Impact of a counseling outreach workshop on vocational development.

Abstract

A structured life-planning workshop geared to outreach or preventative vocational counseling was studied. Behavioral and attitudinal measures derived from a career process model of career development were examined. Significant differences between experimental and control groups were found on behavioral measures of pre-post changes in information seeking, the total number of occupations subjects were considering, and the congruence of these alternatives with their measured interests. No changes were found in attitudes about choosing a career or perceptions of strengths and weaknesses.'The data in this study are taken from a doctoral dissertation by the second author (Cochran, 1972).Special thanks are due to Newton E. James, director, Student Counseling Service, University of Arizona, for his encouragement and support."Requests for reprints should be sent to Reed

Outcome Measures for Career Counseling Research

“…Some authors have used dichotomous ratings, such as realistic/unrealistic (Hewer, 1959, Hoyt, 1955wright, 1963). Other research has used scales that represented a degree of appropriateness from realistic to unrealistic (Apostal, 1960;Bivlofsky et al, 1953;Hewer, 1966;Mencke & Cochran, 1974;Westbrook , 1967). A few researchers (Hanson & Sander, 1973;Pilato & Myers, 1975) have constructed instruments ranging from one extreme of inappropriateness to another, with the midpoint representing an optimal degr ee of realism .…”

“…Judges ' ratings have been used extensively for certain variables, such as appropriateness of career choice. A more objective method of assessing appropriateness is comparing the Holland code ti-ott a test (such as Holland code of the subject 's expressed career choice, e.g., Mencke and Cochran (1974), Zener and Schnuelle (1976).…”

“…Crites' Career Maturity Inventory (formerly the Vocational Development Inventory), Super's Career Development Inventory, and Cooley and Lownes' Readiness for Vocational Planning have been the instruments most frequently used. Some investigators have used the entire instrument (Myers, Lindeman, Thompson, & Patrick, 1975;Swails & Herr, 1976) or have attempted to check the adequacy of the adapted instrument (Mencke & Cochran, 1974;Perrone & Kyle, 1975). Smith and Evans (1973) used the Vocational Decision Checklist, which classified respondents into one of four stages of vocational development (exploration, crystallization, choice, or clarification).…”

“…For this criterion, the subject is asked to state the career alternatives he or she is currently considering., and a count is made of the number of options. Before-and after-measures (Mencke & Cochran , 1974) of the number of options also may be used. There are some problems with using this kind of variable as an outcome measur e , because a la rger number of options may or may not be desirable for a particular client.…”

“…Zener and Schnuelle (1976) compared the Holland summary codes of occupations their subjects were considering with the subjects' codes obtained from the SDS or the VPI. Mencke and Cochran (1974) used th~ Holland codes for the career choice bit compared them with the codes for the subjects' measured interests. Still another measure was used by Westbrook (1967), who compared aptitude scores with the aspiration level of the choice.…”