Rehabilitation Counsellors, Disabled Clients and Interaction 2006

The study surveyed Finnish rehabilitation counsellors' views on the impact of their work for clients with disabilities or long-term illnesses as well as the position of their clients when they interact with their families and the service system. The target group included all rehabilitation counsellors working for joint municipal authorities for specialised health care in Finland (i.e. both the staff of central hospitals as well as outsourced employees). The first part of the questionnaire charted the nature of the respondents' work and how the average working week was distributed between different types of tasks. The first questions examined matters relating to direct patient work in rehabilitation counselling, e.g. the typical duration of a client meeting, the number of client meetings per month, and the number of times per year the respondents met with long-time clients. Questions also covered indirect patient work, e.g. the time spent on participating in negotiations and trainings, travelling, and arranging courses. The second part of the survey focused on the respondents' client relationships. The respondents were asked to evaluate a variety of different aspects in the interaction between (1) the respondent and his/her clients, (2) clients and members of their family, and (3) clients and other employees in the service process. Background variables included gender, age (categorised), work experience, working hours, and education.