Robert Morgan

Committee

Terry Peak

Committee

Kathleen Oertle

Committee

Michael Lambert

Abstract

Thirty individuals with disabilities receiving services at a vocational rehabilitation state agency attended a ten week skills based group counseling program. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: feedback or the treatment-as-usual. Prior to each session, participants filled out the Outcome Questionnaire-45, a questionnaire that provides measures of four different aspects of counseling outcomes: level of symptom distress, problems with interpersonal relationships, social role performance, and mental health functioning. Reports were then generated showing each participant’s scores and progress over time. Group counselors and participants in the feedback condition received these weekly reports. At the end of the study, participants also rated progress toward employment. The social role performance and mental health functioning scores of participants in both conditions showed significant improvement. Participants in the feedback condition rated progress toward employment as significantly higher than did participants in the treatment-as-usual condition (t (251) =2.77, p=.006, two tailed). Interestingly, participants in the feedback condition who received social security or subsistence benefits made the most steady and consistent progress with interpersonal relationships (p=.025), social role performance (p=.021), and mental health functioning (p=.028). Taken as a whole, results raise the possible importance of public benefits and the use of feedback with group counseling for improving outcomes.

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