# Improving Vocational Outcomes of Veterans with Psychiatric Disorders: Career Counseling & Development

> **NIH VA IK2** · EDITH NOURSE  ROGERS MEMORIAL VETERANS HOSPITAL · 2021 · —

## Abstract

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) offers robust vocational programming that have helped
countless Veterans obtain competitive employment; however, these services are not uniformly effective as
recent data suggests that only 35 to 43% of Veterans are competitively employed at time of discharge. For
those who become competitively employed, job tenure may be brief, which is often attenuated by
underemployment or poor person-job fit. Moreover, only 3.5% of Veterans experiencing vocational problems
engage in vocational services offered by the VHA. On average, it takes Veterans more than four years to utilize
vocational services. These Veterans are at high risk of acquiring multiple functional losses and developing
chronic disabilities as their vocational needs go unmet for years.
 Research suggests that intrinsic factors like lacking clear vocational goals, perceiving barriers to
employment, and negative beliefs about one’s ability to work contribute to low engagement, outcomes, and
tenure of some consumers of vocational rehabilitation services. Thus, the VA may be able to improve
vocational engagement, outcomes, and tenure of Veterans with psychiatric disorders by enhancing vocational
services with added interventions targeting unhelpful psychological factors. Career counseling and
development services have been shown to be effective in helping civilian populations clarify vocational goals
and identity, enhance vocational self-efficacy, and increase proactive vocational behaviors in the face of
obstacles. Additionally, career counseling and development services help facilitate greater “match” between a
person and their job, and person-job match is a key determinant of long-term career tenure among individual
with psychiatric disorders.
 The researchers of this project propose a three-aim study to develop a career counseling and
development intervention for Veterans with psychiatric disorders (CCD-V). The first aim will focus on the
design and development of the CCD-V intervention with veteran and provider input (n=16). The second aim will
pilot test the intervention in an open trial (n=10) to gather Veteran input on the initial intervention. The third and
final aim will consist of a feasibility pilot randomized controlled trial (n=50) to examine acceptability and
feasibility outcomes and to explore the impact of the CCD-V intervention in terms of functional improvement
and other vocational outcomes. The proposed CCD-V intervention will consist of approximately eight individual
sessions that will be offered concurrently with existing VHA vocational rehabilitation services, (e.g., transitional
work experience [TWE]).The final product of this study is to produce a manualized CCD-V intervention, and
corresponding fidelity monitoring checklist, to be tested later in a larger efficacy trial.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10187223
- **Project number:** 1IK2RX003401-01A2
- **Recipient organization:** EDITH NOURSE  ROGERS MEMORIAL VETERANS HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Brian Stevenson
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10187223

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10187223, Improving Vocational Outcomes of Veterans with Psychiatric Disorders: Career Counseling & Development (1IK2RX003401-01A2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10187223. Licensed CC0.

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