Career Interventions Research Articles

Courage, Career Adaptability, and Readiness as Resources to Improve Well-Being during the University-to-Work Transition in Italy.

College students approaching a university degree can experience a critical period in their career development path that could affect their well-being. The main aim of this study was to examine the role of courage, career adaptability, and professional readiness as protective factors toward life satisfaction and flourishing during the university-to-work transition. These psychosocial resources could be useful to cope with the recent transformations of the labor market. The study involved 352 Italian university students (M = 100; F = 252), aged from 21 to 29 years (M = 23.57; SD = 2.37), attending the last year of their degree course. The results of the mediation analysis showed that courage plays a mediating role between career transition readiness and career adaptability, on one hand, with well-being indicators as outcomes. The results are discussed, providing some suggestions on practical implications for career interventions to support college students during the university-to-work transition.

Modeling of factors influencing exploration of medical career choices

Majority of medical students choose clinical specialties as their career choice, compared to other medical fields. This study aimed to finding an effective model of career exploration behaviour in medical students to construct effective career interventions. This study obtained 1030 students of medical faculties in Indonesia. All data used an online survey questionnaire that was collected starting from October 12<sup>th</sup>-25<sup>th</sup> 2015. Data analysis used Partial Least Square-Path Modelling using R statistical software to create a model in order to find correlation and pathway among each variable. The result showed both direct and indirect correlation towards the variables studied. Personal accomplishment had a stronger influence on self-efficacy (β=0.317, p<0.001). This study concluded that verbal persuasion and self-efficacy correlate directly to career exploration.<strong> </strong>All variables are related to career exploration in medical students. Educators and policymakers are able to construct intervention in this area to encourage medical students to start exploring career options early.

Concurrent and Lagged Effects of Career Interventions on the Longitudinal Changes of Adolescent Career Maturity and Self-Processes

Concurrent and Lagged Effects of Career Interventions on the Longitudinal Changes of Adolescent Career Maturity and Self-Processes

Autonomous Versus Controlled Motivation on Career Indecision: The Mediating Effect of Career Exploration

Effective career decision-making outcomes may depend on the type of motivation underlying career development. The purpose of this study was to analyze how autonomous and controlled motivation predict exploration behaviors and career indecision and in which degree the effect of motivation on indecision is mediated by career exploration (environmental exploration, self-exploration, intended-systematic exploration and amount of information), among a group of high-school students (10th, 11th, and 12th grades, N = 523, M = 16.40). An integrative model was tested using path analysis to test direct and indirect effects and model fit (AMOS 20.0). The final model showed good fit to the data. Three indirect effects were found significant, being self-exploration, and amount of information presented as mediators. Our results highlight the importance to design career interventions not only focusing on promoting exploration behaviors but also on creating purposeful planning, based on students’ reasons underlying their involvement in the career decision-making process.

Individual Student Planning Services with Web 2.0

Individual student planning as one of the components in the guidance and counseling comprehensive program provides services to help students understand and monitor their growth and development in order to take action on their next steps. School counselors need to adapt to today’s era in order to help students who are the part of the digital age. Web 2.0 is a recommendation for future career intervention. Web 2.0 tools and resources encourage collaboration between students and a careers counselor. The research method that was used was design-based research (DBR) and the model that is implemented is the Integrative Learning Design (ILD). The web 2.0 content is divided into two descriptions which are individual student planning strategies (individual appraisal, individual advisement, transition planning, and follow up) and peminatan (specialization) which describes the high school curriculum. This paper will discuss how web 2.0 tools can be developed and implemented in guidance and counseling services, specifically the individual student planning component.

Anticipatory emotions at the prospect of the transition to higher education: A latent transition analysis

While some attention has been devoted to the study of emotions in vocational psychology, research on the emotional anticipation of future career events is scarce. Using latent transition analysis, we investigated profiles of anticipatory emotions at the prospect of the transition to higher education during the last year of high school. We also investigated two career-related antecedents of profile membership and transitions between profiles: career decidedness and career adaptability. Our results shed light on three distinct profiles. First, most students experienced mostly positive anticipatory emotions with few negative anticipatory emotions (i.e., a positive dominant profile). Second, students in the mixed emotions profile displayed high levels of both positive and negative anticipatory emotions. Third, students in the negative dominant profile experienced mostly negative anticipatory emotions. Our results also showed that the positive dominant profile was relatively stable and that the mixed and the negative dominant profiles related to more transitions across time. With regard to the antecedents, our results demonstrated that students with higher career decidedness and career adaptability were more likely to belong to the positive dominant profile. When looking at transitions between profiles, students with high career decidedness and career adaptability were more likely to remain in or transition to the positive dominant profile. Identifying students with different anticipatory emotions profiles and the nature of transitions between these profiles have implications for implementing tailored career interventions and educational practices.

