Disciplines such as occupational therapy, pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy and rehabilitation counseling have written about the importance of professional associations and their integral role in sustaining and advancing professions (Aronson et al., 2012; Holm et al., 2020; Phillips & Leahy, 2012). Professional associations often provide continuing education, networking, credentialing, professional identity, advocacy, and codes of ethical conduct (Heinemann et al., 1986; Holm et al., 2020; Phillips & Leahy, 2012). Although professional associations are vital to the continuation and advancement of professions, research in occupational therapy (Holm et al., 2020), rehabilitation counseling (Phillips & Leahy, 2012), pharmacy (Roccograndi et al., 2020), and chiropractic care (Innes et al., 2020) has documented the decline in membership and attributable factors. Some of the reasons cited for decline in membership include a growing number of professional associations (Phillips et al., 2022; Phillips & Leahy, 2012), increased use of social media (Phillips et al., 2022), economic costs and lack of perceived benefit (Holm et al., 2020), and a need to increase professional engagement in students (Aronson et al., 2012; Holm et al., 2020).
In rehabilitation counseling, a special issue of the Rehabilitation Counselors and Educators Journal was published on the future of rehabilitation counseling professional associations (Phillips et al., 2022). Much of the special issue discussed the benefits and challenges of consolidating rehabilitation counseling associations as a potential solution for the declining membership. It is beyond the scope of this article to provide a comprehensive overview of this complex issue. However, Phillips et al. (2022) illustrated professional associations are strongest when they have strong membership, long-term involvement in associations, and active engagement. A more extensive examination of professional engagement is warranted to strengthen the rehabilitation counseling profession.
According to Aronson et al. (2012), professional engagement has not been fully developed or researched to support and grow professions and professional associations. In their study, they illustrated the unique impact academic engagement has on professional programs and indicated its predictive value in professional engagement. Using a modified Delphi process, Aronson and colleagues developed a definition of professional engagement using thirty-four pharmacy students. Their definition of professional engagement was “an energizing state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and focus. It requires continual learning and keeping up with the profession of pharmacy, and a desire to advance the profession” (Aronson et al., 2012, p. 3). The researchers emphasized the need to design learning experiences that incorporate professionally engaging elements to effectively instill and cultivate professionalism.
Moreover, Hirschi et al. (2014) advocated for the development of proactive career behaviors due to the evolving nature of work and continual occupational innovation. Hirschi and colleagues created the Career Engagement Scale to measure “the degree to which somebody is proactively developing his or her career as expressed by diverse career behaviors” (2014, p. 575). The researchers also found career engagement for current students predicted higher job and career satisfaction for several months post-employment. While Hirschi’s work was not specific to rehabilitation counselor educators, the findings are relevant because proactive career behaviors, such as adaptability, self-directed learning, and collaboration, are critical for effective rehabilitation counselors. Based on this research it would be valuable for rehabilitation counselor educators to intentionally investigate what professional engagement looks like for rehabilitation counselors and employ learning experiences that both teach required content and instill behaviors promoting students to be professionally engaged.
Embeddedness is another construct that can be examined to better understand and develop professional engagement. Embeddedness focuses on the extent to which employees feel connected to their organization and community, which influences their decision to remain in their job (Donnelly et al., 2023). It includes factors such as fit (compatibility with the organization), links (connections with people), and sacrifice (perceived costs of leaving). Strong embeddedness in organizations and professional networks tends to support retention, innovation, and knowledge sharing (Rahimnia et al., 2022).
Career engagement and embeddedness are closely linked to professional engagement, yet represent distinct dimensions of workplace involvement. To better understand these nuances, it is important to distinguish professional engagement from career engagement and embeddedness, as each captures unique aspects of an individual’s relationship with their work and profession. Professional engagement is the active commitment and enthusiasm individuals demonstrate toward their profession, characterized by ongoing learning, adaptability, collaboration, and a proactive approach to contributing to their field beyond routine job tasks. While these constructs are interconnected, each captures a unique aspect of workplace involvement that warrants distinct consideration.
