a1

Name Taelar Bybee Course COUN 730 Date 10/3/2022

Journal Article Summary & Critique

Author(s): Jacobus Gideon Maree and Annamaria Di Fabio

Title of Article: Integrating Personal and Career Counseling to Promote Sustainable Development and Change

Publication: Sustainability, Vol. 10 Issue 11, p. 4176

Date of Publication: November 13, 2018

URL or Website: https://doaj.org/article/9d461fba93e346acb89917afffe99f89 

Summary:

Career counseling helps people choose appropriate professional fields, make meaning of their lives, determine the value that shape what they want in a career, and find a sense of purpose. The researchers of this article support the view that career counseling has a strong personal element, which should not be ignored. The aim of the article is the contribute and expand to the research on interventions that show how career counseling and personal counseling can be integrated. The researchers implemented an explorative, descriptive, instrumental, single-case study to expand the research on interventions that integrate personal and career counseling. The goal of the study was to answer the following questions: (1) is there any difference between ‘personal’ and ‘career’ counseling? And (2) what was the influence of integrating career counseling on a lake adolescent who presented with major insecurities?

The researchers used life design counseling, which builds on Guichard’s self-construction theory and Savickas’ career construction theory. This study spanned over three sessions. Because this is a single-case study, there was only one participant. A late adolescent was selected from several adolescents seeking career counseling in April 2018. The participant was described as an 18-year-old English speaking student, though his race/ethnicity was not disclosed. A mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection strategies were used to determine the value and importance of integrating personal and career counseling for the development of sustainable careers and life. The quantitative instrument used was The Maree Career Matrix (or MCM), which is a questionnaire to measure interests and self-estimates of confidence to follow certain careers. The qualitative instrument was the Career Interest Profile (or CIP) to obtain clients’ key career-life themes and promote reflection. The dependent variable of this study is the client’s response to the intervention, whereas the independent variable is the intervention itself. At the end of the third session, the participant stated that he had discovered a lot about himself and found fields of interest that did not make him feel insecure to pursue. After a follow-up four months later, the participant declared that he would study biokinetics.

The researchers concluded that the study demonstrated how career construction theory can be used with adolescents dealing with feelings of insecurity. The results showed how personal challenges can be addressing during career counseling to mitigate insecurity and uncertainty. The researchers recommended for counselors considering implementing this intervention to be trained in the counseling approach advocated in this study.

Critique:

A strength of this study was the integration of personal and career counseling. Since we have been reading in our textbook and learning so far in this course, personal and career aspects of our lives bleed together and influence each other. A strength of this study is also the quantitative instrument, the MCM. The psychometric properties of the MCM were noted and considered excellent, and all categories reporting good reliability coefficients and test-retest reliability was exceeding 0.70 in all categories. Another strength of this study was that it was a naturalistic study set in a real-life setting, rather than an experimental setting.

There are a few weaknesses that I found with this article. One being the sample size and using one participant. Because this a single-case study, I understand that why there was only one participant. So, I would recommend replicating this study in a mixed-methods model with a large sample base that includes culturally diverse individuals. A weakness is also that this study relies on the skill and ability of the counselor to implement the intervention well. So, the noted success of the intervention in this study can be questioned. Another weakness is the low generalizability of this study when considering the experimental external validity. It may be generalized to populations of adolescent males trying to determine their career paths; however, I would not be comfortable in assuming that it could be generalized for any other populations.

Benefits:

I would rate this article as a 3 on a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest score for usefulness. I did find relevance for me as a graduate student in the career counseling course. Since we are implementing Savickas’ career construction theory and interview in our role-plays, I appreciated reading a case-study detailing the use of it. Seeing this in a real-life application and reading the transcript of the sessions I believe will help me in my second role-play assignment. As a future mental health counselor seeking to work with women, I can implement practical concepts from this study. I align with and gravitate towards the narrative therapy approach, which is what Savickas’ career construction theory is grounded in. I also appreciate an integrated approach to counseling to ensure that I would be providing service that will benefit my client and be flexible in how to solution brainstorm with the client. As a mental health counselor, I fully expect to work with women who are seeking to begin their careers or transition into different careers but find it distressing. I can consider the implications of this study as I determine the best way to work with my clients.

Source:

Maree, J. G., & Di Fabio, A. (2018). Integrating personal and career counseling to promote sustainable development and change. Sustainability, 10(11), 4176. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114176