Dear Readers:
I would like to thank all of our IARP editorial board members and contributors for their insightful manuscripts, reviews and recommendations for vocational rehabilitation practice shared in this edition of the Rehabilitation Professional. I would also like to thank Tanya Owen, Aaron Mertes and Tim Field for all their efforts over the years to make IARP’s journals successful.
We appreciate the work of Mary Barros-Bailey, Frank Slesnick & Bryan Austin in their manuscript Developing a Reliable and Valid Process for Estimating Post-Injury Earning Capacity: Part I (The Problem). This article examines the various models developed over the last four decades to arrive at opinions of lost earning capacity. This role or function is one of the most important aspects of specific damage analysis proffered by a vocational expert (VE) and calculated by a forensic expert (FE).
The second article is a manuscript submitted by Craig Johnston and Jeff Truthan on the Occupational Requirements Survey: Navigating its use in Vocational Expert Testimony. This article discusses the Occupational Requirements Survey that is relatively new, and experts, judges, and claimant representatives are left to navigate how this data can be properly utilized. Potential issues with this data are proffered, and an examination of case law that may guide the vocational expert are discussed.
The third article the Physical Exertion Requirements of Unskilled Work is a manuscript submitted by David A. Weaver. This paper develops methods for estimating the exertion (or strength) requirements of unskilled work for each detailed occupation in the federal government’s Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Estimates and confidence intervals from these methods are displayed in easy-to-use and publicly available Excel files that accompany this paper.
The fourth article submitted by John Maier is on Completing a Vocational Assessment of a Registered Nurse. This article details the requirements of nursing occupations and the evolving labor market. It emphasizes the importance of work and discusses alternative jobs that some nurses could potentially perform if they face exertional or nonexertional limitations, depending on their education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
The final article in this edition of the Rehabilitation Professional is a manuscript submitted by William Waynor and several of his colleagues from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Understanding Undergraduate Students Desire to Study Psychiatric Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Study. The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate an undergraduate degree program in psychiatric rehabilitation. Eleven students participated in semi-structured interviews with the purpose of exploring their motivations for pursuing the degree program and their perceptions of the program and curriculum.
We hope you find this issue informative and useful for your professional practice. I look forward to serving IARP over the next few years and thank you for your ongoing support of our IARP journals.
Sincerely,
Scott Beveridge, Editor-in-Chief