CHAPTER 21
Promoting Career Choices

JAMES P. SAMPSON JR.1, DEBRA S. OSBORN1, AND EMILY BULLOCK‐YOWELL2

1Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

2University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS

This chapter concerns theory, research, and practice associated with career interventions to promote career choices. Career choices involve a series of decisions over a lifetime concerning occupations, education, training, and employment (Sampson, Reardon, Peterson, & Lenz, 2004; Whiston & James, 2012). The range of opportunities, and thus the choices available to individuals, varies greatly, with some individuals having almost limitless opportunities and few barriers, while other individuals have limited opportunities and face substantial barriers to education, training, and employment as a result of personal or societal constraints. Regardless of the range of opportunities available, individuals still need to make choices on how to make best use of the time available for educational pursuits, employment, family responsibilities, and, in some cases, leisure. For the majority of individuals, life typically involves a series of choices that have consequences for future choices.

Considerable effort by practitioners is expended in promoting career choices. Some persons seek career interventions from public and private sector service providers to help them in making these choices. Spokane (1991) defined career intervention as “any activity (treatment or effort) designed to enhance a person's career development or to enable that person to make more effective career decisions” (p. 22). While counseling is a common element, career interventions take many forms (Gelso, Williams, & Fretz, 2014), and may or may not include practitioner assistance. Numerous career assessments and information resources are provided, both free of charge and for a fee, that are used in self‐help and practitioner‐supported career interventions. The career interventions individuals seek and receive are influenced by both the nature of the career choices they are making and the personal and societal barriers they face (the interventions they receive are also influenced by the type of setting where they seek assistance, for example, workforce center vs. a place like Florida State University). Some individuals have difficulty in making career choices and receive considerable assistance from practitioners, while other individuals have less difficulty and receive little or no assistance. Where assistance is provided, career interventions are delivered by practitioners who have titles appropriate for their training, experience, credentials, and work setting, including psychologists, counselors, career coaches, guidance specialists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, teachers/faculty/academic advisers, librarians, human resource specialists, and social workers. Persons receiving career interventions include clients, students/advisees, customers, patrons, and employees based on where they receive career services (Sampson, 2008). In this chapter, persons delivering career interventions are referred to as “practitioners,” while persons receiving interventions are referred to as “clients” if they receive practitioner support and “individuals” if they engage in self‐help intervention.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine how theory, research, and practice inform the effectiveness of career interventions. The chapter begins with a review of the effectiveness of career interventions and continues with a discussion of critical ingredients of career interventions, factors contributing to intervention effectiveness, and the use of theory in designing career interventions. Examples are then provided that demonstrate how theory‐based career choice concepts are operationalized in career interventions. Cognitive information processing (CIP) theory (Sampson, Reardon, Peterson, & Lenz, 2004) is presented in more detail given the theory's intentional linkage between career choice and career interventions and the theory's explicit linkage to the critical elements in career interventions. The career‐development assessment and counseling (C‐DAC) model (Super, 1990, Niles, 2001), life design counseling (LDC) (Savickas, 2012, 2018), and the prescreening, in‐depth exploration, and choice (PIC) model (Gati & Asher, 2001) are also reviewed in terms of their linkage between concepts of career choice and career intervention. The chapter concludes with recommendations for practice.

EFFECTIVENESS OF CAREER INTERVENTIONS IN PROMOTING CHOICES

Several meta‐analyses have been conducted that highlight the effectiveness of career interventions (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Oliver & Spokane, 1988; Spokane & Oliver, 1983; Ryan, 1999; Whiston, Sexton, & Lasoff, 1998; Whiston, Li, Mitts, & Wright, 2017). The series of meta‐analyses by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) were based on 62 career intervention studies that focused on career choice outcomes as well as factors related to career‐choice‐making success. The Brown and Ryan Krane meta‐analyses included those studies utilized in the Oliver and Spokane (1988) meta‐analysis which spanned work from 1950 to 1982. Ryan (1999) noted that additional studies from 1983 to 1997 were identified for the Brown and Ryan Krane meta‐analyses by using study identification methods similar to that used in previous meta‐analytic work (Oliver & Spokane, 1988; Spokane & Oliver, 1983). To continue the meta‐analytic attention to career choice interventions, the meta‐analyses by Whiston et al. (2017) included 57 published and unpublished studies from 1996 to 2015. Both the meta‐analyses by Brown and Ryan Krane and Whiston et al. included the career choice outcomes of vocational identity, career maturity, career decidedness, and career decision‐making self‐efficacy. Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) additionally looked at several career decidedness constructs and interest congruence. Whiston et al. (2017) also included outcome expectations, perceived environmental support, and perceived career barriers as possible outcomes. Together these meta‐analyses look at 65 years of career choice intervention studies.

The meta‐analyses by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) and Whiston et al. (2017) produced mean effect sizes of .34 and .35, respectively, across the included outcomes. Thus, it appears that the average client receiving some form of career intervention improves about a third of a standard deviation more on relevant outcomes than do clients receiving no formal career interventions—a significant yet somewhat modest improvement. In addition to overall effectiveness, research has suggested some other strategies and methods to improve career intervention effectiveness. We describe these in the next section, as we continue to explore the meta‐analyses of Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) and Whiston et al. (2017).

IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CAREER INTERVENTIONS

CRITICAL INGREDIENTS OF CAREER INTERVENTIONS

Given the modest effects of career interventions, research has suggested how the impact of interventions can be improved. The work of Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) found that the career intervention's format (e.g., individual versus group) may be less important than what is offered in the intervention, and suggested there may be critical ingredients that enhance the effectiveness of any career intervention. They coded for the presence or absence of 19 specific intervention components in each study. These intervention components were entered as blocks in the final step using a series of weighted, hierarchical, least squares regression analyses. The purpose was to determine if one or a combination of these components accounted for significant unique variance beyond that accounted for by study (e.g., date of publication), methodological (e.g., random assignment), client (e.g., race), and intervention characteristics (e.g., individual counseling) on choice‐related outcomes. Ultimately, they identified five critical ingredients of career interventions (i.e., workbooks and written exercises; individual interpretations and feedback; world of work information; modeling; attention to building support) in their included studies. Additionally, the study showed that the intervention effectiveness increased when a combination of critical ingredients was used within an intervention. Interventions included in the meta‐analyses that had no critical ingredients yielded an average effect size of .22. When critical ingredients of one, two, or three were added to the intervention; the average effect size increased in a linear fashion to .45, .61, and .99, respectively. There were no intervention studies included that combined more than three critical ingredients.

Additional information on potential ways to increase the effectiveness of career choice interventions was further explored in Brown et al. (2003). Brown et al. (2003) detailed the intervention studies included in the meta‐analysis by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) by highlighting how the studies actually implemented the critical ingredients in the interventions. For example, Brown et al. (2003) suggested that writing goals and comparing options in writing may be the critical aspects of workbook and written exercises. The discussion by Brown et al. (2003) includes other hypotheses for how to most effectively implement all the critical ingredients into future career choice interventions.

