Critique of rehabilitation counseling approaches and practices

¶ … Stuntzner's (2014) study on the concept of "self-compasision" as a component in rehabilitation counseling and the study by Hartley, Johnston and Tarvydas (2015), which focuses on the use of social media advocacy in rehabilitation counseling both examine ways that rehabilitation counseling can be improved through the implementation of different variables. This paper will critique and compare the two studies and show how their findings can be used to help rehabilitation counselors better their own profession in the field.

Stuntzner's (2014) article is based on a literature review of the concept of "self-compassion" as a construct so as to determine how this idea might be applied to rehabilitation counseling to help reduce "negative thoughts, feelings, and outcomes while also promoting positive ones" (p. 37). Stuntzner's findings indicate that self-compassion is a concept that can be more clearly defined and utilized by counselors to assist in the healing of persons with disabilities. Hartley, Johnston and Tarvydas (2015) meanwhile approach the issue of how rehabilitation counselors can better improve the lives of patients by examining the role of social media advocacy in counseling. Their study provides another literature review of relevant studies on social media usage as a way to reduce feelings of marginalization as well as ethical and practical issues related to the usage of social media by counselors promoting self-advocacy. The study provides recommendations based on the findings of the literature review and suggests that social media can be an effective tool in rehabilitation counseling because it enables counselors to reach out to patients who may feel marginalized or isolated because of their disability and helps to draw them into connectivity both with the counselor and others who may share the social media network.

These studies are similar in that both conduct literature reviews of relevant data as the basis of their studies. The studies thus present Level V types of evidence, which are helpful in giving researchers a fuller understanding of the issues at hand. In this case, both articles focus on how rehabilitation counseling can be improved through the utilization of either a concept or a tool. The concept that is found to be an effective idea is that of self-compassion -- the promotion of the patient's feeling of well-being for oneself -- enables rehabilitation counselors to guide patients in their thinking towards more positive feelings which can have positive impacts on the body, the restoration of health, and the activities of the individual. The tool that is found to be effective in the study by Hartley, Johnston and Tarvydas (2015) is social media, which enables rehabilitation counselors to engage more frequently and more positively with clients and also enables them to build positive relationships. Both articles emphasize the importance of building positivity in patients' lives for rehabilitation counselors, as the disadvantage of their disability can be a source of negativity that must be overcome.