Professional Identity Construction of Job Coaches for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities:A Perspective on Emotional Labor
Setting the position of job coach for individuals with disabilities is a crucial institutional arrangement in disability employment services.For job coaches for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities(JCIIDD),the service delivery process of them within sheltered employment organizations is also the process of professional identity construction.We conducted field research across several sheltered employment organizations,and found that JCIIDD are professionally characterized by facing complex job contents,diverse clients,high emotional engagement,and a blurred professional identity after analyzing the research results with a theoretical framework of emotional labor.Moreover,JCIIDD often navigate multiple emotional rules in their work,dynamically adopting either a caregiving strategy or an employment service strategy,thereby constructing dual identities as care providers or employment facilitators.The distinct professional identities arising from these strategies contribute to the complex emotional labor experience of JCIIDD.To advance the quality of employment services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities,it is recommended that policymakers clarify the responsibilities and work standards for JCIIDD,and strengthen the training and supervision support for them to foster clearer,more professional identity development.Additionally,defining the sheltered employment organizations'role in vocational assistance can help align various employment models effectively.
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilitiesJob coachesProfessional identityEmotional labor
万方数据
