Competency research in the rehabilitation profession and that of rehabilitation counselling in particular, has an extensive pedigree. This article reviews the significant research in the field and details several of the instruments used in competency research to date. Issues concerning the current use of competency research and the future role of such research are discussed.

Societal changes of the twenty-first century have implications for the future of rehabilitation counselling in the United States and in Australia. An emerging knowledge society, new populations with diverse needs, third wave messages from the disability community, and culture wars of politics influence the direction of rehabilitation counselling. The demographics of disability and the professional status of rehabilitation counsellors in the United States are reviewed. The adaptability and durability of rehabilitation counselling skills and knowledge is discussed.

Recent rehabilitation counselling literature has pointed to major developments in the contribution of rehabilitation counsellors to acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation. Rehabilitation counsellors have widened their skill base in case management, vocational evaluation, and in the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client. It is evident, however, that better methods of ABI rehabilitation service delivery, including those services provided by rehabilitation counsellors, continue to be sought. Strategies needed to ensure the advancement of rehabilitation counselling practice and research in ABI rehabilitation are discussed, and involve the adoption of a systems approach, a shift away from dominant clinical psychological analyses in favour of psychosocial frameworks, and the co-participation of persons with ABI in the rehabilitation process.

Forty-nine injured workers were selected from a study population of 3,041 injured workers using a critical case sampling technique, to explore characteristics of workplaces and worker perceptions and attributions related to return to work status following workplace injury. The only significant differences between those who returned and those who did not return to work were satisfaction with pre-injury pay and provision of training in occupational health and safety procedures. From the in-depth structured interviews of 49 injured workers, 5 workers who failed to return to work were selected for detailed case study to further explicate the factors which contributed to unsuccessful rehabilitation. Worker characteristics, the timing and meaning of the injury to individual workers, and conflicting and unstated agendas in the occupational rehabilitation process, were all identified as critical factors which impact on return to work outcomes.

In this paper the ageing labour force, changing labour force participation rates, and age discrimination in the world of work, especially as exhibited in employer practices, are discussed. Implications of these phenomena for what rehabilitation counsellors do are proposed by way of discussion points on the topics of vocational and rehabilitation counselling, job analysis and placement, professional advocacy and community programs, and training of older workers.

A questionnaire survey of 85 counsellors investigated potential contributors to stress in the workplace and valued coping strategies. The sample consisted of three groups: a Government group, a Private group and a Religious group, which represented three different types of work organisation. Recent research suggests that organisational factors contribute to occupational stress, and that personal coping strategies may not alleviate stress appreciably. The results of the study indicated that the most stressed group was the Government group of counsellors, that the most highly rated contributor to stress was management attitudes and that the most valued coping strategies were organisational in nature rather than personal.