Objective: This study investigated attendees' motivation and motives for participation in day centers and their satisfaction with the rehabilitation, while also addressing the influence of day center orientation (work or meeting-place orientation), gender and age.Methods: Ninety-three Swedish day center attendees participated in a cross-sectional study and completed questionnaires about motivation, motives and satisfaction with the rehabilitation. Data were analyzed with non-parametric statistics.Results: The participants were highly motivated for going to the day center and set clear goals for their rehabilitation. Female gender, but not age, was associated with stronger motivation.The strongest motives for going to the day center were getting structure to the day and socializing. Attendees at work-oriented day centers more often expressed that they went there to get structure to the day and gain social status. The satisfaction with the rehabilitation was high, and the most common wishes for further opportunities concerned earning money and learning new things.Conclusions and implications for practice: The rehabilitation largely seemed to meet the attendees' needs, but the findings indicated that further developments were desired, such as participation in work on the open market and more work-like occupations in the day center, accompanied with some kind of remuneration.