Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2003

This annual review of the research and practice literature related to career counseling and development published during 2003 is presented in 6 major areas: professional issues, career assessment, career development, career theory, career interventions, and technology. The authors discuss the implications of the findings in this literature for career counseling practice.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2002

The authors present a review of the 2002 career development literature. The literature review is divided into the following areas: career theory, career assessment, career counseling interventions and practice, career counseling training and professional issues, and international issues in career counseling. The authors discuss the implications of the findings in this literature for career counseling practice.     

The Next Decade in Career Counseling: Cocoon Maintenance or Metamorphosis?

The authors, using a cocoon maintenance or metamorphosis metaphor, articulate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and future vision for career counseling. Major strengths in career counseling include the growth and development of career theory, research, and practice. Weaknesses are identified in terms of career counseling practices that maintain localized career standards. Opportunities exist for the profession to assist clients in redefining their careers on the basis of ownership and life stories. The continued devaluation of career counseling in counselor education programs is seen as a threat. The authors conclude with their vision for the future for the discipline and profession of career counseling.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2004

This article reviews professional literature published in 2004 related to career counseling and career development. The literature is divided into 4 broad areas: professional issues, career theory and concepts, career interventions and practice, and career assessment and technology. The authors summarize and discuss the implications of the findings for career counseling practice and research.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2005

This article reviews professional literature published in 2005 related to career counseling and career development. The literature is divided into 4 broad areas: professional issues, career theory and concepts, career interventions and practice, and career assessment and technology. The authors summarize and discuss the implications of the findings for career counseling practice and research.     

Integrating Perspectives in Career Development Theory and Practice

The author explores the possibility of theory integration in career development and counseling, focusing primarily on bridging the gap between objectivist/positivistic and constructivist approaches. The potentiality of combining concepts from varied theories into a preliminary framework is discussed. This framework proposes 3 possibilities: career as self‐realization, growing experiences, and context conceptualization. Because its focus is career development practice, this framework triggers some heuristic thoughts that might be seen by career counselors as applicable to their counseling interventions.     

Attitudes Regarding Career Counseling: Perceptions and Experiences of Counselors‐in‐Training

The authors explored attitudes regarding career counseling. Interview data were analyzed and conceptualized using grounded theory methods. Peers, faculty, and programs influenced participants' attitudes. Participants' observations regarding instruction and developed understanding of their own career development figured into favorable attitudes regarding career counseling. Data revealed that students did not perceive that they were competent or confident conducting career counseling. Implications for counselor education are discussed.     

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.     

Synthesis and Antithesis: Perspectives From Herr,Bloch, and Watts

The rapid changes that are occurring in the national and global context in which people forge their personal careers dictate changes in the profession of career counseling. These changes are to 2 specific types. The first involves the reexamination and adjustment of the theory, assumptions, and practice that undergird professional career counseling to include more fully the impact of external forces on individual career development. The second needed thrust is the proactive development of public policy, legislation, and funding designed to provide high-quality career planning services to the nation's citizens across the life span.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2007

This annual review of the research and practice literature related to career counseling and development during 2007 is presented in 9 areas: professional issues, career assessment, career development, career theory and concepts, career interventions, advances in technology, personnel selection and job placement, international perspectives, and book reviews. Professional issues of a multicultural, multiethnic, and diversified workforce have become among the most frequently enumerated themes of the 2007 career development literature. The author summarizes and discusses the implications of the findings in this literature for the practice of career counseling.     

Constructing a Life That Works: Part 1, Blending Postmodern Family Therapy and Career Counseling

Postmodern approaches to career counseling are well suited to addressing the challenges a postindustrial world poses to career development and overall life design. In this, the 1st of 2 articles exploring theory and practice, the authors examine the differences between traditional trait and factor models of career counseling and postmodern approaches using life narratives and social constructionism. As career counselors and marriage and family therapists, the authors' approach to career development integrates the literature on postmodern family therapy with emerging narrative approaches to career counseling. The 2nd article (C. Campbell & M. Ungar, 2004) discusses 7 aspects of the authors' daily practice as postmodern career counselors.     

