Multiple sclerosis and employment barriers: a systemic perspective on diagnosis and intervention

Although they have a recent work history, 70 to 80% of adults with multiple sclerosis are unemployed following their diagnosis. This high rate of unemployment constitutes a great loss of potential to the American economy. To help individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) return to work or retain employment, rehabilitation professionals must understand the barriers resulting in unemployment and implement interventions to reduce or remove those concerns. In this article, Hershenson's systemic model of rehabilitation counseling is presented as a diagnostic scheme for identifying barriers to employment. Counselor consultation on barrier removal via reasonable accommodation is presented as one example of a rehabilitation intervention consistent with the systemic diagnostic model.     

Barriers to exercise behavior among older adults: a focus-group study

Longer life expectancy, rapid population growth, and low exercise-participation rates of adults 65 and older justify the need for better understanding of older adults' exercise behavior. The objectives of this focus-group study were to determine barriers to the exercise behavior of older adults. Six focus groups, three with exercisers and three with nonexercisers, were conducted at various sites throughout Rhode Island. The majority (n = 57) of the 66 individuals who participated were women, and all stated that they were 65 and older. Results from the focus-group data identified 13 barriers to exercise behavior. The most significant barriers mentioned by nonexercisers were fear of falling, inertia, and negative affect. Exercisers identified inertia, time constraints, and physical ailments as being the most significant barriers to exercise. Implications from these focus-group data can be useful in the development of exercise interventions for older adults, which could increase exercise participation.     

Project Employ: engineering hope and breaking down barriers to homelessness

The homeless population in the US has dramatically increased in the past two decades. People who are homeless often lack skills sets such as stress management and social skills, independent living skills, and skills for vocational and leisure engagement. Best practice vocational education and training programs for individuals who are homeless recognize that success in the worker role often hinges on a person's capacity to manage day-to-day living. Life skills and pre-employment training are essential components of vocational programs but no more important than interpersonal skill development including anger management, developing self esteem and motivation, building goal setting capacity, and skills for money management, personal budgeting and self-advocacy. These areas of performance have all been traditionally included in occupational therapy's domain of practice. This article describes Project Employ, a grant funded supportive employment program that has grown out of collaboration between Duquesne University's Department of Occupational Therapy and Bethlehem Haven, an emergency shelter and residential recovery program and primary service provider for homeless people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this article is to describe the history, structure and outcomes of Project Employ.     

Perspectives on scientific inquiry: Ethics in the conduct of rehabilitation research

The article examines ethical considerations related to the design and implementation of rehabilitation research. The authors' primary thesis is that ethical research practice requires rehabilitation and disability studies scholars to (a) adhere to the standards of conduct promulgated in the canons of ethics of such organizations as the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association in all interactions with people with disabilities and (b) maintain vigilance in protecting the rights and safety of participants in specific investigations.     

Inclusion and transition: Partners in progress or policy paradox?

The article examines the compatibility of inclusion and transition, two of the most important reforms to affect the field of special education in recent years. The main premise is that the noble ideals associated with full inclusion have the potential to contravene the delivery of responsive and proven-effective career services for students with disabilities as they make the transition from public schools to the world of work. Additional emphasis is placed on casting inclusion and transition within the context of contemporary reforms in general education, most notably the quest for academic excellence and the related practice of high-stakes testing.     

Representations for homomorphisms

Five different solutions to the problem of finding empirical meanings for the algebraically useful technique of homomorphisms in blockmodeling are described. They are the Lorrain-White, Pattison, Wu, modified Wu, and Bonacich approaches. All of them are designed to give meaning to a homomorphism in terms of characteristics of the relational matrices producing a semigroup, but they emphasize different aspects of the data. The Lorrain-White approach assumes that sets of relations are alternative expressions of an “underlying” relation. The Pattison and Bonacich approaches assume an underlying “clique” structure of structurally equivalent individuals. The Wu approaches assume that there is an “elite” set of individuals whose relational patterns define the homomorphism.     

Two issues in the evaluation of job-shop schedules

Two issues are examined concerning the evaluation of job-shop schedules. First, machine and labor cost/utilization are suggested as alternatives to physical utilization criteria. Secondly, an exploration is made of the use of Kiviat Charts as a means of integrating multidimensional criteria for the overall evaluation of the quality of job shop schedules.