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Vocational training of disabled persons in British Columbia : a study of factors influencing the suc[c]ess of federal provincial vocational rehabilitation programmes

University of British Columbia

This study is a diagnostic descriptive study in the area of vocational rehabilitation. It reviews the operation of a particular vocational rehabilitation programme according to defined criteria of successful rehabilitation as a basis for recommendations regarding the refinement and expansion of services in the field of vocational rehabilitation. The study sample was selected from the closed cases, for 1964, of persons who had taken vocational training as arranged by the Provincial Division of Rehabilitation of British Columbia. Thirty-six case records were reviewed and analysed. In addition, letters were sent to twenty individuals out of the group whose addresses were known. Of these, eight were later interviewed. The intent of the interviews was to gain first hand information about the obstacles to successful vocational rehabilitation, based on the experiences of those who had actually participated in this vocational rehabilitation programme in British Columbia. In addition, a number of persons in the community experienced in rehabilitation work, were interviewed and contributed valuable information and insights, which were utilized in the study. The criteria for successful vocational rehabilitation used in the study were developed from the principles of rehabilitation identified in the earlier cart of the study, and included the following components: (1) full assessment (2) freedom of choice within reasonable limits allowed to the disabled person regarding courses taken (3) provision of all the necessary aids and facilities, including sufficient income to trainees, according to individual circumstances (4) provision of continuous counselling services through a designated person known to the trainee (5) assistance in job placement in the line of work for which person has trained (6) follow-up services to ensure success in holding the job for a period of at least a year. In the sample group, whose average age was about thirty, the length of the preceding period of disability, type of disability, and lack of previous employment record were not obstacles to successful rehabilitation. Out of thirty-six trainees, twenty-six completed training. In the cases of the ten who did not, the reasons for failure to do so included illness, marital and financial difficulty, and anxiety over courses, but the reasons were not known in all instances.

Text

2011-09-19

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37472

Social Work

University of British Columbia

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