Stigmatizing Attributions and Vocational Rehabilitation Outcomes of People with Disabilities
ObjectiveTo determine whether employment outcomes of people with disabilities can be predicted by the social-cognitive/attribution theory of stigmatization.DesignEx post facto design using data mining technique and logistic regression analysis. Participants: Data from 40,585 vocational rehabilitation (VR) consumers were extracted from the Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Services Report (Form 911).ResultsIn Study 1, data mining results revealed that the most significant predictor of employment outcome was type of disability. Consistent with the social-cognitive/attribution theory of stigmatization, the employment rate of people with physical disabilities (68.5%) was found to be significantly higher than that of people with mental disabilities (56.6%). In Study 2, results from logistic regression analyses indicated that VR services could improve outcomes for subpopulations of people with disabilities with low employment rates.ConclusionEmployment outcomes of VR consumers were found to match the hierarchy of attitudes toward disability predicted by the social-cognitive/attribution theory. However, even with subpopulations with the lowest employment rates, VR services were found to improve employment outcomes.