Patterns of vocational interests and work motivation among mentally retarded adults attending vocational rehabilitation centres

The present study describes a survey of the vocational interests and work motivation of trainees attending vocational rehabilitation centers for the mentally retarded in Israel. A random sample of 152 subjects was chosen from a total of 1,509 trainees. Two sets of questionnaires were applied: (1) the Illustrated Vocational Inventory (IVI) (Whelan and Reiter, 1980); and (2) a specially designed questionnaire on work motivation based on Herzberg’s model (Herzberg et al., 1959). The most significant finding of the study was that several consistent patterns of vocational knowledge, vocational interests and motivational factors emerge with regard to mentally retarded clients attending vocational rehabilitation centers; and this lends strong support to the view that such people can be placed in employment on the open labour market.