Whiston et al. (2017) took a different approach to meta‐analytically uncovering ways to improve intervention effectiveness. The series of meta‐analyses by Whiston et al. revealed a somewhat different set of critical ingredients (i.e., counselor support, values clarification, and psychoeducation interventions), but did not control for issues such as study methodology, client characteristics, or intervention type. Thus, it is uncertain whether the ingredients identified by Whiston et al. (2017) are “universal” versus confounded by study, methodological, client, or intervention characteristics.

Whiston et al. (2017) also explored effect sizes by format or mode of intervention. For example, they found that intervention modality (e.g., individual, group, workshops, classes) was not a significant moderator of effect sizes; that effect sizes did not differ significantly among different treatment modalities. In terms of number of sessions and effect sizes, Whiston et al. (2017) replicated the results by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) that four to five sessions tended to yield maximum benefit.

Ultimately, the career choice intervention meta‐analytic work provides a healthy starting point to consider how interventions are structured for clients. Much of the evidence suggests that what the chosen intervention involves is more critical than exactly how that intervention is provided. Continued practitioner awareness and researcher exploration of these critical ingredients of effective career choice interventions is essential. From here we continue to other considerations for effective career choice interventions.

TREATMENT FIDELITY

Having established that career interventions are efficacious, we propose that it is not the career resources alone that yield positive results, but how resources are used (i.e., what occurs prior to, during, and following the intervention; Osborn & Zunker, 2016). This variable is often referred to as treatment or intervention fidelity and represents the degree to which an intervention is delivered as proscribed by theory, treatment, or assessment manuals, and other sources of information that specify how interventions should be delivered. Multiple threats to treatment fidelity exist, including differences in how training is provided, how individuals adjust an intervention to fit their own style of counseling, counselor or supervisor competency, contextual considerations that differ from the prescribed setting for the intervention, and client variables that may affect the intervention.

Appreciating and attending to these potential threats are imperative, as outcomes can be impacted, and next steps inappropriately determined if intervention fidelity is ignored. For example, treatment fidelity with respect to using career assessments with clients can be examined through the lens of the National Career Development Association (NCDA) 2015 ethical guidelines, which outline requirements specific to the selection, administration, and interpretation of career‐related assessments. One of the NCDA guidelines (E1.a) requires career practitioners to consider the psychometric properties of career assessments. If career practitioners decide to ignore this protocol and use an assessment they prefer, which has been normed on a population substantially different than the client, the experience and results of that decision could be potentially harmful. In this example, clients may make decisions that significantly impact their time, financial resources, educational or training paths, and family, only to find out after these commitments and sacrifices that they neither possess the interests nor aptitudes for that particular path suggested by the inventory results.

In addition to ethical guidelines, other sources for treatment fidelity would be a procedural manual or guide that an office has developed, or a test manual that describes how a test should be administered, interpreted, and how to approach unique outcomes (such as flat, undifferentiated profiles). One way to increase fidelity is through training, supervision, and ongoing monitoring of practitioners to ensure that interventions are delivered in the manner that were designed to be used (Spokane & Nguyen, 2016) for the clients the interventions were meant to impact (Gearing et al., 2011).

WORKING ALLIANCE

The quality of the interaction between the practitioner and client can combine to impact intervention outcomes. For example, the therapeutic or working alliance between the practitioner and client has been repeatedly identified as the foundation for effective counseling outcomes (Whiston, Rossier, & Baron, 2016). These researchers found that the correlation between working alliance and career‐related outcomes was about .30, consistent with research on general psychotherapy outcomes and working alliance. Others (Masdonati, Massoudi, & Rossier, 2009) found a .67 correlation between working alliance and satisfaction with a career intervention (i.e., career counseling) for Swiss adolescents. A study on college students by Milot‐Lapointe, Savard, and Le Corff (2018) found that working alliance moderated the impact of individual feedback and written exercises on change in career decision‐making difficulties. That is, receiving individual feedback and employing written exercises in counseling were more positively related to outcome among those clients with a strong versus weaker alliance with their counselors.

Another important component of the working alliance is matching client goals with interventions activities, so that the client and counselor develop a “shared commitment to the goals and tasks of counseling” (Milot‐Lapointe et al., 2018, p. 16). For example, Verbruggen et al. (2017) found that clients are more likely to accomplish personally chosen versus assigned goals and that subsequent career satisfaction was related to the attainment of personally chosen versus other goals. Thus, choosing career interventions should stem from a conversation and agreement with the client on how that intervention can address and inform the client's career concerns and goals (Osborn & Zunker, 2016; Verbruggen et al., 2017).

Client readiness for career decision‐making is another area for attention when building the working alliance. Low readiness factors such as (a) negative perceptions of self and options knowledge, (b) a dependent decision‐making style, (c) restricted information acquisition, (d) poor evaluation of options, (e) premature choice foreclosure, or (d) leaving career counseling prior to completion can lead to poor use of career interventions. This in turn may limit the intervention's impact (Sampson, McClain, Musch, & Reardon, 2013). Sampson et al. also proposed that the effectiveness of interventions can be enhanced by practitioners aligning the intervention and the dosage (i.e., the amount of the intervention) with a client's readiness.

DOSAGE

Dosage, or the amount of treatment, that a client receives may contribute to intervention effectiveness (Whiston & James, 2012). Ideally, the amount of support clients receive corresponds to their level of need (Sampson et al., 2004). The response‐to‐intervention approach (Fuchs, Mock, Morgan, & Young, 2003) utilized in school psychology is an example of matching resources to client needs, so that resources are used most efficiently and effectively. Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) and Whiston et al. (2017) both found that effect size increases with number of career counseling sessions, with four to five being optimal.

Although Brown and Ryan Krane and Whiston et al. (2017) found that effect sizes tended to decrease after four to five sessions, career courses remain a mainstay form of career interventions in college settings. Thus, number of sessions should also be considered in course‐based interventions. For example, individual (as opposed to meta‐analytic) studies on career courses have shown them to be effective, whether offered in the dosage of 3 hours weekly for 15 weeks (Miller et al., 2018) or for 1 hour weekly for 6 weeks (Osborn, Howard, & Leierer, 2007). Miller et al. (2018) reported effect sizes for their longer (45‐hour) intervention to range from .45 to 1.09, while the Osborn et al. reported effect sizes ranging from .26 to .51 for their 6‐hour intervention. Although the effect sizes obtained from both studies are encouraging, longitudinal comparative studies examining the impact of dosage in career courses are not available, limiting our understanding of the potentially long‐term differential outcomes for the different dosages. In order for practitioners to understand the optimum dosage for an intervention, these studies are needed, but it appears that most clients obtained maximum benefit after four to five sessions.