Healthcare career intervention with youth in a predominantly Latinx rural community: a pilot study of a creative approach.

The present study discusses a pilot intervention for youth in a predominantly Latinx rural community in the U.S. The intervention incorporated multimodal creative activities into the social cognitive career theory-based healthcare career program. Participants (N = 75) were assessed for healthcare career self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests (pre-/post-intervention). Their healthcare career task self-efficacy and interests scores significantly increased overall. By race/ethnicity groups, however, only White students reported an increase in healthcare interests, and only students of color an increase in healthcare career task self-efficacy. This provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of the proposed intervention. Implications for services and research are discussed.

Digital storytelling: a tool for life design career intervention

Life design is a postmodern paradigm in career interventions for which technology plays an important role in helping clients in career decision-making process. Accepting the role of technology and information technology in life, this study aims to investigate the effect of digital storytelling on career counseling process with life design paradigm. This is a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and follow-up with control group. For this purpose, 45 students in Tehran were randomly selected to participate in the labor market entrance course and they were assigned to (i) the digital storytelling (15 students), (ii) the face-to-face storytelling (15 students), and (iii) the control (15 students) groups. The career decision-making and the career decision-making self-efficacy questionnaires were completed in the pretest, the posttest, and the follow-up test. The findings showed that career decision-making and career decision-making self-efficacy of the subjects in the intervention groups increased relative to the control group and the group in which the digital storytelling was used for career interventions obtained higher career decision-making self-efficacy than other groups. According to the findings, it can be said that although no difference exists between students’ use of the digital storytelling and the face-to-face storytelling, the use of the digital storytelling results in higher career decision-making self-efficacy of students.

Family influence on undergraduates’ career choice implementation

This study examined the influence of family on career choice implementation, assuming that implementation can be assessed through goal progress and satisfaction, and that family influences the latter through perceived environmental supports or barriers and self-efficacy. Three hundred and twenty-three college students completed measures of family’ values and beliefs, expectations, financial and informational support, and of students’ perceived environmental support and barriers, academic self-efficacy, goal progress, and satisfaction. Path analysis results indicated that family values, expectations, and supports indirectly influence students’ choice implementation through supports and barriers and self-efficacy. Such influences should be considered in career interventions.

Factors influencing adaptation from university to employment in Portugal and Brazil

The career adaptation model helps to explain the process of transitioning from university to employment among college students. This study tested the invariance of the model for gender and for Portuguese and Brazilian cultural contexts. Participants included 638 students (69% women, 66.1% Brazilian), aged 18 to 56 (M = 23.78, SD = 20.33). Individuals’ adaptability resources, adapting responses, and adaptation results were considered and assessed. Multigroup path analysis results indicated invariance of the model only for contexts, indicating that the adaptation process, in university to employment transition, is equivalent in Portugal and Brazil, guiding career interventions in both contexts.

Improve student career certainty using self-information

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of counseling interventions using self-information to increase student career certainty. This study was conducted with a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test non-equivalent group design. The number of subjects was 94 high school students, out of which 44 were male and 50 were female; the experimental group consisted of 39 people and the control group consisted of 55 people. The Self-information used in this study was provided through the Self-Directed Career Exploration Inventory, while research data was obtained through the Career Plan Certainty Scale. The results showed that career counseling services using self-information were effective in helping high school students to increase their career choice certainty. The mean score of the students of the specialization group in the experimental group increased and was significantly different from the mean score of the students in the control group. In addition, the mean score for the study plans of male and female students was not significantly different.
 
 Keywords: Career certainty, self-information, career counseling, career intervention.

