Development of a Rubric to Assess State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Substance Use Disorders Policies and Procedures

Despite the high prevalence rate of substance use disorders (SUD) (22% - 50%) in the State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system, VR clients with SUD are under-served. There are also considerable discrepancies in existing VR policies and procedures related to SUD across states and regional offices, which is a highlighted factor associated with this under-service. There is no known empirical study outlining the extent and specificity of these discrepancies. In order to address this gap, the VR Substance Use Disorders Policy Scoring Rubric was developed for use in research investigations designed to systematically analyze VR policies related to SUD. Results of this study demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties of the VR Substance Use Disorders Policy Scoring Rubric. A discussion of the rubric application and limitation of the study is included, as well as implications for rehabilitation research and policy.