Assessment of job satisfaction in people with intellectual disabilities: Towards best-practice recommendations

A Settings and Systems Approach to Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of People with an Intellectual Disability

Research has shown that people with an intellectual disability have higher rates of certain preventable health conditions and a higher rate of avoidable mortality relative to the general population. With respect to health behaviours, they also have lower levels of physical activity and poorer nutrition. Despite the increased health needs, this population cohort is less likely to have the opportunity to participate in health promotion programs. The interventions that have been delivered are programmatic and individual in focus and have lacked a broader ecological and settings focus, which makes them very difficult to scale. Health promotion programs designed for the general population, such as lifestyle campaigns, rarely reach people with an intellectual disability. This increases the importance of ensuring that the settings in which they live and engage with are as health promoting as possible. Interventions have been particularly absent in the workplace for people with an intellectual disability. This paper highlights gaps in a settings-and-systems-based approach to promoting the health and wellbeing of people with an intellectual disability, particularly with respect to workplace health promotion. The paper concludes with recommendations for a systems approach that integrates approaches across multiple settings to better promote the health of this population cohort.

People with intellectual and multiple disabilities access leisure, communication, and daily activities via a new technology-aided program

People with mild to moderate intellectual or multiple disabilities may have serious difficulties in accessing leisure events, managing communication exchanges with distant partners, and performing functional daily activities. Recently, efforts were made to develop and assess technology-aided programs aimed at supporting people in all three areas (i.e., leisure, communication, and daily activities). This study assessed a new technology-aided program aimed at helping four participants with intellectual and multiple disabilities in the aforementioned areas. The program, which was implemented following a non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants design, relied on the use of a smartphone or tablet connected via Bluetooth to a two-switch device. This device served to select leisure and communication events and to control the smartphone or tablet’s delivery of step instructions for the activities scheduled. Data showed that during the baseline phase (with only the smartphone or tablet available), three participants failed in each of the areas (i.e., leisure, communication and functional activities) while one participant managed to access a few leisure events. During the intervention phase (with the support of the technology-aided program), all participants managed to independently access leisure events, make telephone calls, and carry out activities. These results suggest that the program might be a useful tool for helping people with intellectual and multiple disabilities improve their condition in basic areas of daily life.

Assessment of Occupational Health and Job Satisfaction in Workers with Intellectual Disability: A Job Demands-Resources Perspective

In the contexts where people with intellectual disability work, there are factors that determine their job satisfaction. The objective of this study was to test the adequacy of the central assumptions of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory in workers with intellectual disability employed in different work alternatives. Data from 362 workers in sheltered workshops and 192 workers in supported employment were utilized. The model was contrasted using a structural equation model and a multi-group analysis. The results supported the suitability of the model and confirmed that job demands and job resources evoke two relatively independent processes such as health impairment and motivational process. The multi-group analysis confirmed the invariance of the model between the two work alternatives. Thus, the JD-R model offers a useful framework to explain the job satisfaction of workers with intellectual disability. Implications for the improvement of personal and job results are discussed.

Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention Among People With Disabilities Working in Special Employment Centers: The Moderation Effect of Organizational Commitment

With the goal of contributing to the growth of research on people with disabilities in employment, in particular in relation to their job satisfaction (JS), organizational commitment (OC), and turnover intention (TI), this study explores the effect of JS on TI among employees with disabilities and the moderation effect of OC and its four dimensions on this main relationship. A total of 245 Special Employment Center (SEC) employees in Spain answered a questionnaire. To analyze the results, a descriptive analysis with bivariate correlations across the variables was performed, and the moderation model was tested subsequently using macro PROCESS for SPSS by Hayes. For the significant effects, a pick-a-point approximation was used to interpret the results. The results show that OC and its dimensions have no significant effect on the direct relationship. However, some components of JS, such as the relationship with co-workers and with supervisors, play a significant role in the relationship with TI when moderated by affective and value commitment. Our results show that it is important that human resources departments create conditions favoring a work environment with positive interpersonal relationships between employees and managers in order to minimize TI at SECs.