Efficacy of Coaching in Supporting College Students With Disabilities in Achieving Their Academic Learning and Living Goals

PURPOSE: Successful completion of postsecondary education (PSE) has been found to play a vital role in facilitating independence, job acquisition and higher earnings for both students with and without disabilities (Plotner & May, 2019). However, students with disabilities graduate from college at lower rates than their peers without disabilities (Institute on Disability, 2019). For students with disabilities, receiving proper supports in college has been found to predict their degree of success (Herbert et al., 2014). However, specialized supports are not required by law in PSE. Consequently, most institutions only provide the accommodations that are required by the American with Disability Act and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, 2011). A study was undertaken to promote the academic success of students with disabilities through the addition of occupational therapy as a specialized support. The occupational therapists used coaching, an evidence-based approach, as their primary method of intervention.

METHOD: A mixed method design (i.e. 1 group repeated measures and ethnography) was used to measure the outcomes of this study. A convenience sample of participants was recruited through the Office of Student Accessibility Services of a mid-Atlantic university during two consecutive academic years. All students who were eligible for accessibility services were eligible for inclusion in the study if they had self-identified needs the Screening Tool for Accessibility Requirements and Satisfaction (STARS) questionnaire. The primary outcome measure for the study was Goal Attainment Scaling. Participants were also interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide to capture their perspectives about the intervention received. Descriptive statistics and a multi-step coding process were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: A total of 23 students with disabilities participated in the study; 19 were undergraduate and 4 were graduate students. The students identified a total of 79 goals to address with the help of their occupational therapist. The students who participated in the program met 66% of their self-identified learning goals which were grouped by topic: academic, health and wellness, interpersonal relationship, and time management/organization. On average, it took 2.22(1.49) intervention sessions for goals to be met. Of the identified goals, 85% improved to a degree deemed clinically significant. Seventeen of the 23 students agreed to participate in a qualitative interview. Overall, their feedback was positive. They shared their impressions of the benefits of the services received. These can be grouped into the following categories: academic success, emotional support, progress toward goal attainment, personal health and wellness, time management and organization. In the words of a student, “the skills that it provided me are invaluable.” The data set, both quantitative and qualitative, is extensive and data analysis is continuing.

CONCLUSION: Occupational therapist led coaching is an innovative approach to expanding the traditional accommodations offered to studentlities on college campuses to better meet their needs. Students within this program met the majority of their self-identified academic learning goals and provided positive feedback about the services received.

IMPACT STATEMENT: The study’s findings highlight the benefit of providing OT led coaching intervention within PSE institutions to promote the academic success of students with disabilities. College academic success can have long-term positive impacts on the lives of people with disabilities.

References

Herbert, J. T., Welsh, W., Hong, B. S., Soo-yong, B., Atkinson, H. A., & Anne Kurz, C. (2014). Persistence and graduation of college students seeking disability support services. Journal of Rehabilitation, 80(1), 22-32. https://www.nationalrehab.org/journal-of-rehabilitation

Institute on Disability. (2019). 2018 annual report on people with disabilities in America. Retrieved from https://disabilitycompendium.org/sites/default/files/user-uploads/Annual_Report_2018_Accessible_AdobeReaderFriendly.pdf

Plotner, A. J., & May, C. (2019). A comparison of the college experience for students with and without disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 23(1), 57-77. doi: 10.1177/1744629517719346

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. (2011). Students with disabilities preparing for postsecondary education: Know your rights and responsibilities (rev. ed.). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transition.html