Mental health professionals' disability competence: Measuring self-awareness, perceived knowledge, and perceived skills

Objective: To describe mental health professionals' self-reported competence when working with clients with disabilities. Study Design: Survey administered with a measure of. social. desirability. Participants and Setting: One hundred eight professionals in counseling offices, disability services offices, and doctoral counseling programs. Main Outcome Measure: Competence as self-reported on the Counseling Clients With Disabilities Survey (CCDS). Results. - CCDS scores paralleled participants' disability experience. Participants reported most competence in awareness, less competence in knowledge, and least competence in skills. Neither socially desirable responding nor years of experience accounted for these results. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need for mental health professionals to develop (a) awareness/beliefs/attitudes toward disability, (b) knowledge of disability and disability-related issues, and (c) skills/behaviors working with clients with disabilities.