To extend research on professional engagement a professor at a private midwestern university and board member of a local and state rehabilitation association employed service learning to investigate professional engagement and participation in professional associations. Service learning has a long tradition in higher education and rehabilitation counseling (Owenz & Cruz, 2022). Faculty utilize service-learning assignments to collaborate with professionals in the community to work on real-world issues, while students are exposed to firsthand experience working on applied problems with the goal of improved outcomes for the community members. In this example, the rehabilitation association was searching for ways to develop member engagement, and the rehabilitation counseling program sought a creative way to teach a course in assessment and evaluation. It was mutually determined between the professional association and faculty member that the graduate students would benefit greatly by having the task of creating a questionnaire on professional engagement. As a result, students obtained real-world experience learning about assessment creation and interaction with the professional association. Moreover, the association was provided with the assessment to develop professional engagement for their membership.
Course Format
The 16-week graduate course in assessment and evaluation met once a week for 2 hours and 15 minutes and had seven students enrolled. Five were rehabilitation counseling students and two were music therapy students. At the first author’s institution, music therapy students complete four courses in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program (Counseling Theory, Group Process, Research Methods, and Assessment and Evaluation) as part of their program. A music therapy association was not contacted for this study.
The course was divided into two parts: learning content and hands-on group work. The content was taught through readings, lectures, group discussions, and assignment completion. During group work, students worked collaboratively to develop the questionnaire by applying what they were learning in the content portion of the class. Additional assignments were required and included completing an exam, developing an assessment treatment plan based on a case study, and presenting the assessment to various groups (music therapy students and members of the professional association). Students were presented with content on assessment creation including assessment construction, scales of measurement, reliability, validity, and ethical assessment issues. Prior to this course, all the students completed a graduate-level research methods course which also covered material on assessment design and implementation. The faculty member introduced factor analysis to the students as that level of statistical knowledge was beyond the scope of their research course.
By the end of the semester, students created a definition of professional engagement based on mental health and rehabilitation counseling. Their definition of professional engagement refers to the level of commitment and active participation individuals exhibit in their professional activities and careers. It encompasses a genuine interest and enthusiasm for one’s work, as well as dedication to ongoing learning, adaptability, and excellence in performance. Professional engagement goes beyond the routine tasks associated with a job and involves a proactive and positive approach to professional development, collaboration with colleagues, and contributing to the broader goals of the field while maintaining a healthy work life. The definition was created by examining existing literature (Aronson et al., 2012; Hirschi et al., 2014), interviewing members of a rehabilitation association, reviewing similar constructs including career engagement (Hirschi et al., 2014) and embeddedness (Donnelly et al., 2023), and from course discussions with students.
In addition to the definition of professional engagement, students created the initial version of the 28-item Professional Engagement Questionnaire (PEQ). They also created a scoring guide, piloted the assessment with 45 individuals, made edits to the assessment based on participant feedback, computed reliability and validity statistics, and presented the assessment to various stakeholders including at a state rehabilitation conference. Finally, at the end of the semester, two students agreed to work with the professor to continue to develop the PEQ.
The strength of professional associations is crucial for the advancement and sustainability of rehabilitation counseling as a profession (Nerlich et al., 2022). Despite recognition of the importance of professional engagement, there is a lack of assessments to foster this construct among rehabilitation counselors. By developing and piloting the PEQ within rehabilitation counseling, the current study aims to provide a foundation for future research to strengthen professional engagement. Given the unique professional identity, scope of practice, and challenges faced by rehabilitation counselors, it is essential to develop and validate measures that reflect the realities of this profession. The present study addresses this gap by focusing on the development and initial validation of the Professional Engagement Questionnaire (PEQ) for rehabilitation counselors.
