Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2226
The departments within the College of Education were reorganized and renamed as of July 1, 2011. This department incorporates the former departments of Counseling & Personnel Services; Education Leadership, Higher Education & International Education (excluding Organizational Leadership & Policy Studies); and Special Education.
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Item An Investigation of Factors that Influence Disability Self-Disclosure in Post-Secondary Students(2022) Sullivan, Kathryn E; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When students with disabilities transition to postsecondary school, they must self-disclose their disability to their institution to receive accommodations. Despite the positive educational outcomes associated with receiving accommodations, many students with disabilities who received accommodations in high school do not go on to self-disclose to receive accommodations in postsecondary school. This study investigated factors that facilitate attitudes towards and the behavior of disability self-disclosure by postsecondary students for accommodations, including quality of transition support, self-determination (self-realization and psychological empowerment), and disability identity. Undergraduate participants were recruited for a survey-based study via university listservs and were included in the study if they had previously received accommodations in high school via an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 plan, identified as having a nonapparent diagnosis, disability, or learning difference that impacted them educationally, and had attended college for at least one semester. Within the sample (n=285), 67.6% of the participants had registered with their college or university to receive accommodations. Surprisingly, almost half of the participants in this study (45.6%) did not identify as individuals with a disability despite being legally qualified as students with disabilities in high school. Regressions and path analyses were conducted to determine the factors that significantly predicted self-disclosure attitudes and behaviors (i.e., registering for accommodations). The results indicated that high-quality transition experiences in high school positively predicted attitudes towards requesting accommodations and registering for accommodations. Furthermore, a significant indirect effect was found between the quality of transition support and attitudes toward requesting accommodations via disability identity. Contrary to hypotheses, while quality of transition predicted self-determination factors, self-determination factors did not significantly predict self-disclosure attitudes or registering for accommodations. Further exploring quality of transition factors (i.e., school support, home support, and direct discussions about registering with disability services) as predictors, having direct discussions about registering was found to directly predict self-disclosure attitudes and behaviors. A significant indirect effect was also found between school support and attitudes towards requesting accommodations via disability identity. Results of this study highlight the importance of instilling a positive disability identity to drive the self-disclosure process, as well as having direct discussions with students about the processes and procedures for disability self-disclosure during postsecondary transition. Finally, recommendations for secondary and postsecondary institutions were provided for preparing students with disabilities to navigate postsecondary disability services, and further implications for practice and research were discussed.Item Disability service use and academic outcomes for college students with disabilities(2020) Blasey, Julia; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite the availability of disability support services, college students with disabilities continue to face poorer academic outcomes than their peers without disabilities. Over 70 percent of eligible college students with disabilities do not disclose their disability to their campus disability service to receive academic accommodations or supports. Among those who do utilize accommodations and supports, findings have been mixed regarding the relation between service use and students’ academic outcomes. However, few studies have examined timing of registration with disability service and use of services over time. The current study used secondary data to examine the relation between time of disability service registration and length of accommodation use on the academic outcomes of undergraduate students with disabilities (N= 1,980) who used accommodations between fall 2015 and spring 2019. Descriptive analyses showed overall strong academic outcomes, with a mean GPA of 3.10 and a six-year graduation rate of 82.7 percent. Students delayed an average of 2.38 semesters before registering with the disability service and used their accommodations for an average of 3.23 semesters. Differences in academic outcomes and accommodation use patterns are discussed with regard to gender, race/ethnicity, and disability type. As hypothesized, multiple regression analyses revealed that delayed registration with the disability service negatively predicted cumulative GPA and positively predicted time to graduation. Similarly, length of accommodation use positively predicted cumulative GPA and negatively predicted time to graduation. Results of the multilevel model regression with fixed effects showed that continued accommodation use positively predicted within-subject changes in students’ semester GPAs across the eight semesters of the study period. Implications for future research and for improving service delivery for university disability offices are discussed.Item Do Perceptions of General Campus Climate Mediate Disability Status and Institutional Satisfaction?: A Replication Study(2018) Yeung, Jeffrey G.; Worthington, Roger L.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study examined the potential mediating role of perceptions of general campus climate on the relationship between disability status and institutional satisfaction across two independent university samples—both of which are large predominately white midwestern institutions in the United States. Consistent with the proposed hypotheses, disability status was negatively related to general campus climate perceptions and institutional satisfaction and positively correlated with institutional satisfaction. In both samples, perceptions of general campus climate significantly explained the link between disability status and institutional satisfaction. In the first sample, perceptions of general campus climate partially mediated the aforementioned connection. However, in the second sample, perceptions of general campus climate fully mediated disability status and college student satisfaction. Findings, implications, and limitations are discussed.