2013;74.

The motivate to explore career intervention: Design and investigation of a career counselling group for disengaged adolescent males.

Emily Ann Kerner

UIID-AD: 2451

Abstract

Disengaged students are at risk for failing to complete high school. When youth drop out they not only risk facing unemployment and poverty, they also lose access to crucial supports and services that could smooth the transition from school to work. As these students are likely to seek work directly after high school, they need skills for adjusting and adapting to the world of work. To date, few studies have investigated how to engage at-risk youth in the process of career exploration and how to provide them with effective tools for navigating the school-to-work transition. This program of research focused on designing a group career exploration intervention to support the development of self-determination and career adaptability for disengaged adolescent males. The literature review summarizes key constructs in the theoretical framework (a multidimensional view of career exploration that integrates motivation and vocational development). The first manuscript details a Scientist-Practitioner Design Framework (SPDF). The SPDF is a methodological approach to designing an intervention and exploring its outcomes that uses the scientist-practitioner's clinical orientation as a guide. Manuscript two is a qualitative study that explores the experiences of participants' development of self-determination and career adaptability as a function of their group experience. Fourteen adolescent males, comprising two intervention groups, were interviewed about their group experiences. The interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory method. The analysis yielded a model of Developing a Work Identity, characterized as a trajectory of development starting from lacking self-knowledge prior to the group to, after the group, knowing more about the self as it relates to work. This trajectory took two different pathways. One was influenced by active help-seeking and planning, as well as seeing career as a calling. This resulted in independent exploration and a global sense of agency. Participants who described the other trajectory did not engage in behaviours to advance their development. This trajectory was influenced by seeing career as a means to an end. It resulted in depending on others for ongoing exploration and a local sense of agency. Study two was conducted in order to learn more about how the group influenced the first trajectory. It is a case study of one participant's experience of developing a work identity and the impact of the group on his development. Results of this study suggested that structure, support from peers and the facilitator, experiential activities, and opportunities to engage in identity construction dialogue were all crucial mechanisms of change. Overall, this research program presents 1) a new methodological approach with potential for bridging science and practice, 2) an innovative career intervention for disengaged youth, and 3) preliminary insight into the contextual factors and mechanisms of change that contribute to successful career development of this population. Taken together, this work advances theory, research, and practice in vocational psychology, and gives voice to an underserved population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

Publication Types

• Thesis