CONGRUENCE OF WORK-RELATED NEEDS AND ABILITIES: TRANSITIONAL PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS AND NORMALS1

Work-related needs and abilities appear to be significant factors in the vocational adjustment of psychiatric patients. When vocationally oriented patients were compared to a carefully matched normal sample, the patients were found to have significantly less agreement between their work needs and their work abilities. Although no difference was found to exist between the work needs of the patients and the matched normals, the work-related abilities of the patients were distinctly lower than those of the normal population, implying that the appropriate focus of vocational rehabilitation counseling is the augmentation of patient assets. Persons most likely to have incongruity vocationally between their needs and abilities are male psychiatric patients, aged 24 to 36, who have less than a high school education.