Preparing Consumers for Work: Maslow's Motivational ModelJim GuthrieUniversity of North TexasTheories of human development provide a broad framework for understanding why and how people change and what motivates people human behaviors. Some theories focus on the early years of life, while other theories encompass development across the lifespan. Abraham Maslow advanced a hierarchical theory of human development that focuses on motivation and personality to maximize human potential. Maslow's five-step hierarchy of needs model can be integrated into vocational rehabilitation (VR) to identify and address the support needs of disabled consumers. This article seeks to describe how Maslow's motivational model can be applied by the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) in the process of developing disabled clients' preparation for successful entry into the world of work. Maslow (1943) proposed a model of basic needs organized into a “hierarchy” of relative prepotency” (375). The five-stage model includes: physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. This hierarchy is often illustrated as a pyramid with physiological needs at the base and ascending in order of influence with self-actualization at the apex. Once one need is satisfied, the next higher need will serve to organize consciousness. In order to develop a strategy to best serve consumers, the VRC will need to evaluate each customer to determine where they fall in the hierarchy. If the consumer's primary physiological needs (e.g., food, shelter, medical stability) are not met, he or she is unlikely to be motivated to move to the next higher level. When a consumer's physiological needs have been substantially satisfied, his safety. ..... half of the document ...... that the VRC helps the consumer form realistic career goals that are within reach. There is much more to Maslow's development approach that is beyond the scope of this paper. But even a general understanding of the Hierarchy of Needs is important for the vocational rehabilitation counselor because his methodology offers an approach to motivate consumers who are reluctant to enter the workforce. The VRC has a systematic method for determining unmet client needs in order to formulate interventions that will ultimately satisfy those needs. Entry and assimilation into the workforce are more likely to be successful and sustained if the consumer is motivated to achieve and master the five stages of Maslow's hierarchy. ReferencesMaslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review, 50, 370 – 396.