Effectiveness of a training programme for employment aimed at young people with intellectual functional diversity

Self-knowledge as a key factor

Abstract

The low employment rates associated with people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) make it necessary to review and analyse the programmes that promote the employability of this group. This study evaluates a job skills module in an employment training programme promoted by the University of Valencia and Fundación ONCE.

A quasi-experimental study with a single group design (pre-test and post-test) was conducted with 16 young people with functional intellectual diversity (FID). Measures of the Work Personality Profile, which examines skills for securing and keeping a job, were taken. In addition, knowledge of the world of work; complex vocational indecision and self-perception in the frequency and self-efficacy in the use of the Internet were assessed. After the implementation of the module, task orientation, work adjustment and knowledge of the world of work increased significantly; work motivation and vocational indecision decreased, the latter marked by increased certainty and decreased dependent decision-making style. The greatest changes occurred in the male group.

This type of programme, aimed specifically at PwID, focusing on key elements of career guidance such as the construction of the individual career project, self-management skills and job search techniques, favour the acquisition of behaviours that contribute to the development of employability.  It also increases certainty in decision-making, providing possibilities for adaptation and coping with work challenges from another perspective.