Effect of Brief Staff‐Assisted Career Service Delivery on Drop‐In Clients

Brief staff‐assisted career counseling services based on cognitive information processing theory were evaluated using 138 drop‐in clients who completed pre‐ and postintervention self‐report measures of knowledge about next steps, confidence in making next steps, and anxiety about career concerns. Significant changes occurred in each dimension and were significantly associated with the quality of career adviser interaction. Participants rated the experience as highly positive. Decreases in anxiety about career concerns were unrelated to the intervention. Implications include that a brief service delivery model yields positive outcomes for many clients but requires adjustments in organizational culture, physical environment, practitioner approaches, and client expectations. Future research should examine relational variables related to decreased anxiety with a brief service delivery model, the degree to which this approach works with specific career needs, and client attributes leading to successful versus unsuccessful outcomes with this model.     

Using Readiness Assessment to Improve Career Services: A Cognitive Information‐Processing Approach

This article begins with a review of the use of readiness assessment measures as a strategy for improving career services. A 5‐step process model for readiness assessment is then proposed and current readiness measures are identified. Although considerable research has been conducted on career decision‐making readiness and numerous measures have been developed, there has been limited literature available on the application of readiness assessment in selecting career interventions to meet specific client needs. This article continues with a theory‐based conceptualization of readiness and then links readiness assessment to the selection of career interventions designed to meet clients' needs.     

Practitioners’ Experiences of Social Media in Career Services

This article reports findings from a phenomenographic investigation into career practitioners’ ways of experiencing social media in career services. Focus‐group interviews were conducted with 16 Danish and Finnish career practitioners with experience using social media in career services. Four qualitatively different ways of experiencing social media in career services were identified. Social media in career services was experienced as (a) a means for delivering information, (b) a medium for 1‐to‐1 communication, (c) an interactive working space, and (d) an impetus for paradigm change and reform. The results suggest that models of career intervention and ways of experiencing social media appear to be intertwined. The hierarchical structure of the findings may serve as a tool that enables career practitioners to deepen their ways of experiencing and understanding social media in career services by using the critical aspects that were identified.     

The Undecided Student: Effects of Combining Levels of Treatment Parameters on Career Certainty,Career Indecision,and Client Satisfaction

The author investigated the impact of a 4‐phase combined intervention on outcomes of career certainty, career indecision, and client satisfaction in undecided college students and compared it to a 2‐phase intervention. Both interventions were effective in increasing career certainty in the sample population; however, the 4‐phase treatment was significantly more effective in increasing career certainty. Both treatments were effective in decreasing career indecision, although no significant difference was found between these 2 groups. There was no significant difference in ratings of satisfaction between the 2 groups. The findings suggest that even the most basic and cost‐effective intervention may benefit the undecided student.     

Voluntary Midlife Career Change: Integrating the Transtheoretical Model and the Life‐Span,Life‐Space Approach

Frequent career change is the predicted experience of workers in the global economy. Self‐initiating career changers are a substantial subset of the total population of career changers. There is currently a dearth of theory and research to help career counselors conceptualize the career change process for the application of appropriate interventions. The authors present an integration of a well‐researched behavior change theory, the transtheoretical model of change, with Super's (1990) life‐span, life‐space approach. The corresponding stages of the 2 models are discussed along with theoretically appropriate interventions. The integrated model provides the basis for future research on the change process for voluntary midlife career changers.     

Motivational Profiles and Career Decision Making of High School Students

Based on self‐determination theory, this study sought to identify distinct motivational profiles in a sample of high school students (N = 396, mean age = 17.02 years) using a person‐centered approach. Three motivational clusters of students emerged: self‐determined students, non‐self‐determined students, and externally regulated students. Differences between and among these profiles across career exploration and career indecision levels were analyzed. Overall, self‐determination theory appears to offer a conceptual framework for organizing career interventions. The fact that motivational profiles can distinguish students among career exploration and career indecision levels leads the authors to reaffirm the importance of differential career intervention practices. Future research should examine the stability of motivational profiles, their predictive power over career exploration and career decision making, and the differences between highly motivated students regarding the career decision‐making process.     