USING THEORY IN DESIGNING AND DELIVERING CAREER INTERVENTIONS

In addition to the elements addressed previously, we think career intervention effectiveness can be facilitated if practitioners have a clear model or theory to direct intervention efforts. Krumboltz and Nichols (1990), for example, stated that theory should serve as a map from which to understand a client's path and to guide interventions. Although not developed as theories of counseling per se, the theories included in the first section of this book can be used to suggest appropriate career interventions. Other theories have been developed explicitly as theories of career intervention. The following section focuses on four of these, including CIP theory (Sampson et al., 2004), the C‐DAC model (Super, et al., 1992; Niles & Bowlsbey, 2017), LDC (Savickas, 2012, 2018), and the PIC model (Gati & Asher, 2001). Each theory or model will be described in terms of key conceptual elements, interventions associated with the specific theory, and empirical support.

CAREER INTERVENTION WITH CIP THEORY

KEY ELEMENTS OF CIP THEORY

CIP theory provides a basis for designing career interventions where an individual receiving self‐help services or a client receiving brief or individualized services solves an immediate career problem while also gaining problem‐solving and decision‐making skills that will support solving future career problems. A career problem is not necessarily bad and involves a gap between where a person is at the present and where he or she wants to be in the future (Peterson et al., 1991). For example, the gap could be between two potentially positive alternatives. Narrowing this gap involves both content dimensions (what you need to know) and process dimensions (what you need to do).

The content of choice is depicted in the pyramid of information‐processing domains (shown in Figure 21.1), which includes the knowledge of self, the knowledge of options, knowledge of decision‐making skills, and awareness of how positive and negative metacognitions influence decision‐making. Knowledge of self includes values, interests, skills, and employment preferences. Knowledge of options includes knowledge of individual options and a schema for organizing options knowledge, such as the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (RIASEC) model (Holland, 1997). Knowledge of decision‐making skills involves skills that can be applied to any type of problem with the CASVE cycle described below. Understanding metacognitions involves the elements of self‐talk, self‐awareness, and monitoring and control. Negative self‐talk is especially problematic, as it can compromise all aspects of the pyramid (Sampson et al., 2004).

The career choice process is depicted in the five CASVE cycle phases (shown in Figure 21.2), which include communication (awareness that a problem exists), analysis (clarification of elements of the pyramid), synthesis (elaborating and crystalizing alternatives), valuing (evaluating costs and benefits to arrive at a choice), and execution (taking action to implement a choice). Versions of the pyramid and the CASVE cycle exist for practitioner training and individual/client use during career interventions. A variety of resources, including career assessments, career information, and decision‐making instruction, are used to help individuals and clients gain the self‐knowledge, options knowledge, decision‐making skills, and metacognitive skills necessary to make informed and careful career choices (Sampson et al., 2004). In Figures 21.1 and 21.2, content for the client versions of the pyramid and CASVE cycle are indicated in the italicized text.

Schematic illustration of the practitioner and client versions of the pyramid of information-processing domains.

FIGURE 21.1 Practitioner (and client) versions of the pyramid of information‐processing domains.

John Wiley & Sons

CAREER INTERVENTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CIP THEORY

The design and delivery of CIP theory‐based career interventions use a differentiated service delivery model (Sampson, 2008). This model seeks to optimize the level of staff support in relation to client needs in order to make career interventions cost effective, which in turn allows more people to be served within available staff resources. Readiness for career decision‐making is a key construct in relating client needs to the level of staff support (Sampson et al., 2004). Readiness for career decision‐making reflects how prepared an individual or client is to engage in the learning activities associated with career choice (Sampson et al., 2013). Readiness concerns the capability to make a choice (including honesty, motivation, clear thinking, accepting responsibility, awareness of self‐talk, help seeking when needed, and awareness of progress), given the complexity of the family, social, economic, and organizational circumstances that influence career choices. Readiness can be measured and can improve over time. Having high, moderate, or low readiness is a function of the unique combination of capability and complexity that exists for each person (Sampson et al., 2000).

Schematic illustration of the practitioner and client versions of the CASVE cycle.

FIGURE 21.2 Practitioner (and client) versions of the CASVE cycle.

John Wiley & Sons

In the differentiated service delivery model, individuals with high readiness for career choice typically receive self‐help services, while clients with moderate readiness for career choice typically receive brief staff‐assisted services (such as 20–30‐minute drop‐in counseling offered without appointments, workshops, short‐term group counseling, or career courses with limited small‐group interaction). Clients with low readiness for career services receive individual case‐managed services (such as individual counseling, long‐term group counseling, or career courses with substantial small‐group interaction) (Sampson et al., 2004).

In self‐help services, individuals guide their own use of assessment, information, and instructional resources in a library or on a website where practitioner follow‐up support is available if needed, and career resources are designed to be used independently. In brief staff‐assisted services, practitioners guide clients' use of assessment, information, and instructional resources. In individual case‐managed services, practitioners guide clients' use of assessment, information, and instructional resources on an appointment basis. Guiding clients' use of assessment, information, and instructional resources involves helping them to select, sequence, and pace the use of resources, as well as following up with the client to determine if resource use was successful (Sampson, 2008).

A variety of constructs can be used to measure readiness for career choice, including career decidedness, vocational identity, career maturity, career decision‐making difficulties, and negative career thoughts (Sampson et al., 2013). Specific CIP theory‐based readiness measures include the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996a) and the Career Thoughts Inventory Workbook (Sampson et al. 1996b), the Decision Space Worksheet (DSW; Peterson, Leasure, Carr, & Lenz, 2010; Peterson, Lenz, & Osborn, 2016), and the Career State Inventory (CSI; Leierer, Peterson, Reardon, & Osborn, 2017; Leierer, Peterson, & Reardon, 2018). Sampson, Hou, McClain, Musch, and Reardon (2015) described 48 readiness assessment measures. Figure 21.3 depicts a CIP‐theory‐based service delivery process from initial contact in a reception area through the use of various interventions.

The differentiated service delivery model is also intended to maximize social justice by offering a model that can be used to serve the largest number of people in circumstances where the supply of career practitioners is inadequate to meet demand, especially among traditionally marginalized persons (Sampson, Dozier, & Colvin, 2011). Sampson, McClain, Musch, and Reardon (2017) noted that the differentiated model can serve 60–63% more clients in comparison with traditional individual counseling based on scheduled appointments.

With respect to the five critical ingredients of career interventions noted by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000), CIP theory‐based interventions: (a) utilize several written exercises; (b) provide individual interpretations and feedback, as well as modeling, in brief staff‐assisted and individual case‐managed services; (c) provide world of work information; and (d) attend to support building in all levels of service. With respect to other potential contributing factors to career interventions that were examined earlier in this chapter, intervention fidelity is maintained by regular staff training and supervision, the working alliance is monitored in staff supervision, and dosage is initially determined with screening and readiness assessment, and subsequently determined by response to intervention.

EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

With respect to evidence of the CASVE cycle's validity, Osborn, Sides, and Brown (in press) observed positive correlations among participants' perceived skills in the knowledge domain (self and options), the decision‐making skills domain, and the executive processing domain (i.e., as perceived skill in one area increased, other areas increased in the same direction, providing evidence of the coherence of elements of the pyramid of information‐processing domains). Osborn et al. (in press) also found that clients in earlier CASVE cycle phases had less clarity, certainty, and satisfaction about their career choice, while clients in later cycle phases expressed more choice clarity, certainty, and satisfaction.