Beyond the Individual: A Group-Based Career Development Intervention Implemented in Resource-Constrained Schools in South Africa

ABSTRACT In South African high schools, many learners have limited support in making career related decisions to prepare them for the world of work after school. An important early transition for career-related decision-making is at the end of Grade 9 when learners are expected to decide which subjects they will select for the last phase of high school. Grade 9 is also the juncture where adolescents may decide to exit their formal schooling and enter the labor market. To support Grade 9 learners in making informed career-related decisions, this study examined the effectiveness of a group-based career guidance intervention implemented in eight secondary schools located in resource-constrained communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. The intervention aimed to improve learners’ career decision-making readiness and aid in making subject choices and subsequent career choices. The intervention consisted of interest assessment conducted in a group-format with the learners, after which a workshop was facilitated to share relevant information pertaining to their interests, other career attributes and pending subject choices. The results of this study demonstrate a significant impact of early adolescents’ career adaptability and ability to engage in the career decision-making process. These results show promise in the implementation of group-based career intervention, supporting learners to make informed decisions in relation to their career paths.

Effectiveness of Technology-Based Career Interventions: A Meta-Analysis Review

This study was a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of technology-based career interventions. Meta-analysis was performed using Cohen’s effect size in 10 experimental research results in The Career Development Quarterly, Journal of Career Assessment, Journal of Career Development, Journal of Psychologists and Counselors in Schools published between 1988 – 2018. Participants in the studies were children and/or adolescents ranging from kindergarten through to adults of 25 years. The calculations show the modest effect (d= 0.305). It shows that technology-based career intervention has diverse effectiveness to measure any career-related variable.
 Keywords: meta-analysis, technology-based career intervention, career development

‘Looking to the Future and the University in an Inclusive and Sustainable Way’: A Career Intervention for High School Students

Career guidance needs new perspectives, considering the challenges that characterize our future, and it cannot exist without solidarity, inclusion, and attention to environmental challenges. It should also positively influence stakeholders to invest in the values of the 2030 Agenda recently proposed by the United Nations, and its encouragement to think about some of the emergencies that new generations will have to face in the future. Based on these premises, we designed and validated a sustainable career guidance intervention for high school students. The participants (N = 75) were assigned to an experimental or a control group. All of the participants answered questions pre- and post-intervention to measure career adaptability, training, future investment, and wishes about the feature. The students from the sustainable career intervention group increased their post-intervention scores on control, curiosity, confidence, training, and future investment. They also indicated future wishes that take into more account attention to relationships and social challenges.

Career counselling with life design in a collectivist cultural context: An action research study

Large-scale macro forces are restructuring forms of work in urban India creating the need for alternative methods of career counselling. This research explores the application of a US-based approach to constructing careers i.e. Life-Design Career Counseling (i. e., LDC) with two mid-career professionals in India. Data consisted of client responses to different narrative career counselling exercises such as a lifeline activity, a career construction interview and semi-structured feedback interviews. Action research's focus on reflexivity helped integrate theory with practice to contribute to knowledge production and meaningful innovations within practice. Findings from this research underscored the importance of relationship, reflection and sense-making and the need for India to utilise a culturally resonant career intervention. The study holds value for career professionals, in India and beyond where LDC is still unexplored. Moreover, LDC practitioners in non-Western countries and collectivist societies will benefit from a contextual adaptation that encourages focus on client learning.

Map of self-perceived growth for reviewing user journey and negotiating career transitions

Background: There exist very few participatory research tools to facilitate youth to review and archive their user journey in a systematic manner for negotiating their career transitions.Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine in what way the map of self-perceived growth (MSPG) was used as an effective participatory research tool for reviewing and archiving the user journey of marginalised youth for negotiating their career transitions and for drawing implications for career interventions and research.Method: The MSPG template was used for conducting individual interviews with ex-users for mapping out their user journey with the use of nine emoji icons and a 10-point Likert-type scale. A thematic qualitative analysis was applied to study three sampled sets of transcripts and participant-constructed maps.Results: The youth participants were able to map out their user journey with departure point, turning points and future career aspirations. The participant-constructed maps can visualise both psychological ownership and work volition and the use of psychosocial resources available from an enabling environment, which were found helpful for strengthening the agency of youth in negotiating career transitions, and showing embedded career interventions for drawing implications for both career interventions and research studies.Conclusion: The study result suggests using the MSPG for reviewing and archiving user experience and articulating youth’s career aspirations, which can help inform youth’s negotiating career transitions. Further research studies on using the map template and the participant-constructed maps for strengthening agentic negotiations and career interventions are recommended.

Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of mobile phone-based career intervention for career competencies of Malaysian public managers: Protocol for a mixed method study

BackgroundThis study presents a protocol for a mixed method study on the development and evaluation of the effectiveness of mobile phone-based intervention for enhancing career competencies of managers in the Malaysian public service. Career competencies, being central to the self-management and development of one's career, are necessary for proactive management of careers; they help to guide the individuals towards subjective career success which subsequently leads to organization success. However, there is a lack of career competencies intervention practices in the Malaysian public service. Therefore, this study aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a user and expert centric mobile phone-based career intervention program of career competencies among Malaysian public managers. In this study, the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is adopted as the framework to develop mobile phone-based intervention for career competencies. MethodThis is a sequential exploratory mixed method study which involves, in Phase 1, a qualitative approach: reviewing of literature and interviewing experts and public servants who are users of mobile phones so as to obtain their perspectives regarding the components in the career intervention module and mobile phone application features. A quantitative approach is implemented in Phase 2 that evaluates the mobile phone-based career intervention program. Validation will be conducted to meet the objectives of (i) the usability of the mobile communication career intervention application (survey), and (ii) evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention program for career competencies delivered through mobile phone application (randomized controlled trial). The career intervention program consists of five modules through which development is based on reflective, communicative and behavioral dimensions. OutcomeThe primary outcome of this study is career competencies. The career competencies score will be compared between participants in the intervention and control group at the baseline, and follow-ups at week four and week 12 respectively, using mixed design ANOVA. DiscussionThe results from this study will indicate the effectiveness of the career intervention program for career competencies in the reformation of public services management. The intervention can serve as a new modality to enhance career competencies among public managers in Malaysia if its effectiveness is proven.

Effects of a Career Course on Chinese High School Students' Career Decision‐Making Readiness

Career decision‐making is a critical task for high school students, yet little is known about how career interventions affect their decision‐making skills and self‐efficacy. We investigated the outcome of a career intervention in a Chinese high school setting to determine whether it would reduce the difficulties students faced in making a career decision and elevate their self‐efficacy in career exploration. A career intervention course was delivered to 413 high school students (228 female, 185 male) who completed a demographic questionnaire, the Major Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy Scale (Peng & Long, 2003), and the Career Decision‐Making Difficulties Questionnaire–Chinese Version (Shen, 2005) before and after the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on reducing students' difficulties making career decisions but had mixed results on career self‐efficacy. Proactive, systematic, multilevel, and structured interventions over longer periods of time would likely help youth develop their career decision‐making skills.

Shame and the Psychosocial Costs of Contemporary Work: Implications for Career Intervention

This article explores the concept of shame and integrates it into career development and career counseling. The article begins with an overview of shame from a diverse conceptual framework, describing shame as a self‐conscious emotion that occurs in response to interactions or events that evoke embarrassment, humiliation, self‐doubt, and psychological distress. We discuss the prevalence of shame in work‐based interactions and contexts, which is referred to as work shame. Building on this integrative review of shame within the working context, we describe the counseling implications and provide a case study to illustrate the ways in which shame emerges in clients' lives and potential strategies to resist and transcend shame.

Validation of Career Planning Guidebook for College Students

Career exploration is one of the career development tasks that individuals commonly go through. In reality, these activities may cause problems for specific individuals, including students. Career guidance can assist individuals in successfully passing through this stage of a person’s life. Of the many career intervention models available, no previous research has utilized career planning guidebooks as a form of intervention to help students make career plans. This study aimed to validate a career planning guidebook created by the researcher and test its content and functional validity. Tests of content validity were conducted through professional judgment, while tests of functional validity were conducted via a quasi-experiment. The results showed that all the contents of the career planning guidebook were aligned with the goals of the career planning guidebook (Average of V= 0.6). The experiment results indicated significant difference in perceptions of career planning before and after the intervention (Z=-3.987; p=0.000). The findings concluded that the career planning guidebook is valid, both in terms of content and function.