Personal Versus Vocational Focus in Career Counseling: A Retrospective Outcome Study

Abstract

In this archival study the authors sought to determine the relationship, if any, between counseling outcomes and the topical focus in career counseling. Twenty-two counselors saw 46 adult clients at a community-based clinic for an average of eight sessions. Counseling outcome and topical focus (the extent to which the actual content of counseling sessions reflected relatively more vocationally or personally focused topics) were assessed from follow-up questionnaires to former career clients and from trained raters' evaluations of the counselors' written progress notes. Results showed that, from the counselors' perspective, outcomes were better when the focus of the sessions was relatively more vocational than personal and when relatively more interviews were held. Client satisfaction, on the other hand, was predictable only from the counselor's level of experience. Satisfaction with occupational status was not associated with any of the client, counselor, or treatment factors. Discussion focuses on the contribution of the results to career counseling practice and on the feasibility and validity of retrospective, archival research.

A Follow‐Up of Adult Career Counseling Clients of a University Extension Center

“…Eighty-five percent reported that they had already taken actions such as pursuing courses and degrees, gathering more information, and changing occupations or jobs; only 15%said that they had done nothing since their last interview. The rate of satisfaction seems to be slightly higher than the rate Phillips et al (1988) found in their I-year follow-up of a small sample of career counseling clients from a community clinic.…”

“…Because the ratings of progress and counselor were highly correlated (r = .71, P < .01), they were combined as in Robbins et ai. (1994) and Phillips, Friedlander, Kost, Specterman, and Robbins (1988). The mean was 1.08 (SD= 0.74).…”

“…The mean was 1.08 (SD= 0.74). To clarify whether the proximity of the telephone evaluation to the last counseling contact might have affected responses, we correlated the number of months since the last contact with the response categories derived from the interview, as had been done by Phillips et al (1988). Except for a small positive relation (r = .21, P< .01) with the category of information generated from the interview and described below, the resulting rs were not significant.…”

Psychological Distress and Counseling Duration of Career and Noncareer Clients

“…In terms of clinical assignment, the misjudgment of the "simplicity" of career concerns as compared to "personal" issues (Gelso et al, 1985) may lead to the assignment of vocational clients to less experienced practitioners. Such a practice would be contrary to recommendations derived from studies that support that the expertise of the counselor is a predictor of client satisfaction with career counseling (Phillips et al, 1988).…”

“…Career counseling has been designated as the historical foundation and as one of the future directions for college counseling (Benjamin & Walz, 1989;Phillips, Friedlander, Kost, Specterman, & Robbins, 1988;Spengler, Blustein, & Strohmer, 1990). Congruent with the counseling philosophy, theories of career evolution stress a life-span orientation, and integrate themes of education, development, adjustment, and growth (Hackney, 1990;Herr, 1991;Hoyt, 1990).…”