Methodology
A pilot study was chosen as the most appropriate method to determine initial reliability and validity of the PEQ and establish if the PEQ aligned with the definition of professional engagement. Due to the time constraints of creating a questionnaire, obtaining multiple agency Institutional Review Board approval, and obtaining the 300-400 participants to perform exploratory factor analysis in one semester, a smaller convenience sample was chosen to be more feasible to determine the need for a larger study. To establish reliability and validity of the PEQ, the following statistical procedures were performed: total item correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, exploratory factor analysis, and correlations between the PEQ and established scales to help establish convergent validity.
A series of statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the initial reliability and validity of the PEQ. The selection of statistical methods was guided by the primary research aim: to determine the internal consistency and factor structure of the PEQ, as well as assess its convergent validity with established measures. Each analysis was chosen based on its appropriateness for psychometric evaluation during the questionnaire development phase.
To evaluate the initial psychometric properties of the PEQ, a four-step statistical analysis approach was employed. First, item-total correlations were conducted to identify and remove items that did not consistently relate to the overall construct, ensuring that only internally coherent items were retained. Second, internal consistency reliability was assessed using both Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega to provide robust estimates of the scale’s reliability, with omega offering a more precise measure under less restrictive assumptions (Donnelly et al., 2023). Third, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to explore the underlying factor structure of the PEQ, confirming the dimensionality of professional engagement and guiding the identification of meaningful subscales. EFA was appropriate because the factor structure of this newly developed instrument was unknown and needed to be empirically derived. Finally, convergent validity was examined by correlating PEQ scores with established measures of career engagement (i.e., Career Engagement Scale) and professional embeddedness (i.e., The Brief College Embeddedness Scale).
Participants and Procedures
The study was reviewed and approved by the first author’s Institutional Review Board before data collection. Participants were recruited from a state vocational rehabilitation agency and graduates of a midwestern rehabilitation counseling program of the first author. Eligibility requirements included working for vocational rehabilitation or having graduated from rehabilitation counseling program. Out of 294 individuals contacted, 87 participants consented to participate for a response rate of 29.5%. Of the 87 participants, 75 completed all the questions. The 12 participants who did not complete all the items were not included in the analysis.
Sixty-four (85.3%) individuals identified as White, 8 (10.7%) as African American, 2 (2.7%) as Other, and 1 (1.3%) preferred to not say. Forty-four (58.7%) were from the state rehabilitation agency and 31 (41.3%) were graduates of a rehabilitation counseling program and not employed at a state agency. Eleven (14.7%) individuals were in the 20-30 age range, 21 (28%) were in the 31-40 age range, 19 (25.3%) in the 41-50 age range, and 2 (2.7%) individuals were 61 or older. Three total emails, one per week, were used to solicit participation in the study and no incentives were used to increase participation. Each email included an informed consent letter, and implied consent was assumed through voluntary completion of the survey.
Instruments
Professional Engagement Questionnaire
The PEQ is a 28-item questionnaire and contains seven characteristics of professional engagement that include commitment to excellence, continuous learning, collaboration, connection, adaptability, creativity, and life balance. All questions are answered on a 5-point Likert scale with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Sample questions are “I actively seek out opportunities to enhance my professional skills”, “I find relationships with coworkers meaningful”, “I have enthusiasm for my profession”, “There is always room to improve my practice”, “I embrace new technologies to enhance my professional capabilities”, and “I am confident in initiating conversations with colleagues for professional engagement”.
Career Engagement Scale
The Career Engagement Scale (CES) is a 9-item measure on a 5-point Likert scale designed to assess the degree to which individuals engage in proactive career behaviors (Hirschi et al., 2014). Sample questions include “Actively sought to design your professional future”, “Sincerely thought about personal values, interests”, “Established or maintained contacts with people”, and “Assumed duties or positions that will help you”. The CES was used to help establish convergent validity. The CES has Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from .87 to .90 and had positive correlations to job and career satisfaction indicating adequate construct validity.