Schematic illustration of the service delivery sequence for drop-in career services.

FIGURE 21.3 Service delivery sequence for drop‐in career services.

From Sampson, J. P. (2008). Designing and implementing career programs: A handbook for effective practice. Broken Arrow, OK: Nat. Career Development Assoc. Used with permission.

Werner (2019) empirically supported the factor structure of the theoretical CASVE cycle. Through a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with college student and working adult samples, Werner (2019) developed a decision‐making measure based on the CASVE cycle. The CASVE‐Cycle Questionnaire (The CASVE‐CQ) consists of empirically supported factors consistent with the CASVE cycle phases. Further, the importance of completing tasks associated with the CASVE phases in theoretical order was correlated with important career development outcomes. Those who navigated the CASVE cycle decision‐making process in a theoretically consistent order were more likely to have higher levels of vocational identity and fewer negative career thoughts.

Evidence supporting the validity of the capability dimension of the CIP two‐dimensional model of readiness for career decision‐making has been examined using the CTI (Sampson et al., 1996a) total score, as well as the decision‐making confusion and commitment anxiety scales. The capability dimension has also been examined using the certainty, satisfaction, clarity, and total scales of the CSI (Leierer et al., 2017). The complexity dimension of the readiness for career decision‐making model has been examined using the CTI's External Conflict Scale and the DSW.

In general, negative career thoughts measured by the CTI have been related in hypothesized directions with career indecision, neuroticism, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, vocational identity, Self‐Directed Search (SDS) profile elevation, goal instability, career decision‐making self‐efficacy, career decision state, career decision‐making style, career exploratory behavior, communication apprehension, and life and career stress. Certainty, satisfaction, clarity, and total scores, as measured by the CSI, have been related in hypothesized directions with career and life stress, negative career thoughts, SDS profile elevation and differentiation, goal instability, career tension, and neuroticism (Leierer et al., 2017). The DSW (Peterson, Leasure, Carr, & Lenz, 2010) provided evidence of elements of the complexity dimension that included quality of life, money, family, education, interests, self‐doubt, and employment.

Evidence of the efficacy of differentiated service delivery is available for self‐help, brief staff‐assisted, and individual case‐managed interventions. Kronholz (2015) provided case‐study evidence of a client receiving self‐help services who gained the information needed and was able to articulate a plan for next steps to finalize a career decision. Reardon (2017) provided additional evidence supporting the efficacy of self‐help services. Osborn, Hayden, Peterson, and Sampson (2016) showed that a brief staff‐assisted drop‐in intervention resulted in improved client decision‐making knowledge and confidence, as well as reduced anxiety. Leuty et al. (2015) found that using a CIP‐based, five‐session manualized individual and group intervention resulted in decreased negative career thoughts and decreased depression, as well as increased career decision‐making self‐efficacy. Reardon and Lenz (2018) summarized evidence of the efficacy of CIP‐based career course in terms of outputs (reduced negative career thoughts and increased career decidedness, career decision self‐efficacy, vocational identity, internal locus of control, career decision state, choice certainty, choice satisfaction, and choice clarity) and outcomes (increased grade point average, course satisfaction, college retention, and graduation rate).

CAREER INTERVENTION WITH THE C‐DAC MODEL

KEY ELEMENTS OF THE C‐DAC MODEL

The C‐DAC model is an application of Super's (1990) life‐span, life‐space theory (see Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume). The C‐DAC model posits that clients' interests, skills, values, life‐role salience, and career adaptability are critical to making informed career decisions. Life‐role salience involves the value individuals place on various life roles (e.g., work, leisurite, homemaker; Super, 1990). Super (1990) stated that career adaptability is an updated term for his original concept of career maturity in adults. Career adaptability involves five dimensions including (a) attitude toward coping with career tasks, (b) gathering information about opportunities, (c) exploring the world of work, (d) career decision‐making skills, and (e) ability to make accurate judgments about self and options (Niles, 2001). Client assessment of the abovementioned theory‐based constructs is key to creating career interventions based on the C‐DAC model.

The C‐DAC model is implemented in a four‐step process of preview, depth view, data assessment, and counseling (Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume; Niles & Harris‐Bowlsbey, 2017). Preview involves reviewing available client information, holding an initial interview with the client, and formulating a tentative intervention plan. During this step, the client's life‐role salience is assessed and career adaptability considered. Life‐role salience assessment attempts to determine how important the work role is in relation to other life roles for the client. The counselor's impression from the interview of the client's adaptability influences the initial interventions suggested in the counseling stage.

The depth view step involves assessment to determine readiness for career decision‐making often via the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI; Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1988) or the Career Development Inventory (CDI; Super Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1979). Those low in readiness may need help in planning, exploring, understanding the structure of occupations, and deciding among options. Once clients are ready to make a decision, the assessment step is engaged. During this stage, interests, abilities, and values are assessed using appropriate inventories (Super, Osborne, Walsh, Brown, & Niles, 1992). Finally, the fourth step of counseling involves using all gathered information to form an integrated concept of the client and an action plan.

CAREER INTERVENTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE C‐DAC MODEL

The C‐DAC model is the intervention approach of life‐span, life‐space theory (Super, 1990). Therefore, all included components represent an approach to career choice intervention that integrates information on clients' values, life‐role salience, and career adaptability. The first three steps of the model largely involve gathering information about the client to form a tentative intervention plan. The final step, counseling, is where all information is integrated to inform the final intervention plan.

To enhance interventions utilizing the C‐DAC model, Niles (2001) suggested initially using the Salience Inventory (SI) (Super & Nevill, 1986) with clients to determine the extent to which the client values work versus other life roles. Younger clients with low work salience may benefit from interventions that emphasize the importance of the worker role. More experienced adults with lower work‐role salience may lack career adaptability or willingness to consider change strategies. Counselors may consider interventions with this group that focus on becoming better prepared to make good career choices; interventions such as providing effective mentors to arouse interest in the work role or challenge irrational beliefs about work activities to enhance the career adaptability of the client. Niles (2001) also provided several ideas and example questions (e.g., “What do I hope to accomplish in each life role?” p. 135) for how to assure counselors address this issue with their clients in a person‐centered and culturally responsive manner. Niles posited that determining the salience of work in the client's life is essential to tailoring the C‐DAC approach and should emphasize helping the client spend more time in valued activities or roles.

Connected to the assessment of life‐role salience and career adaptability is the C‐DAC's model for determining readiness for decision‐making. If it is determined a client is not prepared to make a career choice, initial intervention may involve the enhancement of decision‐making skills. The ACCI (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1988) assesses career planning attitudes and results can be used to inform interventions directed at how the client copes with important career development tasks. Additionally, the CDI (Super Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1979) directly assesses many components of career adaptability and readiness for career decision‐making. Low scores indicate the need for intervention. For instance, low scores on the Career Planning Scale may lead the practitioner to help the client gain awareness about the decision‐making process and tasks associated with effective decision‐making.

