The Deaf in the World of Work

Deaf persons form a distinct minority in the world of work. Many deaf persons are underemployed and face bleak vocational futures. Many actions can be taken to change the status of deaf employees. Professionals working with the deaf should be aware of the current vocational functioning of their clients. Deaf clients need specific job information, their social and communication skills may need improvement, and they may need basic skills in applying for a job. Comprehensive vocational counseling for the deaf is an obvious need. Also, employees must be encouraged to reduce job discrimination against the deaf. Employer attitudes preclude the deaf for appropriate job trials. If the counselor, client, and the employer work closely together, the occupational picture of deaf workers can be greatly upgraded.     

The Easy Rider Syndrome: A Pattern of Hetero- and Homosexual Relationships in a Heroin Addict Population

A pattern of dyadic relationship in the addict subculture is described in terms of its familial antecedents, current dynamics, and treatment implications. The chief feature of this pattern is that the male member of the dyad is an "Easy Rider," supported and cared for by the female partner.     

THE ROLE OF THE TRADITIONAL RESEARCH DESIGN IN UNDERESTIMATING THE VALIDITY OF THE EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW

Building upon the suggestions of Arvey and Campion (1982) and Zedeck, Tziner, and Middlestadt (1983), this paper calls into question the traditional approach to validating the employment interview. A general review of the literature reveals that individuals are likely to differ in their ability to provide accurate predictions of employee behavior and that interviewers often differ in their constant tendency to make favorable or unfavorable ratings. A review of published validation studies shows that most researchers fail to consider these tendencies and, therefore, may be inappropriately collapsing data across multiple interviewers. Through analytic argument we conclude that reviews of the existing literature will likely underestimate the usefulness of this widely used technique.     

L'Arche: Homes for People Who Are Mentally Retarded

The author describes L'Arche, an international federation of homes for mentally retarded people, and explores the views of Jean Vanier, the organization's founder, on issues of social justice and world peace. The therapeutic relationships formed in L'Arche communities are compared to healing counselor-client relationships, and the role of the counselor as consultant on problems related to mental retardation is discussed.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A BEHAVIORALLY BASED PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

This paper describes the development of a behaviorally based performance appraisal system. Blanz and Ghiselli's Mixed Standard Scale was used as the basis for developing the performance appraisal system for assessing the performance of highway patrol personnel. However, the particular developmental procedures described here differ in some respects from those reported in the literature. Rather than developing rating items describing general traits such as "diligence,""initiative," or "enthusiasm" in behavioral terms, the items in the present scale were developed to describe proficiency levels of specific job tasks. This characteristic is expected to enhance the objectivity of the evaluation system for both appraisal and job counseling purposes. The appraisal instrument was subjected to a series of reliability and validity tests that demonstrated its high reliability and validity. Although the content of the appraisal sytem desribed here included highway patrol tasks, a similar system could be developed using the procedures described for a wide variety and level of jobs.     

Conflicts Between Ethics and Law in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Codes of ethics are designed to guide and govern the behavior of the professional for whom they are written. In such fields as counseling, psychology, and social work, ethical standards are necessary to protect clients, guide professionals, safeguard the autonomy of professional workers, and enhance the status of the profession. Sometimes, however, the professional worker finds that the ethical standards of the profession seem to be in conflict with the law. These conflicts may arise in such areas as advertising, confidentiality, and clients' rights of access to their own files. The authors discuss the nature, ramifications, and implications of ethical-legal conflicts in the helping professions.