ARTICLE Preliminary evidence on combined cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing intervention efficacy to improve employment motivation for persons with intellectual disability Abdoulaye Diallo 1, *, Lidia Fonseca 2 and Diana Holland 1 1 Northern Illinois University and 2 Valley Association for Independent Living (VAIL) *Corresponding author. Email: adiallo@niu.edu (Received 15 October 2021; revised 31 October 2021; accepted 01 November 2021; first published online 21 December 2021) Abstract This study investigated the efficacy of a combined modified cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and moti- vational interviewing (MI) approach on motivating persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) in obtaining employment. The sample consisted of a total of 52 individuals with ID who were clients of an independent vocational-rehabilitation services provider (females = 42%; males = 58%), ranging in age from 19 to 47. They were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 26) and a control group (n = 26). The inter- vention group received a combined modified CBT and MI intervention and the control group a fact sheet on career-dysfunctional thoughts and lack of motivation to obtain employment. Outcome measures com- prised a career-dysfunctional thoughts scale and employment seeking action scale. Results indicated that the intervention group reported higher motivation in obtaining employment than the control. Practitioners seeking to improve employment prospects for persons with ID should consider the use of a combined modified CBT and MI intervention for increasing the chances of employment seeking by people with ID. Introduction Persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) have historically been negatively affected in employment activities due to employment barriers. These employment barriers for persons with ID consist of both personal factors (e.g., dysfunctional thoughts, lack of motivation, lack of self-efficacy) and external or environmental factors (employers’ negative attitudes and paternalistic attitudes of guardians and professionals, including those making career decisions for persons with ID; trans- portation issues) (Adams et al., 2019; Kocman et al., 2018; Nevala et al., 2019; Trembath et al., 2010). These two types of barriers often influence each other. Understanding personal factors such as employment-dysfunctional thoughts and lack of employment motivation is paramount in obtaining meaningful employment for persons with ID (Duff & Dik, 2009; Lustig & Xu, 2018). Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI) are evidence- based interventions that have shown promise in reducing dysfunctional thoughts and improving motivation, respectively (Kukla et al., 2019; Lam et al., 2010; Lecomte et al., 2020). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing for Job Seeking Persons with ID generally face self-efficacy challenges due to past experiences in not obtaining employment or a career as a result of employer bias, which may demotivate their employment © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press and The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling (2021), 27, 102–109 doi:10.1017/jrc.2021.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/jrc.2021.8 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 207.241.231.108, on 24 Feb 2022 at 12:45:39, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at