Once readiness to make a career choice is determined, the assessment step can be fully engaged with a particularly heavy emphasis on values assessment. Clients can then use this information to help identify which occupations to target for further exploration. The final step, counseling, is where the counselor works with the client to integrate all information gathered to form an actionable plan (Super, 1990).

EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

Prior research has focused on Super's (1990) broader life‐span, life‐space theory rather than on the C‐DAC practice model. Yet, some of this research translates to support for concepts and methods included in C‐DAC. Creed, Fallon, and Hood (2009) found support for some of the planning, exploration, and decision‐making components of the theory, which occur in the depth view step of the C‐DAC model.

Most notable is the support found for several of the measures used to assess constructs in the C‐DAC model. Concerning the preview step, there is reliability and validity evidence for the use of the SI (Nevill & Calert, 1996). Nevill and Calert (1996) summarized much of the research support for the SI, including the SI's prediction of career maturity and career development. The CDI has received support as a measure of readiness for career choices (Savickas & Hartung, 1996), an important component of the depth view step. Nevill and Kruse (1996) reported on the sound psychometric qualities of the Values Scale and summarize the scale's general research support. The establishment of a values hierarchy and expected cultural and gender differences are emphasized in the reviewed research findings. Important to note is the influence of the life‐span, life‐space approach and C‐DAC model on the development of other intervention and theoretical approaches such as LDC.

CAREER INTERVENTION WITH LIFE DESIGN COUNSELING

KEY ELEMENTS OF LIFE DESIGN COUNSELING

LDC (Savickas, 2012, 2015) is the practical application of career construction theory, with the goal of helping individuals reconstruct their career narratives through connecting life themes to possible career paths (Cardoso, 2016). The ultimate aim of LDC is for clients to be able to intentionally create and articulate a stable yet adaptable identity that prompts them to take action with their career concerns and provides a tentative answer to the question “What am I going to make of my life?” (Savickas et al., 2009, p. 241).

Career adaptability is a key component of LDC, defined as “a psychosocial construct that denotes an individual's readiness and resources for coping with current and imminent vocational development tasks, occupational transitions, and personal traumas” (Savickas, 2005, p. 51). Career adaptability consists of four dimensions also known as the 4Cs (i.e., concern about the future, control over self and environment, curiosity about alternative settings and roles, and confidence in implementing the life they have designed).

LDC interventions have four goals, specifically to increase a client's career adaptability, narratability, activity, and intentionality (Savickas et al., 2009). LDC interventions are characterized by four steps: (a) clients construct their current self, identity, and career through small stories; (b) some stories are deconstructed with a counselor when a story seems to be limiting a person's options or view of self; (c) a larger story is reconstructed by the counselor from the smaller stories; and (d) this macrostory is conveyed to the client who then may begin to edit the story for accuracy and to clarify goals and values. The edited macrostory will then serve as the foundation upon which future chapters of the client's story may be written.

At the conclusion of these four steps, LDC counselors challenge clients to extend their insights into action steps. Practical applications emanating directly from LDC include the workbook, My Career Story (Savickas & Hartung, 2012), the Career Construction Interview (Savickas, 2018), and the Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). Other interventions have been identified by Savickas (2012) as examples of life design interventions, such as using metaphors and narrative career counseling (see Savickas, 2006, for a video demonstration of the narrative method used in LDC and Savickas, 2018, for LDC case studies). Life design theory states that depending on client needs, career counselors may need to draw from other approaches to help clients with tasks such as identifying and learning about options that match their interests (Savickas, 2012).

CAREER INTERVENTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH LDC THEORY

According to Guichard (2016), the “core” of LDC interventions is constructing life meaning. The counselor actively and collaboratively works with the client to reconstruct and coconstruct the new narrative. DiFabio and Maree (2012) stated that the role of the counselor is to be “the audience for clients and strategically emphasize certain aspects of clients' stories or narratives by repeating particular words and phrases and by reading clients' responses out loud” (p. 101).

While LDC does not typically support the use of standardized assessments, tools such as My Career Story and the Career Construction Interview provide a subjective assessment of the client's experiences, goals, and values. My Career Story (Savickas & Hartung, 2012) is a “self‐directed, counselor‐free workbook” (Hartung & Santilli, 2018, p. 312) with an opening question of identifying client goals, followed by questions and a self‐guided integration of how their answers feed into their future career/life story. Clients are directed to occupational information within My Career Story, via a link to O*NET (see Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19, this volume). They are also provided with a page of action items (e.g., conduct informational interviews) to help clients enact their life stories.

EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

Much of the recent research on LDC has focused on career adaptability and overall life satisfaction. For example, Cabras and Mondo (2018) found that students who were future‐focused had greater career adaptability and satisfaction with their lives. Participation in LDC group interventions has been associated with increased career certainty and career decision‐making self‐efficacy (Cardoso, Janeiro, & Duarte, 2018), and decreased career decision‐making difficulties (Di Fabio & Maree, 2012). LDC has also been provided online and has yielded positive outcomes for middle school students compared to traditional career group counseling (Nota et al., 2016). Thus, emerging research offers preliminary support for the use of the My Career Story and the Career Construction Interview, as well as using written, online, and group adaptations. Career adaptability (Savickas, 2005) is a larger topic outside the scope of this chapter, with ample empirical research to support its legitimacy as an important career construct. Empirical research with LDC has strong international representation.

CAREER INTERVENTION WITH THE PIC MODEL FOR CAREER DECISION‐MAKING

KEY ELEMENTS OF THE PIC MODEL FOR CAREER DECISION‐MAKING

Gati and Asher (2001) identified a three‐stage model to enhance the career decision‐making process and improve career outcomes. The “PIC model,” consists of prescreening, in‐depth exploration, and choice. Prescreening involves identifying a manageable set of career options that are most relevant to an individual, followed by examining selected options deeply and determining the achievability of each option (in‐depth exploration). In‐depth exploration then culminates in a choice of the option that is most suitable.

Prescreening consists of three substages, including preparation, sequential elimination, and testing the sensitivity of the results to possible changes in preferences. During the preparation substage, clients are directed to identify the most salient variables they would like to include in their decision‐making. These variables are ranked and then examined in the sequential elimination step to understand each more deeply in terms of what exactly is preferred. Clients also consider how much they are willing to compromise within each. For example, a client may prefer a specific salary, but be willing to compromise for a lower salary if other preferences (such as opportunity to advance or travel) are met or increased. Elimination occurs as clients compare their cultivated list of preferences with the options they are considering. The final step in preparation is a re‐examination of alternatives to ensure avoiding eliminating potentially positive options unnecessarily. The aim is to have seven or fewer options.

