A110 vocational rehabilitation professionals’ competencies in taiwan

1. Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals’
Competencies in Taiwan
Ming Hung Wang, Ph. D., CRC
Vincent Lin, MS
Terri Lewis, Ph. D.
Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling,
National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan

2. 2
Topics
• Disability Population
• Laws and VR System
• Current Development of VR Profession
• Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals’
Competencies

3. 3
Disability Population

4. 2013 Taiwan Population
General Individual with
disabilities
%
Population 23,000 000 1,130,000 4.8%
Working
Ages(≧15)
11,515,000 202,171 1.76%
Workforce
Participation
58.53% 19.7% 33.66%
Unemployment
rate
4.03% 11.0% 2.73
4

5. 2013 Population with older Classification system
Disability Classification 1,125,113
Vision Disability 56,840 5.05%
Hearing Mechanism
Disability
122,348 10.87%
Limbs Disability 379,405 33.72%
Mental Disability 99,488 8.84%
Losing Functions of Primary
Organs
136,599 12.14%
Chromic Psychosis 119,666 10.63%
Multi-Disability 116,735 10.38%

6. 6
Laws and VR System

7. 7
Laws
• People with Disability Rights Protection,
since 2007
–Classification of Disability – ICF
framework
–Quota System
–VR service and Individualized VR plan

8. Quota
 Public organizations with employees more
than 34 must hire 3% of workers who have
disabilities.
 Private companies with employees more than
67 must hire 1% of workers who have
disabilities.

9. 9
Services and Resources

10. VR services
Central Government
Employment
Services
Five regional
Branches
Five Regional
VR Resources
Centers
Local Government
One-Stop VR
Window
Community-
based VR
services

11. VR services
11
Job-Matching
Model
Applicants
with less
support needs
Applicants
with more
support needs
Persons with Disabilities
Central
Government
Local Goverment

12. Medical
services
Psychosocial
counseling/Car
eer counseling
Sheltered
Workshop and
supported
employment
services
Independent
Living services
Social welfare
services
Vocational
Evaluation/voc
ational training
One stop
windows

13. 13
Official Professional Title
• Based on the task performed, the professional
titles can be certificated with:
− Supervisor
− Case Manager
− Vocational Evaluator
− Employment Service Staff
− Vocational Skill Trainer

14. VR Positions
Titles Number Consumers served
Employment Service Staff 700
Vocational Skill Trainers 300
Vocational Evaluators 100
Case managers 150 5600/year
Total 1250

15. 15
Professional supports for VR
Professionals
Graduate Institute of RC, NKNU

16. Becoming a VR professional
RC master’s
programs
Work
experiences
Others (social
work, OT, PT,
counseling)
Pre-job
training
hours
Work
experiences

17. Supports for professional growth
VR professionals
Govern-
ment
UniversitiesTVRA

18. Supports from governments
Free on- the-job
training
Support frequent
Consultation
fees
VR resources
centers
Support
international
conferences

20. Missions of VRRC
(專業支持)
(資源整合)(研究發展)
20

21. 21
Professional Disciplines and Academic
Credential
• Since 2003
• Three RC master level graduate programs
− National Changhua University of Education (2003)
− National Kaohsiung Normal University (2004)
− National Taiwan Normal University (2004)

22. • In 2004, Taiwan Vocational Rehabilitation Association
has been established
• The major missions are:
– Publish the Taiwanese Journal of Rehabilitation Counseling
(research articles)
– Improve vocational rehabilitation services
– Advocate for VR counseling Profession

23. 23
Best Outcomes/Practice
• Several efforts to make sure the people with disabilities will
receive quality services.
1. There are regulations to define the
qualifications for setting up institutes that
provide VR services.
2. Continue education 90 hours/ 3 years to
maintain certification
3. There are annually or biannually program
evaluations to oversee the quality and
quantity of the VR services.

24. Studies on VR Professionals’
Competencies

25. Chuang ＆Wu (2013)
• investigated 201 VR professionals’ views on roles
and functions
• the most frequently performed job function: Case
Management
• Case Management was seen as the core job
function of VR case managers
• under-prepared areas: applications of
occupational information and research outcomes,
resource negotiation and advocacy for rights, as
well as supervision of new personnel.

26. Lin (2012)
• investigated 151 supported employment
specialists’ perspectives on their job and
function and competency level.
• Using government’s policy instruments to
improving employers’ motivation to hire
persons with disabilities was the least
prepared area.

27. Wang et. al. (2015)
• investigated VR case managers’ competency
level and support needs.
• low competency levels on areas such as
counseling skills, evaluation skills, career
counseling, ethics, and advocacy for resources.

28. Dutta et. al. (2015)
• assessed 116 vocational rehabilitation
professionals’ competencies by using the
Taiwanese version of SAP-SASC.
• the highest level of competence in providing
job seeking and social skills training, job
modification, job analysis, and referring
community-based support services.

29. VR competencies
Consumers’
Views
Self-views
Employers’
views

30. 30
Welcome to Taiwan
The First Asian-Pacific Vocational Rehabilitation Conference
in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, November 2005.

31. Thank you