Client Anticipations About Computer‐Assisted Career Guidance System Outcomes

Although existing literature suggests that client anticipations affect career counseling, previous studies have not systematically assessed client anticipations prior to using computer‐assisted career guidance (CACG) systems in career counseling. This study describes how 55 clients from a career center at a large, southeastern university anticipated using CACG systems to help in their career decision making and problem solving. Using a Cognitive Information Processing framework, responses to a cued and a free response survey indicated that clients' most frequent anticipations included increased career options, enhanced self‐knowledge, and strengthened occupational knowledge.     

Abstinence-Only: Are You Not Working the Program or Is the Program Not Working for You?

Low retention rates are common in substance use treatment programs. The dominant model of service delivery in the United States is abstinence-only, a high-threshold service delivery model requiring abstinence. What “doesn’t work” for the client—from the client point of view—is an overlooked source of insight about client engagement and disengagement. We report client counter-narratives about the choice to disengage from abstinence-based services, shifting from a story of “dropouts” to one of self-respect. Understanding why clients choose to disengage from treatment can help us as practitioners to “meet clients where they are” and enhance engagement in substance abuse treatment.     

Expanding Career Options and Optimizing Abilities: The Case of Laura

The authors present a case of a 15‐year‐old Mexican American adolescent girl who is uncertain about her educational and career future. The ecological model of career development (E. P. Cook, M. J. Heppner, & K. M. O'Brien, 2002) is applied to the case. The authors suggest career counseling interventions for this client and discuss potential concerns and issues that may arise in career counseling with this client.     

The History of Interest Inventories and Career Assessments in Career Counseling

Interest inventories and career assessments continue to be used to support practitioners as they work to uncover client interests, abilities, skills, motivations, values, and other personal factors that help individuals self‐define and construct their career. The skilled use of career inventories and assessments remains a minimum competency of career service providers' ability to successfully partner with their clients. A history of the evolution of assessment from 1914 through 1974 and considerations for the future of assessment are highlighted to provide historical perspective to inform practitioners as they serve the diverse needs of complex client populations.     

Influencing Client Expectations About Career Counseling Using a Videotaped Intervention

Realistic client expectations about career counseling are essential to positive client outcomes. The authors investigated a videotaped intervention designed to influence participants' expectations about career counseling using a pretest/posttest experimental design. As measured by the Expectations About Counseling‐Brief Form (H. E. A. Tinsley, 1982), undergraduate participants who watched the videotaped intervention significantly increased their expectations of personal commitment to career counseling and decreased their expectations of counselor expertise compared with participants who watched a control videotape. A secondary hypothesis, that changes in expectations would positively affect attitudes toward career counseling as measured by the Attitudes Toward Career Counseling Scale (A. R. Rochlen, J. J. Mohr, & B. K. Hargrove, 1999), was not supported.     

Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling With Gay and Lesbian Clients

This article details the current knowledge regarding the provision of culturally appropriate career services to gay and lesbian clients. It is divided into 5 parts: history and context for the delivery of career counseling services to gay and lesbian clients, counselor self‐preparation for working with gay and lesbian clients, client‐focused interventions useful for counseling with gay and lesbian clients, program‐focused interventions useful for addressing the special issues that this group presents, and appropriate advocacy or social action interventions. Issues of multiple cultural identities and the intersection of lesbian and gay issues with race and ethnicity are also addressed.     

Applying the Happenstance Learning Theory to Involuntary Career Transitions

The happenstance learning theory (HLT) proposes a model of career counseling that helps clients to build more satisfying personal and work lives. Although reflective listening remains an essential part of the process, HLT is an action‐oriented approach to helping clients to both create and benefit from unplanned events. Success is measured not by what happens during the counseling interview but by what the client experiences in the real world during and after counseling. A case study illustrates how HLT might be applied with a client who has been laid off after 20 years on the job.     

Situational Interest and Scientific Self‐Efficacy: Influence of an Energy Science Career Intervention

This study examined the efficacy of a career intervention aimed at promoting adolescents’ perceptions of scientific self‐efficacy (SSE), as well as interest in specific activities and careers relevant to energy science. One hundred thirty‐four adolescents (60 girls, 74 boys) completed self‐efficacy and interest measures on 4 occasions (Time [T] T1 to T4]) during the course of the 6‐day intervention. Results of latent change modeling yielded evidence of significant growth in SSE from T1 to T4. Results of a multiple regression analysis also revealed that situational interest in an energy science activity at T2 was a significant positive predictor of SSE at T4, thus offering further clarity regarding the theorized sequence of causal relations between interest and self‐efficacy. Findings call attention to the need for future research on the role of task‐level interest in the social cognitive career theory framework and highlight the importance of mastery experiences in the delivery of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career interventions.     

