Abstract
Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) has a dramatic effect on the lives of those affected. As those injured are typically relatively young adults, the interruption to careers and vocational plans is often significant. While return to work following SCI has been well investigated, little is known about the process by which people regain employment post-injury. This investigation aimed to study participants' perceptions regarding the adequacy of the vocational rehabilitation services they received. Data was collected through personal interview with 168 persons with a SCI who were employed at the time of their injury. Participants were asked if they believed they could have been assisted by additional services provided with the aim of facilitating their return-to-work attempts. More than half of the participants believed they would have benefited from additional services. The most commonly requested additional services were: more discussion of vocational options and alternatives, and the timely follow-up of vocational issues. Analysis of subgroup differences indicated that rural-based study participants had clear and precise ideas for how vocational rehabilitation services might be improved.
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GREGORY MURPHY (PhD, Monash) is an Associate Professor within the School of Public Health, La Trobe University. His main research interests are in applied psychology, particularly return to work following serious injury. Email: g.murphy@latrobe.edu.au
Professor ROBERT PRYOR is an Adjunct Professor of Career Development in the School of Education, Australian Catholic University. He is also a director of two other consultancies: Congruence Pty Ltd and the Vocational Capacity Centre Pty Ltd. Since 1991, he has conducted medico-legal employability assessments for literally thousands of clients. Email: robert@congruence.com.au
TREVOR HAWKINS is Program Coordinator in the Discipline of Rehabilitation Counselling, University of Sydney. He also teaches in the areas of vocational counselling, job placement, acquired brain injury rehabilitation and rehabilitation case management within the University of Sydney's rehabilitation counselling programs. Trevor has also worked for many years in the areas of career guidance, vocational assessment and rehabilitation.