Career Counseling: 90 Years Old Yet Still Healthy and Vital

Career counseling has a long and illustrious past, dating back to the contributions of Frank Parsons and including notable theories and substantial research related to career development. In the practice of career counseling, however, there is not substantial evidence about what works with which clients under what conditions. In the next 10 years, there will be opportunities to provide career assistance through novel means to reach more individuals; however, some of these opportunities, such as the Internet, can also have adverse effects if not used appropriately. The author also discusses a vision that involves a resurgence of theory, research, and practice related to career counseling.     

Annual Review: Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—1996

The National Career Development Association's (NCDA) Professional Standards Committee (1997) has recently identified 11 competency areas (career development theory, individual and group counseling skills, individual and group assessment, information resources, and program management and implementation, consultation, diverse populations, supervision, ethical legal issues, and research evaluation, and technology). These competencies were used as categories for classifying research on career development and counseling published in 1996. Two primary areas of research activity were identified: making career counseling theory useful for more clients, and emphasizing the role of contextual factors in shaping career development. Four competency areas not addressed sufficiently by researchers were also identified: consultation, supervision, technology, and ethics. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Applying Social Cognitive Career Theory to Training Career Counselors

This article applies the social cognitive career theory formulated by Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) to training career counselors. Specifically, the authors propose extending the theory to understand and influence trainees' interest, engagement, and performance in career counseling. An initial offering of an advanced career counseling seminar is described as an example of an intervention designed to increase interest and involvement in career counseling and to improve performance among career counselors. Suggestions are made for future research and for training students to be interested, involved, and skilled in providing career counseling.     

Probabilities and Possibilities: The Strategic Counseling Implications of the Chaos Theory of Careers

The chaos theory of careers emphasizes both stability and change in its account of career development. This article outlines counseling strategies derived from this emphasis in terms of convergent or probability thinking and emergent or possibility thinking. These 2 perspectives are characterized, and practical counseling strategy implications are provided. In addition, an illustrative technique example is described. The authors conclude that the challenges of modern career development demand the complementary and the interactive use of both probability and possibility thinking strategies.     

Integrating Sexual Orientation in Career Counseling: Acting to End a Form of the Personal-Career Dichotomy

Ignoring sexual orientation in career counseling practice is presented as a specific case of failing to integrate an aspect of the personal dimension into career counseling. Three case examples illustrate specific actions that career counselors must take to integrate this important aspect of the personal dimension into career counseling. The actions suggested involve three general areas: (a) signaling lesbian and gay affirmation in career counseling practice, (b) enhancing the development of a positive gay or lesbian identity in the context of career development work, and (c) recognizing and integrating the reality of anti-gay stigma in career counseling.     

Career Counseling in a Volatile Job Market: Tiedeman's Perspective Revisited

This article explores implications of Tiedeman's original theory for career counselors. Some components of the theory seem to be compatible with existing volatile job market conditions. Notions of career path recycling, development in reverse, nonlinear progress, and parallel streams in career development are explored. Suggestions are made for counseling interventions and future research using this perspective.     

Social Cognitive Theory and the Career Development of African American Women

No comprehensive model of the career development of racial and ethnic minorities has yet been developed; even less attention has been devoted to models of the career development of racial and ethnic minority women. One of the more promising career theories that may prove satisfactory in accounting for ethnicity in career development is Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). In this article, the authors selectively review the literature on African American women's career development to clarify how social cognitive mechanisms may be operating. The primary focus of this conceptual analysis is on the central elements of social cognitive theory, namely, self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Implications for counseling are presented.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2000

The authors summarize the career counseling and development literature that appeared during 2000 in refereed journals, book chapters, and full‐length books. The review of literature is divided into 5 major categories: (a) theoretical and conceptual advances, (b) career counseling and development of identified populations, (c) assessment in career counseling and development, (d) career counseling programs and interventions, and (e) resources for the professional development of career counselors and vocational psychologists.