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Predicting Suicide Foreseeability Skills of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Working with Clients who are Visually Impaired with a Mental Health Disorder

Khaledi, Arras Dariush
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6602-285X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651571168697032

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Counselor Education (Education).
The goal of this research is to identify factors predicting suicide foreseeability skills of vocational rehabilitation counselors (VRCs) working with individuals who have a visual impairment with a secondary mental health disorder. Suicide attempts are a problem with rates on the rise for individuals who are visually impaired with a mental health disorder (Meyer-Rochow et al., 2015). VRCs have many responsibilities which requires these professionals, who are trained as counselors, to focus less on clinical symptoms and more on work-focused outcomes. This study included a total of 79 VRCs, and predicted whether three primary predictor variables, counselor self-efficacy, perceived preparedness to work with clients who are suicidal, as well as managing countertransference skills, predicted the suicide foreseeability skills of VRCs working with clients with a visual impairment and mental health disorder. This research is unique as it looked specifically at VRCs, as much of the previous research on this topic focused on foreseeability skills of only mental health counselors, psychiatrists, social workers or psychologists. The participants of this research were between the ages of 20-70 years of age. Neither of the three predictors, or demographic variables, were found to be significant linear predictors of suicide foreseeability skills of VRCs in this research. However, there was a significant finding of a curvilinear quadratic relationship of perceived preparedness as a predictor of foreseeability skills of VRCs. In other words, 4 moderate levels of counselor anxiety and counselor confidence (perceived preparedness) was a significant predictor of suicide foreseeability skills of VRCs. This means VRCs who maintain moderate anxiety, who are not overly confident in their abilities, perform their best with clients who may be experiencing a short-term, active period of suicidal crisis. This moderate level of perceived preparedness was found to be predicting of 11.5% of the overall regression model, therefore 89% of the variance in foreseeability skills scores remain unexplained. This result should be explored further in future research, however, furthers the point that VRCs have more of a vocational lens than a clinical focus in sessions. The results obtained in this study were unique, considering neither of the predictor measures were significant linear predictors of suicide foreseeability skills of counselors, as was previously found in counseling research pertaining to clinical counselors. Future research is needed to determine what factors accurately predicts suicide foreseeability skills of VRCs.
Bilal Urkmez (Committee Chair)
Yuchun Zhou (Committee Member)
Christine Bhat (Committee Member)
Adrienne Erby (Committee Member)
143 p.
Counseling Education
Visual impairment; blindness; vocational rehabilitation; vocational rehabilitation counselor; counselor education; suicide assessment; foreseeability

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Khaledi, A. D. (2022). Predicting Suicide Foreseeability Skills of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Working with Clients who are Visually Impaired with a Mental Health Disorder [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651571168697032

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Khaledi, Arras. Predicting Suicide Foreseeability Skills of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Working with Clients who are Visually Impaired with a Mental Health Disorder. 2022. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651571168697032.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Khaledi, Arras. "Predicting Suicide Foreseeability Skills of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Working with Clients who are Visually Impaired with a Mental Health Disorder." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651571168697032

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1651571168697032
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.