Employability skills, quality of life, and body composition on employment modalities in individuals with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities

Background: The inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities into the labour market is a challenge in advanced societies, with only a very reduced percentage of these individuals being able to access the free labour market. Whilst some progress has recently been made, there is still a need to further explore the different conditioning factors. Method: A total of 125 users belonging to the three employment modalities of Occupational Workshops (OW), Occupational Centers (OC) and Supported Employment (SE), participated in this study. Differences between modalities were determined for employability, quality of life, and body composition. Results: Employability skills were higher for SE compared to OW and OC; the index of quality of life was higher for OC and SE groups compared to OW; no differences were found in body composition between groups. Conclusions: The quality-of-life index was higher for participants performing remunerated employment modalities and employment skills increased when work was more inclusive.