A Life‐Design‐Based Online Career Intervention for Early Adolescents: Description and Initial Analysis

Using contemporary digital technology offers possibilities for better engaging youth in constructing their future careers. This study describes and initially tests the effectiveness of an online career intervention based on life-design principles. Middle school students were assigned to either a traditional test interpretation-based intervention group or an online intervention group. Analysis conducted to evaluate pre- and posttest differences between the 2 groups indicated that students in the online intervention group showed higher levels of career adaptability and life satisfaction than did students in the traditional intervention group. Results also suggested that intervention increased students' narratives future aspirations.

[1]  P. Hartung.  Career as Story: Making the Narrative Turn , 2013 .

[2]  L. Nota,et al.  Promoting Vocational Development: Methods of Intervention and Techniques Used in the Italian Context , 2005 .

[3]  Laura Nota,et al.  Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Italian Form: Psychometric properties and relationships to breadth of interests, quality of life, and perceived barriers , 2012 .

[4]  Duane Brown.  Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development , 1993 .

[5]  Ryan D. Duffy.  Spirituality, Religion, and Work Values , 2010 .

[6]  I. Gati,et al.  Internet-Based Self-Help Career Assessments and Interventions: Challenges and Implications for Evidence-Based Career Counseling , 2011 .

[7]  Kerrie G. Wilkins,et al.  The relationship among positive emotional dispositions, career adaptability, and satisfaction in Italian high school students , 2014 .

[8]  R. Lapan,et al.  Evaluation of an Intervention to Increase Non-Traditional Career Interests and Career-Related Self-Efficacy Among Middle-School Adolescents , 2005 .

[9]  M. Savickas.  Helping People Choose Jobs: A History of the Guidance Profession , 2008 .

[10]  J. L. Holland,et al.  A theory of vocational choice. , 1959 .

[11]  Derek Richards,et al.  Online counseling: a narrative and critical review of the literature. , 2013, Journal of clinical psychology.

[12]  John J. Horan,et al.  The Effects of Internet-Based Cognitive Restructuring on the Irrational Career Beliefs of Adolescent Girls , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[13]  L. Nota,et al.  Contemporary Career Construction: The Role of Career Adaptability , 2014 .

[14]  Kimberly A. S. Howard,et al.  The relation of cultural context and social relationships to career development in middle school , 2009 .

[15]  M K Kaiser,et al.  MANOVA method for analyzing repeated measures designs: an extensive primer. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[16]  Per Carlbring,et al.  Establishing Guidelines for Executing and Reporting Internet Intervention Research , 2011, Cognitive behaviour therapy.

[17]  G. Clarke.  Improving the transition from basic efficacy research to effectiveness studies: methodological issues and procedures. , 1995, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[18]  F. W. Vondracek,et al.  A Living Systems Theory of Vocational Behavior and Development , 2014 .

[19]  J. A. Johnston,et al.  Incorporating the Narrative in Career Planning , 2003 .

[20]  James P. Sampson,et al.  Using information and communication technology in delivering career interventions. , 2015 .

[21]  Joann Harris-Bowlsbey.  Computer‐Assisted Career Guidance Systems: A Part of NCDA History , 2013 .

[22]  Steven D. Brown,et al.  Four (or five) sessions and a cloud of dust: Old assumptions and new observations about career counseling. , 2000 .

[23]  M. Karp,et al.  School-Based Career Development: A Synthesis of the Literature , 2004 .

[24]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.

[25]  V. Busacchi,et al.  ON NARRATIVE IDENTITY , 2018, 5th SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on SOCIAL SCIENCES and ARTS SGEM2018, Ancience Science.

[26]  Maria Eduarda Duarte,et al.  Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century , 2009 .

[27]  M. Savickas.  Life Design: A Paradigm for Career Intervention in the 21st Century , 2012 .

[28]  Leslie Miller,et al.  Middle school students' technology practices and preferences: re-examining gender differences , 2001 .

[29]  S. Soresi,et al.  "Quanta fiducia ho in me?": Validazione di uno strumento per l'analisi delle credenze di efficacia a proposito della gestione delle decisioni scolastico- professionali. , 2005 .

[30]  I. Gati,et al.  Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Facets of Career Indecisiveness , 2011 .

[31]  F. W. Vondracek,et al.  Career Adaptability in Childhood. , 2008 .

[32]  E. Hargittai,et al.  Differences in Actual and Perceived Online Skills: The Role of Gender* , 2006 .