Aspects of rehabilitation counselor time demand

Objective measures of time utilization have considerable utility for enhancing workload management in rehabilitation (Walls & Moriarty, 1977). In the absence of real time measures, time demand is typically estimated from subjective conceptualizations of ideal caseload size. Subjective estimation has been criticized, however, as a source of workload management problems such as imbalanced workloads, poor service quality, wasted time, invalid performance appraisals, and low workforce morale (Haring, 1974). More advanced and accurate statistical analysis is used to facilitate higher levels of decision-making (Kern, 1987, 1988, 1993; Peat, Marwick, & Mitchell, 1978a, 1978b). This study was based upon the Kansas workload data. The focus of the study was to explore factors that create time demand in Kansas Rehabilitation Services (KRS). Results from the study provided information about: (a) the utility of workload management methodology for making meaningful workload distinctions, and (b) the nature of workload management problems inferred from any workload distinctions found.