The Self‐Directed Search as a Stand‐Alone Intervention With College Students

The Self‐Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1994 ) is sometimes administered to large student groups outside of counseling to address common career development needs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the SDS as a stand‐alone intervention by comparing a general sample of college students who completed the SDS (n = 39) with a no‐treatment control group (n = 41) on several outcomes. Completion of the SDS related to an increase in the number of career alternatives being considered 4 weeks later but did not relate to career exploration, career decision‐making self‐efficacy, career indecision, and seeking of career counseling services. If the SDS is used outside of counseling with broad student samples, the authors suggest providing additional intervention to ensure that it promotes exploration of any additional careers being considered.     

The Psychology of Working in Practice: A Theory of Change for a New Era

This article advances the psychology of working theory by developing a parallel change‐based paradigm to guide interventions at the level of individuals (i.e., the psychology of working counseling) and systems (i.e., the psychology of working systemic intervention). The change paradigm presented in this article includes (a) a needs assessment encompassing survival, social connection/contribution, and self‐determination and (b) input on the mobilization of agentic action that includes critical reflection and action, proactive engagement, social support, and community engagement. The needs assessment and agentic action aspects of this approach can be used to foster change in individual counseling, advocacy, and systemic intervention. Case examples reflecting a systemic intervention and an individual counseling vignette are presented along with implications for research, such as explorations of the impact of these change models on client outcomes and systemic change efforts.     

The Relation of Negative Career Thoughts to Depression and Hopelessness

Although some research literature focuses on the integration of mental health and career counseling, there has been little that examines both areas in relation to depression and hopelessness. This study investigated the relationship among dysfunctional career thinking, depression, and hopelessness in a sample of 139 undergraduate and graduate students seeking drop‐in or individual career counseling services at a university career center. The authors found that two aspects of dysfunctional career thinking, decision‐making confusion and commitment anxiety, accounted for a significant amount of variance in depression. Decision‐making confusion also accounted for a significant amount of variance in hopelessness. Implications for counseling practice include the need for more careful screening of career clients who present with high levels of anxiety and negative thinking. Future research could involve more diverse client populations, such as unemployed adults, and explore the use of additional screening measures to assess the intersection of career and mental health issues.     

Attachment and Self‐Efficacy in Career Search Activities: A Structural Model

The author integrated attachment theory with social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to examine how attachment styles influence the career search self‐efficacy activities of interviewing, networking, job searching, and personal exploration. Using an undergraduate sample (N = 275, 81% women), the author tested a structural model. Results indicated that anxious attachment style was negatively related to interviewing self‐efficacy, whereas avoidant attachment style was negatively related to networking, job searching, and personal exploration self‐efficacy. Theoretical implications based on these findings provide support for an integrative model of attachment theory with SCCT. Career counselors are encouraged to consider clients’ attachment styles when working with individuals who are searching for employment. To help address the limitations of the study, future researchers could test the applicability of the current model with a more diverse sample.     

Identification and Integration of Career Theory: Students’ Perspectives on the Process

In many counseling programs, while students are learning about career theory, they may be tasked in a separate course with identifying a theoretical approach to counseling. This may result in a dichotomous situation in which students lack an understanding of the relationship between career theory and counseling theory. Career counselors have long recognized the artificial distinction between career counseling and general counseling. However, counselor education programs generally lag, and there is a dearth of literature regarding the process of identifying and integrating career theory and counseling theory. This phenomenological study examined 6 students’ perceptions of the process of career theory identification and integration. Analysis of in‐depth interviews yielded 5 major themes: theory identification and integration, perceptions of career counseling, resources, personal dimensions, and application across the life span. Findings of this study have the potential to inform counselor education pedagogy regarding career theory identification and its application to the counseling context.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2011

The Career Development Quarterly celebrated its 100th anniversary during the past year and continues to provide high‐quality research and conceptual articles of import to the study of career development and intervention. This article reviews the 2011 career counseling and development literature to highlight advances in theory, assessment, and intervention presented within the following themes: (a) from the past to the future, (b) work and well‐being, (c) diversity and career, (d) career theory and concepts, (e) career assessment, (f) career intervention, (g) career development: life‐span perspectives, and (h) international perspectives.