This idiographic study explored the value of six vocational interest types (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional) for guiding a person's occupational choices. To that end, five rehabilitation clients who attended for vocational assessment following a personal injury (e.g., motor vehicle or general accident or work injury) reported on their vocational interests. Participants indicated their preferences (like or dislike) for 77 occupations. Altogether, they made from 5 to 27 choices. A profiling procedure indicated that clients reported more occupational dislikes rather than likes. Of the vocational interest types the choices in realistic, investigative, artistic and enterprising domains were endorsed more than those in social or conventional domains. It was not clear that the six vocational interest types determined occupational choice following an injury. Instead, occupational dislikes may provide more useful data for vocational counselling.

This study identified situations where communication was a barrier to employment for adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Informant interviewees were six college graduates with ASD who have been employed for one year. Following the qualitative inductive analysis, five communication-related themes emerged: (1) job interviewing success, (2) negotiating co-worker interactions, (3) supervisory interactions, instruction, and feedback, (4) handling customer intercommunication, and (5) communication-oriented coping strategies. Participants were relatively more successful in communication coping strategies and supervisory interaction compared to difficulties with job interviewing and co-worker interactions. Vocational rehabilitation counsellors assisting clients with ASD should prioritize job interview communication skills and social skill education specific to appropriate interactions with co-workers and supervisors utilizing role play, social skill training, and job coaching.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between motivation and readiness levels for physical activity and exercise behaviour among persons with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Participants were 211 U.S. adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain from online support groups as well as specialty and primary care clinics (females = 86.7%; mean age = 43.4 years, SD = 14.4 years). The participants completed an online survey on their engagement in physical activity and exercise behaviour. Multiple one-way analyses of variance with post-hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test revealed significant differences between the readiness stages of change groups of preintenders, intenders, and actors in their motivation for physical activity and exercise behaviour. Specifically, the actor group of behavioural change reported higher levels of motivation beliefs for physical activity and exercise behaviour compared to preintenders and intenders. These findings suggest that people with chronic musculoskeletal pain experiencing increased motivation for physical activity and exercise behaviour are more engaged in desired behaviours than the persons with chronic pain reporting varying degrees of behavioural intentions.

We provide a comparative case study of rehabilitation counselling across the U.S., Japan and Taiwan focusing on the common challenges facing international constituents in the field. Through interviews with students, faculty and administrators from each of the respective countries, we use thematic coding analysis to identify key points of tension. Emergent themes comprise (a) systemic challenges, (b) student and faculty mobility, (c) cultural and linguistic differences and (d) lack of sustainable international leadership. We further discuss mitigation of these recurrent challenges and conclude collaborative research, student exchange and institutional partnerships may advance teaching, research and service scholarship of rehabilitation counselling programs, and, in turn, enhance the lives of people with chronic illness and disability worldwide.