Ethics of Technology Practice: Beliefs and Behaviors of Certified Rehabilitation Counselors During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic represented a critical moment for technology use within rehabilitation counseling. This study explored trends in the beliefs and behaviors of certified rehabilitation counselors (CRCs) regarding the ethical use of technology before and during the pandemic. Specifically, this study compared two groups of CRCs regarding the degree to which they engaged in 59 technology behaviors and whether they viewed each behavior to be ethical. Overall, group comparisons suggested an increased use of telephone, videoconferencing, and email to deliver counseling, assessment, and supervision services during the pandemic. Furthermore, supervision via videoconferencing and email in the pandemic were rated as more ethically appropriate than before the pandemic. As a general trend, synchronous modes of communication such as the telephone and video conferencing were rated as more ethically appropriate than asynchronous modes such as social networking and text messaging. Indicating a high degree of congruence between beliefs and behaviors, the technology practices viewed as most ethical were used the most often. Implications address the revisions to the Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors regarding the ethical use of technology in rehabilitation counseling.

Examining the relationships between resilience, mental health, and academic persistence in undergraduate college students.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, the relationships between measures of interpersonal resilience, intrapersonal resilience, and mental health were examined with respect to academic and social integration, key determinants of academic persistence. PARTICIPANTS: A sample (n = 605) of undergraduate students was recruited from 2 midwestern universities during the 2007-2008 academic year. METHODS: Hierarchal (or sequential) regression analysis examined whether the inter- and intrapersonal resilience and mental health measures contributed to explaining variance in the response variables of university cumulative grade point average (GPA) and university sense of belonging. RESULTS: The intrapersonal resilience factors contributed to explaining variance in cumulative GPA in addition to aptitude and achievement. Furthermore, there was a strong statistical correlation between the inter- and intrapersonal resilience factors and mental health. CONCLUSIONS: The demands in college are significant and there is a need for more research on the concept of resilience as it relates to college health and academic persistence.

Automating standard alcohol use assessment instruments via interactive voice response technology.

BACKGROUND: Interactive voice response (IVR) technology integrates touch-tone telephones with computer-automated data processing. IVR offers a convenient, efficient method for remote collection of self-report data. METHODS: Twenty-six subjects recruited from an outpatient alcohol treatment center completed IVR and paper/pencil versions of a demographic and drinking history questionnaire, Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale, Drinker Inventory of Consequences, Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale, Alcohol Dependence Scale, and two numerical rating scales of craving and desire to drink during the prior week. Administration of the instruments in both formats was repeated 1 week later. The order of administration method was counterbalanced between subjects and reversed across data collection sessions. Scale and subscale scores from both methods were correlated within sessions. Test-retest correlations were also calculated for each method. A criterion of alpha = 0.01 was used to control type I statistical error. RESULTS: Intermethod correlations within each session were significant for all of the instruments administered. Test-retest correlations for both methods were also significant, except for the numerical ratings. Scores on the Alcohol Dependence Scale obtained via IVR were significantly lower than those collected by paper/pencil. Other differences between the data collection methods or across the sessions were inconsistent. The average IVR call length was 34 min and 23 sec. Paper/pencil forms required an average of 18 min and 38 sec to complete and an additional 10 min and 17 sec for data entry. CONCLUSIONS: IVR technology provides a convenient alternative to collecting self-report measures of treatment outcomes. Both paper/pencil and IVR assessments provide highly convergent data and demonstrate good test-retest reliability. Alcohol Dependence Scale score differences between methods highlight special considerations for IVR adaptation of existing paper/pencil instruments. Benefits of IVR include procedural standardization, automatic data scoring, direct electronic storage, and remote accessibility from multiple locations.