The extent of applying international standards on vocational rehabilitation centers among people with disabilities in the Basque Country, Spain

Resumen

As international vocational rehabilitation (VR) standards are developed to promote the rights of people with disabilities (PWDs) in training, employment, and integration, instruments are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of VR centers according to international norms and based on the perceptions of PWDs. This study aimed to investigate PWDs and managers’ perceptions regarding the extent of application of international standards issued by the Council of Europe (COE) and International Labour Organization (ILO) in VR centers in the Basque country, Spain. This study also described the current situation and examined the opinions of PWDs with regards to the VR services provided for them. Data were collected in two phases; the first phase includes two stages: (1) an open-ended face-to-face interview with the 11 Basque VR associations’ managers; and (2) an interview questionnaire was administered to 136 PWDs. The second phase included creating a valid and reliable instrument to measure PWDs’ perceptions regarding the extent of application of international standards. The instrument was translated from English to Spanish and the inter-rater reliability of an expert panel survey and interviews with VR managers were used to assess content validity. For the Spanish version of the instrument, internal consistency reliability and factor analysis were examined with 186 PWDs in five VR centers in the Basque country. Results showed that, although PWDs perceive VR and employment services as advanced and beneficial, there is a need to provide additional courses about work skills. Results also revealed four major themes to describe current situation of the VR program in the Basque region: (a) goals of the VR program, (b) vision and mission of VR centers, (c) eligibility conditions for VR services, and (d) VR services provided for PWDs. The instrument appears to have good validity and reliability but requires further validation. Support is provided for its use in both English and Spanish. In addition, results indicated the degree of application is high in whole research instrument or standards based on perceptions of managers and PWDs. The results also indicated there is a significant difference according to: (a) level of education of PWDs for all domains or standards; (b) status of disability in the degree of applicability of philosophy or aims of VR association (c) level of education of managers for all domains or standards, except for job related services; (d) gender of managers only in the degree of applicability of VR guidance standards; (e) work experience of managers only in job related services and vocational guidance standards; (f) the type of respondents (managers and PWDs) in the all standards. The implications for VR practice and suggestions for future research are provided.