Secondary Transition Personnel Preparation in Rehabilitation Counselor Education Programs

Abstract

Rehabilitation counselors are increasingly called on to provide services to transition-aged youth. However, preparation and training efforts are not sufficient to ensure that counselors have the required knowledge and skills to adequately serve these students and young adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate how secondary transition-content is infused in rehabilitation counseling programs. Specifically, (a) which transition-related competencies are considered to be most important; (b) how much instructional time is devoted to transition content; and (c) to what extent faculty believe that graduates of their program are prepared to serve transition-aged youth. Results indicated that transition issues are touched on in rehabilitation counselor preparation, but the extent to which this content is infused varies. Students are pursuing fieldwork and employment experiences serving transition youth, but educators reported varied perceptions on how prepared they are to do so. Finally, there were significant differences between the perception of importance and preparation of students regarding domains of knowledge in transition. Implications for counselor preparation and additional areas of research are presented.