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The JobFit-Training for adolescents (Petermann u. Petermann, 2010) is a well documented behavioural psychological prevention program for students from the eighth grade and up. The present study examines the results of the evaluation of the practical implementation of the training over the course of two years. Data from 828 students could be collected in two measurements, before and after the intervention, out of which 323 were eighth-graders and 505 were ninth-graders. The analysis showed that eighth-graders profit more with regards to acquiring knowledge through the training than ninth-graders do. However, unlike male eighth-graders, female eighth-graders were unable to furthermore improve their social competences through the training. On the other hand the ninth-graders profit from the training in both groups with regards to their social competences.

In the framework of pre-rehabilitation courses for German-origin immigrants as well as other rehabilitees of mostly foreign nationality, the Bad Krozingen cardiac care centre has for some two years, i.e. since 1993, undertaken practical trials of a model occupational field-oriented project classroom. To enable rehabilitees to better prepare for their future work or occupational fields, internal differentiation is used to facilitate occupation-specific preparation in a project worksetting, with self-directed activity of the individual in a teamwork situation being the main focus of enhancement. This afternoon "occupational field-oriented project work" complements morning classrooms that, aside various other subjects, are focussed on German and maths as well as EDP fundamentals, with electronic text processing in particular viewed as a tool that facilitates written documentation of teamwork, hence is dealt with right at the beginning of the course.

In recent years, work and occupational activity have come to assume a therapeutic orientation in the rehabilitation of persons with mental illness. The study presented addressed the specific ways in which work activities during rehabilitation programme participation may act in a manner conducive to rehabilitation. The findings point to a positive relationship between the opportunities objectively available in the work setting for rehabilitees to influence aversive conditions or occurrences and their work-related subjective well-being. A second step enabled us to show that subjective well-being is determined less by the situation objectively at hand but primarily by the mentally ill rehabilitees' perceptions of influenceability and, hence, the experience of controllability. Further, examination of the rehabilitees' attributional patterns concerning the various control experiences revealed that the extent to which their subjective well-being is affected is mediated cognitively. The findings are discussed in view of their implications for the vocational rehabilitation of persons with mental illness.

In 1988, the Frankfort on Main Vocational Retraining Centre had decided in favour of increased, on-going admission of psychiatrically disabled adults, offering opportunities for their vocational education. The centre's objective is to enable psychiatrically disabled rehabilitees to successfully complete formal occupational training in as "normal" a setting as possible. This means: the Centre is a vocational rehabilitation facility, and is not directed at therapy or care. Psychiatrically disabled rehabilitees are accepted for up to 10 percent of available places in the various programme types. The overall objective is formal occupational qualification. A "training centre" open to all training orientations has been established for individualized service provision in the event of crisis situations during programme participation. Special attention is focussed on intensive, continuous further education of staff, inter alia by group supervision.

The Federal Employment Institute's statistics of Sept. 1990 clearly show that severely disabled persons are more frequently hit by long-term unemployment than non-disabled unemployed. Unemployment of more than two years' duration at the time had been the case for some 30.8% of the severely disabled, compared to a share of 13.7% for non-disabled. This empirical fact has in recent years been increasingly dealt with in pertinent German-language literature, the discussion clearly emphasizing the demand that programmes aimed at the vocational qualification of unemployed disabled persons be provided, along with accompanying measures. This discussion had also give rise to the purposes of the present study, that is, to outline such a qualification programme within the purview of the Dortmund labour exchange, including participants' opinions of the measure. Over a period of 12 days, some 21 participants had therefore been invited for standardized questionnaire interviewing, with 8 of the 45 questions posed referring to personal biographies. The interview findings are represented in percent ranks, further statistical analysis, e.g. chi2-testing, was refrained from in view of the small number of interviewes. The study on the one hand shows that only few participants had achieved formal vocational qualification through programme participation, and on the other, that return to gainful activity is perceived as a major support in individual life planning. The psychosocial strains described by the programme participants yield important insights in view of the current debate about post-placement follow-along.

The "Förderungslehrgang" in our asthma center is a special training program for adolescents handicapped by asthma or allergic diseases who are therefore not able to start apprenticeship. The course takes one year. Besides vocational guidance and tryout of different occupations, medical and psychological diagnostics are performed. Medical service is provided all day, and a hospital with emergency unit is within the area. Though 41% of the participants did finish school without any qualified graduation after their compulsory school attendance, 79% were able to start apprenticeship after the course.

Often young epileptics cannot begin a regular apprenticeship immediately after leaving school. Many cases show some somatic and psychointellectual retardation and delayed social development and maturation. Impairment of learning and concentration due to drug-side effects aggravates gaps in basic knowledge which result from frequent school absences due to epileptic illness. Attendance of a vocational training scheme for one year ensures that educational and social deficiencies can be reduced and the practice of daily work can be obtained. The epileptologist should pay particular attention to good compliance. The large variety of psycho-social and behavioural problems can be improved by event-orientated group psychotherapy. A vocational testing period can follow. Time and type of seizures have to be respected in vocational counselling. The vocational training centre for handicapped adolescents offers a comprehensive education by vocational instructors, epileptologists and psychologists.

