Evaluating the motivation to obtain and sustain employment in people with psychiatric disabilities

The motivation to work is an important predictor of employment success in the general population as well as in mentally ill individuals. The present article examines the issue of motivation to get and maintain employment in people with psychiatric disorders. Two studies were conducted in order to determine the validity of the Motivation to find a job scale (N = 366 Canadian people with severe mental illness registered in supported employment programs) and the Motivation to keep a job scale (N = 268 Italian people with psychiatric disorders employed in social enterprises). The two questionnaires showed satisfactory psychometric proprieties and showed links with important vocational outcomes, such as getting competitive employment. Those instruments indeed may facilitate the estimation of people's willingness to find a job and to remain at work after the onset of a mental illness and can be used as a significant tool to predict vocational success.