Acceptance rates of African-American versus white consumers of vocational rehabilitation services: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the acceptance rates of African American versus White Consumers of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services. This analysis represents an aggregate total of nine years of Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911) data (between 1984 and 1998). All studies reported data for one or more fiscal years on acceptance and race extracted from the RSA-911 database. Significant results indicated that Whites were found to be 1.54 times as likely to be accepted for VR services than are African Americans. However, further analysis indicates that the 1992 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act may have had a positive effect on discrepant acceptance rates. The authors discuss possible interpretations of the findings as well as barriers to VR acceptance for underserved and underrepresented groups in the United States.