At the time of this study there were 30,925 people in New Zealand who were unable to secure employment, forcing them to be dependent on taxpayer-funded benefits (Ministry of Social Development 2007). Unemployment has the effect of lowering an individual’s sense of self-efficacy and motivation, with downstream consequences including higher incidences of crime, family violence and social disconnection (Feather 1992, Ministry of Social Development 1994). Therefore, programmes that intervene in this decline in the unemployed person’s motivation and self-efficacy are an important step in enabling them to re-engage with the workforce.
Unfortunately, until now motivational interventions conducted in the outdoor environment have not produced significant results (de Boer 2003, Swindells 1998), and therefore I have chosen to explore motivational interventions in an attempt to understand what practical steps can be undertaken to improve the effectiveness of such programmes.
The Limited Service Volunteers (LSV) programme aims to develop participants’ motivation, confidence and skills in order to increase the number of young New Zealanders entering employment or further training