Application of psychosocial strengths to predict employment satisfaction

Background: There is a continual need to decrease the employment gap between people with and without disabilities. Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and happiness have shown strong relationships with employment and offer a promising avenue to desirable vocational rehabilitation (VR) outcomes. Objective: Data from 137 former VR clients who were employed at the time of the study were analyzed to explore the relationship of PsyCap and happiness to levels of job satisfaction. Methods: A mediation analysis was used in order to assess the hypotheses that PsyCap would predict job satisfaction and that happiness would mediate this relationship. Results: PsyCap and happiness were found to uniquely and significantly contribute to job satisfaction, with happiness acting as a partial mediator between PsyCap and job satisfaction. These results highlight the potential utility of PsyCap and happiness in VR services. Conclusions: With the existence of both happiness and PsyCap interventions, we provide a brief summary of this research and implications for their use in VR research and practice. Additional exploration of these constructs is needed to test their potential for facilitating more stable employment outcomes for clients receiving VR services.