During the second stage, clients are encouraged to gather additional information on the refined list of options, followed by testing each option, and eliminating an option only if it fails to meet the suitability test. To be deemed suitable, the option must pass all four of the following tests: (a) verifying client preferences are offered by the option; (b) determining how well the option matches the client's lesser preferences; (c) exploring the requirements of each option and how willing the client is to perform those requirements; and (d) considering how likely the client will be able to meet the demands of the option. At the culmination of this process, further narrowing of the list of options should have occurred. A career practitioner should review the eliminated options to confirm that the reasons for removing the option are appropriate and correct (for example, verifying educational requirements), and also explore whether clients might want to adjust their preferences.

The third stage focuses on committing to a career choice and choosing the option that is most suitable to the client. During the previous steps of winnowing, it is likely that a couple of options will emerge as the top contenders. During this step, clients are encouraged to compare each option in terms of trade‐offs between advantages and disadvantages, with the goal of identifying which option offers the overall higher advantage. Once the preferred option is identified, the next step is to examine the likelihood of achieving that alternative. When there is some question of attainability, clients are encouraged to identify back up alternatives. The final aspect of this step is to revisit the overall decision‐making process to confirm the outcome and enhance clients' confidence in the choice, or, in some cases, commit to a different option.

CAREER INTERVENTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PIC MODEL FOR CAREER DECISION‐MAKING

During prescreening, the individual identifies options as related to interests, values, skills, and the like, all of which may be assessed by formal or informal assessments. Values clarification occurs throughout each of the stages, as the individual determines key factors for consideration and comparison. Clients narrow their options by using career information. Psychoeducation often occurs throughout the process. The PIC model utilizes a prescribed step‐by‐step approach, during which clients can take notes to keep track of their learning and their process (Gati & Asher, 2001).

EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

Evidence exists that supports the importance of person–environment fit in career satisfaction (e.g., Gati, Garty & Shemesh, 2006). Identifying how specific aspects of the person relate to possible options is the primary focus of the PIC model. Thus, any research that shows support of a career assessment or intervention leading to further clarification of self and options would support the PIC model, as would research demonstrating the value of exploring career information on those outcomes. Specific support has been found for the relationship between cohesiveness of career preferences (i.e., how focused and well‐defined preferences are) and career decision status (Shimoni, Gutentag, & Gati, 2019). In addition, prioritized career aspects have been found to be stable across 6 years (Gati et al., 2006) and even after 20 years (Gutentag & Gati, 2016). In addition, information needs, an area of focus in the second stage of the PIC model, have been consistently identified as a component of career indecision (Xu & Bhang, 2019).

Very few articles examine interventions aimed at the latter stage of career decision‐making (i.e., narrowing options to the point of making a choice). Amit and Gati (2013) compared two interventions aimed at increasing confidence in the final career choice. The circles‐for‐choice method required clients to place occupational titles in individual circles and brainstorm thoughts and emotions related to those options, while the table‐for‐choice method consisted of completing a rating table with occupational items listed across the top and salient variables in the first column. Amit and Gati found that individuals completing the circles‐for‐choice intervention, which is more in line with the choice stage of PIC, had greater confidence in their final choice than individuals participating in the table‐for‐choice intervention. The table‐for‐choice intervention was, however, perceived by clients as the more effective method for helping them move forward in their career decision. For both interventions, those who were more versus less advanced in their decision‐making felt more confident in their first choice, offering support that these types of interventions are most helpful for individuals in the latter stages of career decision‐making.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE IN CAREER INTERVENTIONS

In light of the preceding research on career interventions and the theoretical and conceptual models that were presented, the following recommendations are made for practice.

  • Theory can be used as a guide for specifying the nature of support provided by practitioners, identifying relevant constructs for assessment, structuring how information is used in decision‐making, prioritizing concepts for psychoeducation, suggesting content for written exercises, and specifying what needs to be modeled for the decision maker.
  • Theory can also be used to identify constructs for differentiating the type and amount of assistance clients need to maximally benefit from a career intervention. Better matching client needs with interventions provides the type of tailored treatment recommended by Spokane and Nguyen (2016). For example, better identification of individuals with high readiness for decision‐making may improve the effectiveness of self‐help or counselor‐free interventions, which Whiston et al. (2003) have shown to be less effective in comparison with other interventions. Also, better identification of individuals with low readiness for decision‐making may alert practitioners to the need for more intensive services where time is available to deal with the complex interaction of career, mental health, and family issues that may exist. This use of readiness assessment aligns with the recommendation by Whiston and James (2012) to apply diagnostic criteria in making treatment decisions.
  • Careful implementation of career interventions, supported by appropriate training and supervision, would contribute to intervention fidelity.
  • The career theory selected by practitioners needs to articulate the theoretical assumptions for career intervention separate from the assumptions for vocational behavior to assist practitioners in creating specific interventions using a particular theory.
  • Practitioners should consider how a selected theory addresses the critical ingredients of career counseling to include: (a) written goal setting and option comparison tools; (b) individual interpretations and feedback on written goals and hard to interpret assessment results; (c) world‐of‐work information; (d) modeling; and (e) attention to building support (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000).
  • Given the importance of treatment fidelity in outcome research and intervention, theory‐based career interventions need to (a) be examined for explicitness, and (b) provide training examples and procedures for monitoring of intervention delivery. These are necessary to ensure as much as possible that the treatment and services delivered are an accurate operationalization of the theory.
  • Finally, practitioners should consider how theory‐based career interventions specifically address therapeutic alliance and dosage.

CONCLUSION

Career interventions have been delivered to clients and individuals seeking assistance with occupational, educational, training, and employment choices for over a century. Evidence from aggregating outcome studies from the past 40 years has shown that career interventions produce modest, yet consistently positive results in helping clients make career choices. The results of these outcome studies can be used to improve career interventions by refining career theories and then adjusting the application of theory to practice. The four theories/models presented in this chapter, as well as the theories described in the first section of this book, provide a rich and varied foundation for career intervention. As we learn more about the needs of our clients and the evolving contexts in which they make decisions, interventions can be further adjusted to produce enhanced outcomes. Outcomes can be further improved by paying closer attention to treatment fidelity through more careful research procedures, as well as better intervention fidelity through more careful implementation of career interventions. Recent advances in methods for outcome research, that include examining clinical significance, can also provide direction for improving career interventions (Brown, & Roche, 2016). While the contributions of career interventions are notable and need to be articulated to policy makers, careful attention to continuous improvement and evidence‐based practice will increase the likelihood that clients and individuals receive the resources and services they need to make informed and careful career choices.

