Coaching supports students with disabilities goal attainment in higher education

ABSTRACT

Earning a degree from an institution of higher education (IHE) improve employment prospects and increases lifetime earnings. The rate of graduation for IHE students with disabilities is lower than for the student body at large. Coaching supports IHE students in earning their degrees. This study examines the effect of coaching on the attainment of self-identified academic-related goals among IHE students with a disability (n = 30) and self-selected strategies used to attain these goals. Participants made progress on 93% and met 77% of their goals. They did so quickly with a mean number of sessions of 2.2 (SD = 1.5) to achieve goal attainment. Participants reported attempting 69% of the strategies they selected during their coaching sessions regardless of the category of strategy (i.e., academic responsibilities, adulting, or support). On average, they rated the self-perceived helpfulness of these strategies as 3.96 out of 5. This study, building on previous work, suggests that coaching has a role in promoting the degree completion of IHE students with disabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Coaching outcomes
• higher education
• university
• students
• disability
• goals
• occupational therapy

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the occupational therapy graduate assistants, former students and colleagues for their contributions that made this project possible. We thank our institution research editors for their editorial support. Thank you to the Thomas Jefferson University Department of Occupational Therapy and the Office of the Dean of Students for their financial support of this program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data deposition

The datasets of this study have not been deposited in any depository but are available upon request.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported in part by an internal educational grant.

Notes on contributors

Marie-Christine Potvin

Marie-Christine Potvin, PhD, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist with 25 years of experience and Certified Positive Psychology Coach, who is committed to bringing coaching to occupational therapy. To that end, she is engaged in research and the delivery of trainings.

Margaret Ryan

Margaret Ryan, Lisa Zolotnitsky, Kathleen Carr and Caitlin Beach, were all occupational therapy students and graduate assistants at the time of their contributions to this study.