Mary J. Huber

An Ecological Approach to Addressing HIV/AIDS in the African American Community

The disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on African Americans is a significant public health challenge. The complex constellation of individual, social, and environmental factors influencing transmission, require ecological solutions that recognize these multiple levels of influence and actively involve communities. This article describes the formation of a community-based coalition and highlights three initiatives it has undertaken in the areas of mobile HIV testing, HIV education, and faith-based work to improve HIV services for African Americans.

Cognitive variability—A marker for incident MCI and AD: An analysis for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

The potential of intra‐individual cognitive variability (IICV) to predict incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimers disease (AD) was examined and compared to well‐established neuroimaging and genetic predictors.

The PALS Prevention Program and Its Long-Term Impact on Student Intentions to Use Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana

A unique Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) prevention program called PALS (Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles) was implemented with middle school students with the goal of enhancing student knowledge of the harmful effects of ATOD, promoting the use of refusal skills and reducing intentions to use ATOD in the future. Intentions to use were measured at four points: pre-PALS, post-PALS, and at 1-year and 2-year follow-ups. Student survey responses were then matched and compared across the four time periods. This article reports on the long-term effectiveness of PALS on student intentions to use ATOD in high school. When follow-up surveys of PALS students were compared to students not exposed to PALS (comparison group), the PALS students had significantly lower intentions to use alcohol and tobacco, providing evidence that the PALS intervention did have a long-term impact on intentions to use these substances.

Accessible Substance Abuse Prevention for All Children

Even though moderate declines in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) among adolescents have been seen over the years, the battle to prevent youth from using ATOD is still a focus for educators and researchers. The primary means of preventing ATOD is still through educational settings and school-based programs. However, the effectiveness of prevention efforts is substantially enhanced when the entire community is involved. Children with disabilities or children who have nontraditional learning styles are still not receiving prevention geared specifically toward their personal needs. This is despite research indicating that the presence of a physical, mental, or psychological disability places an individual at increased risk for substance abuse problems. This chapter outlines risk factors experienced by children with disabilities, community and psychosocial approaches to effective school-based intervention programs, and concludes with a discussion of the Prevention through Alternative Learning Styles (PALS) program that has shown much success since it was developed in 1992.

A Revisited Inquiry: A Survey of the Members of the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA)

In recognition of the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association’s (ARCA) 60th anniversary and the need to gather and provide data to further inform the rehabilitation counseling (RC) field with recent developments, a replication of the Peterson, Hautamaki, and Hershenson (2006) study that included surveying ARCA members at the time as well as similar studies in the field (Trotter & Kozochowicz, 1970) was completed. Similar questions related to overall membership benefits, motivations, concerns, and future directions for the field were duplicated. In addition, given the recent major changes in the field including the merger between the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) and the new Clinical Rehabilitation Counselor (CLRC) degree were included. Similar to the 50th anniversary survey, the results of the study informed the ARCA leadership in their future strategic planning activities, organizational development, and in better meeting the needs of ARCA members.

The Status of Technology-Enhanced Education and Service Delivery in Rehabilitation Counselor Education.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to discuss the upsurge of technology-enhanced rehabilitation education programs and telerehabilitation services, to provide examples of these advancements, and to discuss the implications of this technology for education and the field including the unique advantage to developing technological skills through participation in effective online coursework allowing rehabilitation graduates the requisite transferable skills for competent online service delivery. Method: The authors completed a thorough review of the available literature on online technology-enhanced education programs and online telerehabilitation services. Results: Rehabilitation counselor education and the delivery of rehabilitation services have capitalized on recent technological advancements and provide opportunities to reach students and consumers via the Internet. Conclusion: It is clear that technology-enhanced education and clinical services will have an expanding role in the future of rehabilitation counselor education and practice. There is a unique advantage for students to develop technological skills through participation in effective online coursework. The skills learned from completing online courses are transferable skills for competent online service delivery.

ARCA Research Awards for 2016

Young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often experience employment difficulties. Using Rehabilitation Service Administration data (RSA-911), this study investigated the service patterns and factors related to the employment outcomes of individuals with ASD in different age groups. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of demographic and vocational rehabilitation (VR) service variables on employment outcomes in each age group. The results show that transition youth made up the largest portion of VR service users among the ASD population, yet they have the worst employment outcomes across all age groups. Factors that are significantly associated with increased odds for employment in each age group were identified. Implications from systemic, practical, and research perspectives are also provided.

Benefits of Substance Use Disorder Screening on Employment Outcomes in State–Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs

We evaluated benefits of substance use disorder (SUD) screening on employment outcomes of state vocational rehabilitation (VR) consumers in Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Utah. Across states, 9,681 screeners matched RSA-911 records with closure status. Positive SUD screening rates ranged from 21.2% in Illinois to 50.4% in Utah. While findings varied by state, screening can improve successful employment rates. Systemwide SUD screening may be most beneficial in states that are effective in addressing SUD. Effective states serve a higher percentage of consumers with SUD diagnoses, and have employment rates that meet or exceed states with fewer consumers with SUD, indicating that SUD success rates approximate those of consumers with other disabilities. Even in states with low SUD diagnoses rates, above 20% of screened consumers had suspected SUD. We replicated findings suggesting that persons with SUD can transition successfully to employment, and at lower cost and shorter time than consumers with other conditions. We found discrepancies in all states between SUD screening results and official diagnoses. Persons with a diagnosis of SUD were somewhat more likely to achieve an employment outcome than persons who screened SUD positive without a diagnosis. We provide suggestions for VR policy and future research directions.