REFERENCES

  1. Amit, A., & Gati, I. (2013). Tables or circles: A comparison of two methods for choosing among career alternatives. The Career Development Quarterly, 61, 50–63. doi:10.1002/j.2161‐0045.2013.00035.x
  2. Brown, S. D., & Roche, M. (2016). The outcomes of vocational interventions: Thirty (some) years later. Journal of Career Assessment, 24, 26–41. doi:10.1177/1069072715579666
  3. Brown, S. D., & Ryan Krane, N. E. (2000). Four (or five) sessions and a cloud of dust: Old assumptions and new observations about career counseling. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (3rd ed., pp. 740–766). New York, NY: Wiley.
  4. Brown, S. D., Ryan Krane, N. E., Brecheisen, J., Castelino, P., Budisin, I., Miller, M., & Edens, L. (2003). Critical ingredients of career choice interventions: More analyses and new hypotheses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(3), 411–428. doi:10.1016/S0001‐8791(02)00052‐0
  5. Cabras, C., & Mondo, M. (2018). Future orientation as a mediator between career adaptability and life satisfaction in university students. Journal of Career Development, 45, 597–609. doi:10.1177/0894845317727616
  6. Cardoso, P. (2016). Integrating life‐design counseling and psychotherapy: Possibilities and practices. The Career Development Quarterly, 64, 49–63. doi:10.1002/cdq.12040
  7. Cardoso, P., Janeiro, I. N., & Duarte, M. E. (2018). Life design counseling group intervention with Portuguese adolescents: A process and outcome study. Journal of Career Development, 45, 183–196. doi:10.1177/0894845316687668
  8. Creed, P. A., Fallon, T., & Hood, M. (2009). The relationship between career adaptability, personal and situation variables, and career concerns in young adults. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74, 219–229. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2008.12.004
  9. Di Fabio, A., & Maree, J. G. (2012). Group‐based life design counseling in an Italian context. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 100–107. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2011.06.001
  10. Fuchs, D., Mock, D., Morgan, P. L., & Young, C. L. (2003). Responsiveness‐to‐intervention: Definitions, evidence, and implications for the learning disabilities construct. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 18, 157–171. doi:10.1111/1540‐5826.00072
  11. Gati, I., & Asher, I. (2001). The PIC model for career decision making: Prescreening, in‐depth exploration, and choice. In F. T. L. Leong & A. Barak (Eds.), Contemporary models in vocational psychology: A Vol. in honor of Samuel H. Osipow (pp. 7–54). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
  12. Gati, I., Garty, R., & Shemesh, N. (2006). The predictive validity of a computer‐assisted career decision‐making system: A six year follow up. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 205–219. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2005.08.002
  13. Gearing, R. E., El‐Bassel, N., Ghesquiere, A., Baldwin, S., Gillies, J., & Ngeow, E. (2011). Major ingredients of fidelity: A review and scientific guide to improving quality of intervention research implementation. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 79–88. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.09.007
  14. Gelso, C. J., Williams, E. N., & Fretz, B. R. (2014). Counseling psychology (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  15. Guichard, J. (2016). Reflexivity in life design interventions: Comments on life and career design dialogues. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 97, 78–83. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2016.08.001
  16. Gutentag, T., & Gati, I. (2016). The consistency and structure of aspect‐based career preferences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 93, 33–46. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2015.12.008
  17. Hartung, P. J., & Santilli, S. (2018). My career story: Description and initial validity evidence. Journal of Career Assessment, 26, 308–321. doi:10.1177/106907271769298
  18. Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
  19. Kronholz, J. (2015). Self‐help career services: A case report. The Career Development Quarterly, 63, 282–288. doi:10.1002/cdq.12019
  20. Krumboltz, J. D., & Nichols, C. W. (1990). Integrating the social learning theory of career decision making. In W. B. Walsh & S. H. Osipow (Eds.), Career counseling: Contemporary topics in vocational psychology (pp. 159–192). NY: Routledge.
  21. Leierer, S. J., Peterson, G. W., & Reardon, R. C. (2018). The Career State Inventory (CSI) as intentional assessment. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 33(4), 9–22. Retrieved from: https://www.careernetwork.org/Journals/List-Of-Journals.cfm
  22. Leierer, S. J., Peterson, G. W., Reardon, R. C., & Osborn, D. (2017). Career State Inventory (CSI) ‐ research version. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Libraries. Retrieved from http://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu%3A540931
  23. Leuty, M., Bullock‐Yowell, E., Womack, A., Schmidtman, E., Paulson, D., Andrews, L. M., & Osborne, L. (2015). The integration of science and practice in one training program: Outcomes of a manualized career counseling group. Counselling Psychology Quarterly. doi:10.1080/09515070.2015.1053432
  24. Masdonati, J., Massoudi, K., & Rossier, J. (2009). Effectiveness of career counseling and the impact of the working alliance. Journal of Career Development, 36, 182–203. doi:10.1177/0894845309340798
  25. Miller, A. K., Osborn, D. S., Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., & Reardon, R. C. (2018). The impact of a career course on students' career decision states. The Career Development Quarterly, 66, 371–377. doi:10.1002/cdq.12157
  26. Milot‐Lapointe, F., Savard, R., & Le Corff, Y. (2018). Intervention components and working alliance as predictors of individual career counseling effect on career decision‐making difficulties. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 107, 13–24. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2018.03.001
  27. Nevill, D. D., & Calert, P. D. (1996). Career assessment and the Salience Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 399–412. doi:10.1177/106907279600400404
  28. Nevill, D. D., & Kruse, S. J. (1996). Career assessment and the Values Scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 383–397. doi:10.1177/106907279600400403
  29. Niles, S. G. (2001). Using Super's career development assessment and counselling (C‐DAC) model to link theory to practice. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 1, 131–139. doi:10.1023/A:1016981000319
  30. Niles, S. G., & Harris‐Bowlsbey, J. (2017). Career development interventions (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: NJ: Pearson Merrill/Prentice Hall.
  31. Nota, L., Santilli, S., & Soresi, S. (2016). A life‐design‐based online career intervention for early adolescents: description and initial analysis. The Career Development Quarterly, 64, 4–19. doi:10.1002/cdq.12037
  32. Oliver, L. W., & Spokane, A. R. (1988). Career‐intervention outcome: What contributes to client gain? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 35(4), 447–462. doi:10.1037/0022‐0167.35.4.447
  33. Osborn, D., Hayden, S. C. W., Peterson, G. W., & Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2016). Effect of brief staff‐assisted career service delivery on drop‐in clients. The Career Development Quarterly, 64, 181–187. doi:10.1002/cdq.12050
  34. Osborn, D. S., Howard, D. K., & Leierer, S. J. (2007). The effect of a career development course on the dysfunctional career thoughts of Racially and ethnically diverse college freshmen. The Career Development Quarterly, 55, 365–377. doi:10.1002/j.2161‐0045.2007.tb00091.x
  35. Osborn, D., Sides, R. D., & Brown, C. B. (in press). Comparing career development outcomes for undergraduate CIP‐based courses versus human relations courses. The Career Development Quarterly.
  36. Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. (2016). Using assessment results for career development (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Publishing.
  37. Peterson, G. W., Leasure, K. L., Carr, D. L., & Lenz, J. G. (2010). The Decision Space Worksheet: An assessment of context in career decision making. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 25(4), 87–96. Retrieved from: https://www.careernetwork.org/Journals/List-Of-Journals.cfm
