Self-perceived knowledge and skills of job coaches in Japan

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to assess the self-perceived knowledge and skills of Japanese job coaches and to examine whether their knowledge and skills differed across employment settings. PARTICIPANTS: The 479 job coaches at Work Support Centers or Work Support Agencies comprised the study population. METHODS: A Japanese version of the 80-item Self-Assessment for Students or Counselors (SASC-J) was mailed to all the Work Support Centers and Agencies. RESULTS: There was no significant difference on any of the SASC-J 8 subsystems mean scores between Work Support Agencies and Work Support Centers. The highest mean score of these 2 employment settings was the "Placement Personal" (2.30 and 2.31), and the lowest was the "Education" (1.40 and 1.46). The overall mean score of the SASC-J was 1.82 (SD = 0.63). A significant relationship was found between the years of experience and the SASC-J (r = 0.30, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Since the average below 3.0 on the SASC would mean that "you need to read a textbook on placement and/or a course in Placement", the result of the current study suggested that Japanese job coaches, regardless of the employment settings, need to learn more about the systematic placement technique. Further studies are encouraged to assess the training outcome of the job coach.