Assessing Infusion of Social Justice in Rehabilitation Counselor

Purpose: To examine the extent to which rehabilitation counselor educators understand and are committed to infusing social justice in the rehabilitation counseling curricula. Method. The authors used a quantitative descriptive research design to examine the level and extent of integrating social justice into rehabilitation counseling curricular. The participants were 59 rehabilitation counselor educators recruited during the 8th Annual Rehabilitation Educators Conference hosted by the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE). Results. The study found that a majority of participants perceived it important to integrate social justice into rehabilitation counseling curricula. The level and extent of integration varied by academic rank and years of teaching. Conclusion. To ensure future rehabilitation counselors gain social justice competency, it is of great significance that rehabilitation counseling educators infuse the concepts of social justice into the curricula through knowledge and fieldwork domains.
This study found small differences in how 59 rehabilitation counselor educators responded to the idea of integrating social justice to the rehabilitation counseling curricula. Overall, the survey showed younger academics more willing than older academics to incorporate social justice into their curriculum.
For this study, the authors wanted to examine the extent to which rehabilitation counselor educators understand and are committed to social justice in their profession. In this case, social justice was defined as the equal treatment, support, and fair distribution of societal resources to all individuals, particularly the marginalized and disabled. In total, 59 responses to a survey were collected at a national conference in San Antonio, Texas. The study found that most educators acknowledged the importance of including social justice in their teaching and research work, and younger academics appeared more willing to incorporate social justice into the curriculum than older academics. The authors also discussed limitations and future directions of the study.