  38. Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., & Osborn, D. S. (2016). Decision Space Worksheet activity manual. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development. Retrieved from https://career.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/upcbnu746/files/files/tech-center/resources/service-delivery-handouts/DSWActivityManual_RevAug2016.pdf
  39. Peterson, G. W., Sampson, J. P., Jr., & Reardon, R. C. (1991). Career development and services: A cognitive approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
  40. Reardon, R. C. (2017). Enhancing self‐help career planning using theory‐based tools. Journal of Career Assessment, 25(4), 650–669. doi:10.1177/1069072716653376
  41. Reardon, R. C., & Lenz, J. G. (2018). Strategies for developing, managing, and evaluating a successful career course for 45 (Technical report No. 59). Tallahassee, FL: Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development, Florida State University. Retrieved from http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter
  42. Ryan, N. E. (1999). Career counseling and career choice goal attainment: A meta‐analytically derived model for career counseling practice (Order No. 9930585). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304513406). Retrieved from https://login.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/docview/304513406?accountid=4840
  43. Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2008). Designing and Implementing Career Programs: A Handbook for Effective Practice. Broken Arrow, OK: National Career Development Association.
  44. Sampson, J. P., Dozier, V. C., & Colvin, G. P. (2011). Translating career theory to practice: The risk of unintentional social injustice. Journal of Counseling and Development, 89, 326–337. doi:10.1002/j.1556‐6678.2011.tb00097.x
  45. Sampson, J. P., Jr., Hou, P. C., McClain, M.‐C., Musch, E., & Reardon, R. C. (2015). A partial listing of measures that can be used as a component of readiness assessment. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development. Retrieved from https://career.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/imported/storage/original/application/f2b70a88a287c1ce0f6b0d2563d6b288.pdf
  46. Sampson, J. P., Jr., McClain, M.‐C., Musch, E., & Reardon, R. C. (2013). Variables affecting readiness to benefit from career interventions. The Career Development Quarterly, 61, 98–109. doi:10.1002/j.2161‐0045.2013.00040.x
  47. Sampson, J. P., McClain, M. C., Musch, E., & Reardon, R. C. (2017). The supply and demand for career development programs and services as a social justice issue. In V. S. H. Solberg & S. R. Ali (Eds.), Handbook of career and workforce development research, practice, and policy (pp. 57–75). London: Routledge.
  48. Sampson, J. P., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996a). Career Thoughts Inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
  49. Sampson, J. P., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996b). Career Thoughts Inventory Workbook. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
  50. Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Reardon, R. C., & Lenz, J. G. (2000). Using readiness assessment to improve career services: A cognitive information processing approach. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 146–174. doi:10.1002/j.2161‐0045.2000.tb00556.x
  51. Sampson, J. P., Jr., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W., & Lenz, J. G. (2004). Career counseling and services: A cognitive information processing approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
  52. Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 42–70). New York, NY: John Wiley.
  53. Savickas, M. L. (2006). Career counseling [Video file]. Specific Treatments for Specific Populations Video Series: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/4310737
  54. Savickas, M. L. (2012). Life design: A paradigm for career intervention in the 21st century. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90, 13–19. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
  55. Savickas, M. L. (2015). Life‐design counseling manual. Retrieved from http://vocopher.com/LifeDesign/LifeDesign.pdf
  56. Savickas, M. L. (2018). Career counseling. Washington, DC: APA Books.
  57. Savickas, M. L., & Hartung, P. J. (1996). The Career Development Inventory in review: Psychometric and research findings. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 171–188. doi:10.1177/106907279600400204
  58. Savickas, M. L., & Hartung, P. J. (2012). My Career Story: An autobiographical workbook for life‐career success. Retrieved from http://www.vocopher.com/CSI/CCI_workbook.pdf
  59. Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 239–250. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
  60. Savickas, M. L., & Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 661–673. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011
  61. Shimoni, A., Gutentag, T., & Gati, I. (2019). Assessing career preference cohesiveness. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 112, 51–63. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2018.12.006
  62. Spokane, A. R. (1991). Career intervention. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‐Hall, Inc.
  63. Spokane, A. R., & Nguyen, D. (2016). Progress and prospects in the evaluation of career assistance. Journal of Career Assessment, 24, 3–25. doi:10.1177/1069072715579665
  64. Spokane, A. R., & Oliver, L. W. (1983). Outcomes of vocational intervention. In S. H. Osipow & W. B. Walsh (Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology (pp. 99–136). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
  65. Super, D. E. (1990). A life‐span, life‐space approach to career development. In D. Brown & L. Brooks (Eds.), Convergence in theories of career choice and development: Implications for science and practice (pp. 63–74). Paolo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.
  66. Super, D. E., & Nevill, D. D. (1986). The Salience Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
  67. Super, D. E., Osborne, W. L., Walsh, D. J., Brown, S. D., & Niles, S. G. (1992). Developmental Career Assessment and Counseling: The C‐DAC Model. Journal of Counseling & Development, 71, 74–80. doi:10.1002/j.1556‐6676.1992.tb02175.x
  68. Super, D. E., Thompson, A. S., Lindeman, R. H., Jordaan, J. P., & Myers, R. A. (1979). The Career Development Inventory: School Form. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
  69. Super, D. E., Thompson, A. S., Lindeman, R. H., Jordaan, J. P., & Myers, R. A. (1988). The Adult Career Concerns Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
  70. Verbruggen, M., Dries, N., & Van Laer, K. (2017). Challenging the uniformity myth in career counseling outcome studies: Examining the role of clients' initial career counseling goals. Journal of Career Assessment, 25(1), 159–172. doi:10.1177/1069072716657797
  71. Werner, B. (2019). Development of the CASVE Cycle Questionnaire: Confirmatory factor analysis and navigator score. Unpublished dissertation, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS.
  72. Whiston, S. C., Brecheisen, B. K., & Stephens, J. (2003). Does treatment modality affect career counseling effectiveness? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(3), 390–410. doi:10.1016/S0001‐8791(02)00050‐7
  73. Whiston, S. C., & James, B. N. (2012). Promoting career interventions. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  74. Whiston, S. C., Li, Y., Mitts, N. G., & Wright, L. (2017). Effectiveness of career choice interventions: A meta‐analytic replication and extension. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 100, 175–184. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2017.03.010
  75. Whiston, S. C., Rossier, J., & Baron, P. M. H. (2016). The working alliance in career counseling: A systematic overview. Journal of Career Assessment, 24, 591–604. doi:10.1177/1069072715615849
  76. Whiston, S. C., Sexton, T. L., & Lasoff, D. L. (1998). Career‐intervention outcome: A replication and extension of Oliver and Spokane (1988). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45(2), 150–165. doi:10.1037/0022‐0167.45.2.150
  77. Xu, H., & Bhang, C. H. (2019). The structure and measurement of career indecision: A critical review. The Career Development Quarterly, 67, 2–20. doi:10.1002/cdq.12159

NOTE

  1. ⋆Appreciation is expressed to Janet Lenz for her helpful reviews of drafts of this chapter.