The Brief College Embeddedness Scale
Donnelly et al. (2023) gave permission to modify and use The Brief College Embeddedness Scale for this study. It is a 12-item measure on a 5-point Likert scale with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Embeddedness assesses a person’s fit to an organization, connection to others, and expected losses if a person would leave the agency. Questions were modified to address embeddedness to a profession rather than a college. Sample questions included “I feel connected to my profession”, “I would sacrifice a lot if I left this profession”, and “My profession is the best fit for people who think like me”. The modified version of the Brief College Embeddedness Scale was used to help establish convergent validity. The Brief College Embeddedness Scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of .84 and McDonalds omega of .83. and strong convergent and divergent validity.
Results
Item-Total Correlations
The first step in determining the reliability of the PEQ was an item-total analysis. Item-total correlations ranged from -.486 to .603. According to Cronk (2008), negative correlations and correlations below .30 should be removed and the remaining items would be considered internally consistent. As a result, eleven items were removed, and the remaining correlations ranged from .383 and .649. The following statistical procedures were based on a 17-item scale (see Appendix for all questions). The questions removed focused on creativity and work-life balance. Based on the analysis, creativity and work-life balance are not core components of professional engagement and eliminating those questions creates a more accurate assessment.
Cronbach’s Alpha & McDonald’s Omega
Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were calculated as measures of internal consistency. The 17-item PEQ revealed strong internal consistency as indicated by Cronbach’s alpha of .801. In addition, McDonald’s omega was calculated and the 17-item PEQ had a correlation of .786. Based on the item-total analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, and McDonald’s omega, the PEQ has established more than adequate reliability.
Factor Analysis
Prior to conducting the exploratory factor analysis, the suitability of the data was assessed. Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was statistically significant (χ2(136) = 360.617, p < 0.001), indicating that the correlation matrix was suitable for factorization. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.684, which is considered acceptable for conducting a factor analysis.
An exploratory analysis of the scale structure was conducted using principal components analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation. PCA was selected as an initial data reduction technique given the exploratory nature of this study and the relatively small sample size (N = 75). While PCA does not model latent constructs in the same manner as common factor analytic approaches (e.g., principal axis factoring), it can provide a preliminary indication of the underlying structure of item groupings. The eigenvalue-greater-than-one rule and examination of the scree plot both suggested the presence of five factors. These five factors accounted for a total of 60.6% of the variance.
The first factor (items focused on collaborative engagement) included 4 questions (see Appendix for all questions), accounted for 25.8% of the variance, and Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were .725 and .719, respectively. The second factor (items focused on adaptability and problem solving) included 4 questions, accounted for 11.2% of the variance, and Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were .651 and .657, respectively. The third factor included 4 questions (items focused on professional development), accounted for 9.1% of the variance, and Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were .662 and .669, respectively. The fourth factor included 4 questions (items focused on professional growth), accounted for 7.49% of the variance, and Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were .610 and .612, respectively. The fifth factor included 1 question (item focused on commitment to improvement) that accounted for 6.89% of the variance. Three other questions also loaded on factor five, however, those questions also loaded more strongly to other factors. In a discussion with a researcher and statistician with over 20 years of experience in assessment creation it was recommended to include the item in the current study due to the exploratory nature of the study, develop additional questions that align with commitment to improvement (factor 5) and conduct another study with a larger sample size in the range of 200-300 participants to test again the 5-factor model.
Criterion-Related Validity: Convergent Validity
To further examine the validity of the 17-item PEQ, its scores were correlated with two established measures: the Career Engagement Scale and the Brief Embeddedness Scale. To get a total score of the PEQ the sum of all 17 items was calculated. The PEQ and the Career Engagement Scale demonstrated a strong positive correlation, r = .659, p < .001. The PEQ also showed a significant positive correlation with the Brief Embeddedness Scale, r = .602, p < .001. This indicated that higher scores on the PEQ were associated with higher levels of career engagement and embeddedness providing evidence for convergent validity of the PEQ. The magnitude of these correlations suggested that the PEQ captures a substantial portion of the variance shared with these existing instruments.
