James A. Athanasou

Vocational achievements following spinal cord injury in Australia.

This study describes the vocational achievements in a sample (n = 139) of Australian persons with spinal cord injuries. The post-accident and employment achievements (February-March 1993) were represented by significant diversity in outcomes. Around one-third of subjects went on to obtain further qualifications since their injury, and around 31% were employed full-time or part-time. The majority of subjects utilized informal means of returning to work. Around two-thirds of those employed indicated that they were in a preferred occupation and their median length of employment was 108 months. The hours of work varied greatly but were centred around a median of 38 hours (i.e. a full-time job). A model of diverse employment outcomes and achievement following spinal cord injury is proposed.

Therapeutic Community Treatment of an Inmate Population with Substance Use Disorders: Post-Release Trends in Re-Arrest, Re-Incarceration, and Drug Misuse Relapse

This systematic literature review maps the evidence for the effectiveness of the therapeutic community interventions (TCI) in reducing re-arrest, re-incarceration or drug misuse following release from prison, including the extent to which these effects are retained over time. The databases searched for the review included PsychINFO, Medline and Scopus and reference lists from relevant articles published between 2007 and 2014. Only quantitative studies that examined the effectiveness of TCI for a prisoner population with drug dependence at the time of initial incarceration were considered. Fourteen studies were identified for inclusion in the review. Three-quarters of the studies reported TCI were effective in reducing rates of re-incarceration. About 70% of studies that examined follow-up rates of drug misuse relapse found TCI effective in reducing rates of drug misuse amongst participants. TCI participation reduced re-arrests events in 55% of the studies. Results suggest TCI effective in the short-term rather than longer term for reducing rates of re-incarceration among participants, and to a slightly lesser extent, drug misuse relapse.

The Intersection of Vocational Interests with Employment and Course Enrolments

This paper examines the relationships between interests and subject choice in senior secondary schooling, and between interests and occupational choices. Career interest results (N=7477) were obtained from the Career Interest Test (Version 3.1) administered on the Federal Governments My Future website (http://www.myfuture.edu.au) and were then compared with the nature of high school course enrolments and structure of employment. Work-related interests were fairly evenly spread across Outdoor, Practical, Scientific, Creative, Business, Office and People Contact activities. In contrast, employment in Australia was skewed towards Business and Practical activities (48.6%). On the other hand, Mathematics courses (20.1%) and Science (17.1%) dominated senior secondary school enrolments. It is possible that the interests and preferences of Australians are not satisfied either by the curriculum offered to them or by the work opportunities available.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Efficacy for Reducing Recidivism Rates of Moderate- and High-Risk Sexual Offenders A Scoping Systematic Literature Review

This literature scoping review compared recidivism rates of moderate- and high-risk sexual offenders who received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) oriented treatments. Ten empirical studies from 2001 to 2014 were selected for review that met the following criteria: (a) Treatment program included a CBT-based intervention with a comparative intervention; (b) participants included adult, male, moderate- and high-risk sexual offenders only; and (c) follow-up data for up to 12 months. Data were analyzed using a summative metric for recidivism rate comparisons (N = 3,073 for CBT and N = 3,588, for comparison approaches). Sexual offense recidivism rates varied from 0.6% to 21.8% (with CBT) and from 4.5% to 32.3% (with comparison intervention). The within-sample median rate of violent recidivism with a history of sexual offense was 21.1% (with CBT) versus 32.6% (comparison). Sexual offenders had a general felonies (within-sample) median recidivism rate of 27.05% (with CBT) versus 51.05% (comparison). The evidence supports the conclusion that CBT in its various forms is an efficacious treatment modality to prevent offense recidivism by sexual offenders. Suggestions for future research are considered.

The impact of disability status on education and work in Australia

Around 2.2 million Australians aged 15–64 years have a reported disability. Of these, some 1.8 million have a specific limitation or a schooling or employment restriction. This is a sizable proportion that does not always feature in thinking about career choice. The purpose of this brief research report is to provide some background information on the role of disability on employment in Australia for career development practitioners.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Different Inventoried Approaches to Assessing Career Interests.

Much of our approach to interest assessment now mimics that of the USA, and we are now too heavily dependent on expensive US inventories with little data on Australian reliability or validity. Some intrepid Australian researchers have developed inventories but almost without any official support or back-up. We are still largely reliant upon questionnaires that have not really advanced a great deal in methodology from the early days of vocational guidance in the 1920s. We use diverse artificial categories, outdated scoring approaches and a reliance on questionable norms; they provide inadequate quality control in terms of reliability and validity.

An Application of Azrin's Job Club Methodology to People Who Have Sustained a Spinal Cord Injury

This paper describes the employment achievements of people following spinal cord injury, and briefly reviews the literature on methods used by job seekers in obtaining employment. The scientific literature on job seeking supports the social validity claims of Azrins behaviourally-based job club methodology (Azrin, Flores, & Kaplan, 1975) and thus suggests that the job club approach might be successfully offered to people with a spinal cord injury who wish to work. A group case study is presented wherein a modified job club format was utilised with ten spinal cord injured people. Encouraging results were obtained, both in terms of changed behaviour and in actual employment status.

School to Work Transition: Behavioural Counselling Approaches to the Problem of Finding Jobs for Unemployed Adolescents

Institutional responses to high rates of youth unemployment in Western industrialized nations have been marked by costly labour market programs, career education services and systems of skill formation. The success of these responses has not been easy to demonstrate, and such programs ignore the fact that in imperfect labour markets the essential activity that does seem to be strongly related to successful job acquisition for any individual is that of structured job finding. Job-finding clubs (which use behavioural techniques to develop high levels of skill in obtaining jobs) have been demonstrated, both in the United States and in Australia, to be capable of significantly increasing the rates of employment among participating club members. The effectiveness and utility of this behavioural approach is outlined.

Living, working and earning for people with disabilities in Australia:

The purpose of this article is to consider the extent to which disabilities are likely to affect the length of a career and earnings potential. The net worklife expectancy for persons with a profound, severe, moderate or mild disability in Australia was determined. This was compared this to those with no disability. Tables for five-year age groups to age 65 are produced for males and females. There is a marked theoretical reduction of worklife capacity at all levels of disability and across every age group. The net effect of restricted vocational potential is likely to be a reduced worklife and diminished earnings for those with disabilities. This finding is considered in the light of current career development theory and practice.

Is Adult Reading a Guide to Educational-Vocational Achievement?

Reading is theorised as a key aspect of ones educational and vocational adjustment. The reading scores on the Wide-Range Achievement Test 3 of 465 adult vocational assessment clients were examined. Reading varied across a range of social factors and the overall results were consistent with earlier studies, especially the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. More than 50% of the sample had a US reading grade equivalent of Year 7 or below. While the median reading scores increased with educational level, there was substantial variation within groups. The results emphasised that people with widely varying skill levels can constitute an occupation. This variation has implications for the provision of any career guidance based on trait-factor concepts. Reading scores showed a small but statistically significant relationship with the return to work after injury. It is proposed that reading could be conceived as a foundation for career development.