The task of appraising aptitudes and inclinations accompanies a rehabilitee and the rehabilitation workers involved for the entire duration of an occupationally-focussed rehabilitation measure. Explicitly so in vocational guidance measures, it aims at obtaining a sound basis for decision-making in view of vocational reorientation. Responsibility for this decision in the last analysis rests with the rehabilitee himself, an aspect that abolishes any strict separation of aptitude and inclination in predicting outcome in the context of occupational perspectives. Being the decision-making agent, the rehabilitee must therefore be offered typical situational fragments of a possible educational and vocational future, intended on the one hand to inform him of occupational alternatives and, on the other, to provide initial experience. The rehabilitation worker's role in this process requires a client-centered stance in terms of information provider and trusted agent, which is to help avoid an adverse exams climate evolve in this momentous decision-making phase. Psychological testing, from this angle, should be used merely as a supplementary means. The approach outlined for appraisal of individual potentials requires intensive teamwork, not least also in view of verifying individual capacity.

A programme for rehabilitation of severely mentally impaired patients (mainly psychotic disorders) in local companies, industrial and municipal, is presented. Introduced in 1970 and extended since 1983, the programme is based on a theoretical model for social work practice, that centers around the concept of resources and interaction. Preliminary experiences with this on-the-job vocational rehabilitation approach are reported.

Young people with restriction of health in regard of their vocational fitness are specially advised and untimely guided into places of vocational training, if necessary. This concerns annually about 10% of school leavers. On internal illness, analyzed in the town of Halle is payed a particular attention. Conclusions are derived from these results for practice.

A questionnaire investigation had been carried out, in mid-1983, of 12 school-leaving grades (1971 through 1982) of Haus Rheinfrieden, in Bad Honnef-Rhöndorf, a residential vocational training college which serves young people with physical disablement or seizure disorders. The central focus had been the question whether, besides its occupational training role, a general, educational function is due to the school, and how this issue is perceived by its former students. The respondents were to state their subjective opinions of how they rated their stay as regards school-related and personal matters. The results obtained show surprisingly positive subjective views held by the ex-students of how they had experienced the educational and personal services provided, and the institution as a whole. The initially described assumption that, along with training-related aspects, personality-related ones would equally become relevant while attending this special facility, was confirmed from the ex-students' perspective. The inter-disciplinary concept of promoting both vocational and personal development, as the goal of this institution, meets with clear approval on the part of its former students.

The extensive vocational and employment information and counselling possibilities available in the framework of our social services system in the FRG, are aimed at attaining optimum vocational integration of the disabled clients. The legal foundations are in particular to be found in the Social Code and the rehabilitation adjustment act. Servicing some 80% of all disabled clients in this field, the Federal Employment Institute is the main financially responsible administration in vocational rehabilitation. The services and benefits provided are based on the employment promotion act and the directive of the Institute's governing body concerning industrial and vocational rehabilitation of disabled persons (AReha). Successful vocational counselling outcomes presuppose client participation; counselling contacts are free of charge to the rehabilitee, and are sought on a voluntary basis. The local employment office's medical and/or psychological services will in many cases by called in by the counsellor. If these services do not arrive at a satisfactory proposal either, vocational assessment and work testing measures in vocational training or retraining centers are indicated. Vocational preparation may in addition be useful, e.g. in the form of promotional courses and/or pre-rehabilitation courses. The catalogue of services and benefits available is complex and adjustable to individual needs. The rehabilitation measures provided invariably are aimed at achieving entry into long-term employment. When necessary, the disabled clients are followed-along by the counsellors until this goal is attained.

Rehabilitation preparation is needed to the extent that occupational reorientation may give rise to a multitude of personal insecurities. Increased requirements demand augmented efforts to motivate for independent and competent functioning in the occupational career ahead. Given this aim, the Bad Krozingen rehabilitation center's preparatory programmes, in their entry phase, are focussed on assessment of deficits in competence and on enhancing basic skills--social, educational as well as vocational. The subsequent main phase is aimed at demonstrating the practical applicability of learning contents in future occupational situations, and a reality-based vocational setting is sought to be attained by implementation of a holistic, project-oriented approach in this context in particular. The transition phase, finally, is intended to achieve the individual prerequisites for subsequent rehabilitation activities, in particular training programmes. Initial experience has shown that the approach outlined is promising in particular in respect of independence, social behaviour and motivation for the learning and vocational tasks ahead.

A phase II facility in the meaning of the federal government's action programme for the advancement of rehabilitation of disabled persons, the Ulm rehabilitation hospital offers a full therapy chain from acute treatment through to vocational rehabilitation measures. The range of services provided by the "vocational rehabilitation" department are oriented on the rehabilitees' individual potential, and are supported by a multitude of follow-along medical-therapeutic services. Experience over several years has lead to the conclusion that, obviously, comprehension and integration of the learning contents presented are not contingent on the individual's physical and intellectual capacities alone. A central determining factor for successful programme participation seems to be the personal coping strategy, closely linked with the rehabilitees' fundamental convictions and character. An attitude that attributes success to personal achievement can be contrasted with an attitude that views personal performance as being dependent on inapproachable outside influences, and an underlying optimistic attitude was found to correlate with successful outcome.

Sports activities in the vocational education centres are viewed as an indispensable rehabilitation measure. Its contents and organizational structure however is to a large extent left to the individual centres. Implementation of effective sports is endangered by the lack of homogeneity in the young trainee population as regards type and severity of the disability, age, maturity. After setting out the present situation and the function of sports in a vocational education centre for physically disabled young people, a school course system is presented that, by achieving a relatively homogenous composition of the sports groups, enables sport-oriented instruction to be realized. In this course system, the young people are allocated to the various courses through sport selection and counselling, based on the criteria of inclination and suitability. The range of sports offered also includes sports for the very severely handicapped, which are described briefly.