Discussion
Previous researchers have more than adequately demonstrated the need for continued examination on professional engagement and professional associations for the sustainability of professions (Aronson et al., 2012; Holm et al., 2020; Phillips & Leahy, 2012). Projects of this nature provide a foundation for expanding and strengthening the research base. This pilot study provides a first step in understanding and measuring professional engagement, particularly in the context of rehabilitation counseling. By identifying five core dimensions, this study not only advances psychometric literature but also offers a structured approach for educators and practitioners to evaluate and enhance professional engagement in targeted ways.
Psychometric Development of the PEQ
The strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .801; McDonald’s omega = .786) and clear factor structure suggest the PEQ offers a reliable and valid means of assessing distinct dimensions of professional engagement. The five-factor structure identified through exploratory factor analysis (accounting for 60.6% of variance) provides a framework for understanding dimensions of professional engagement, such as collaborative engagement and professional development. These findings suggest the PEQ can serve as a valuable tool for assessing and fostering engagement in rehabilitation counseling, offering actionable insights for both practitioners and educators. It will also be important to further examine the 5-factor structure of the PEQ and specifically develop additional questions to better measure commitment to improvement . With a larger sample it will be noteworthy to see how, if at all, the factor structure will be impacted. Once normative data on rehabilitation counselors are established, additional studies (including other counseling specialties) could be undertaken to provide a more holistic understanding of professional engagement in the broader counseling profession. Moreover, interventions can be designed to be used in conjunction with the PEQ to increase engagement in rehabilitation counseling and its professional associations. For example, after completing the PEQ a person can use the results to create goals for continuing education or participation in professional associations. The results may also reveal a desire to work with a mentor or a desire to connect with other professional colleagues.
PEQ and Its Relation to Professional Identity and Commitment
Individuals who have a strong professional identity and commitment are likely to exhibit higher levels of professional engagement and participation in professional associations (Phillips & Leahy, 2012). These findings align with Hirschi et al.'s (2014) career engagement theory highlighting the importance of proactive career behaviors, adaptability, and self-directed learning, which correspond to the PEQ’s factors of adaptability, professional development, and commitment to improvement. Similarly, Aronson et al.'s (2012) definition of professional engagement underscores the role of vigor, dedication, and focus, which are captured in the PEQ dimensions of enthusiasm for professional growth and collaborative engagement. By grounding the PEQ within career engagement, this study contributes a new dimension to understanding how professional engagement intersects with broader occupational and psychological constructs. Additional studies could investigate the relationship between these constructs and their role in professional association participation and continued membership by documenting individuals as they progress from being outsiders of professions to novice practitioners and finally to experienced professionals. For example, this could include identifying key moments that move a person to join an association, attend sponsored events, present at local or national conferences, become a board member at local, regional, or national levels, or take action to ensure the sustainability of the profession for future generations (Mata et al., 2010).
Limitations of the Study
Although the results of the pilot study were positive, it is also important to indicate limitations of the study. While it is appropriate to conduct a pilot study before committing additional resources into a larger study, the 75 participants were a small sample. Moreover, the sample was rather homogeneous in its racial make-up and geographic location of the sample. Although the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.684, which is considered acceptable, a value closer to 0.8 is generally preferred for better sampling adequacy. Future studies should aim to recruit a larger and more diverse sample to confirm the factor structure and explore potential cultural or contextual differences in professional engagement. Additionally, response bias is a potential limitation in this study, as the survey relied on self-reported data. Participants may have responded in ways they perceived as socially desirable, or may have exaggerated or understated their levels of professional engagement, either intentionally or unintentionally. Such biases can affect the accuracy and generalizability of the findings.
Conclusion
This pilot study provides initial evidence that the Professional Engagement Questionnaire (PEQ) demonstrates acceptable reliability and validity for use within the field of rehabilitation counseling and its five-factor structure offers a comprehensive framework for understanding and fostering engagement. By refining the instrument to a 17-item scale and confirming its internal consistency and factor structure, the study offers a promising foundation for further research on professional engagement. However, limitations such as the small, homogenous sample and the use of self-reported data suggest that additional investigation is needed. Future research should prioritize larger and more diverse samples to confirm the factor structure, enhance the generalizability of findings, and further establish the PEQ’s psychometric properties.