TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 112 Problem-solving self-efficacy can then be addressed once negative thinking is resolved through attending to the sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977; Lent, 2005). How do this model and these indicated interventions address the research question and hypotheses? It appears to be important to address negative career thinking prior to working with clients on building self-confidence in career decision-making. In terms of the CIP pyramid (Peterson et al., 1991) that would mean addressing issues in the decision- skills domain before engaging the apex or executive processing domain. Thus, the successful progression from the communication to analysis phase of the CIP CASVE cycle would first involve resolution of negative career thoughts followed by building career problem-solving self-efficacy. Upon increasing self-efficacy, the probably of engaging in career exploratory behavior to clarify self-knowledge and to acquire occupational knowledge at the base of the pyramid is enhanced. This potentially generalizable model has direct implications for the specific case of Sue described at the beginning of this article, which will be used to demonstrate how the findings from this study could be utilized in specific counseling situations. Sue presented with low readiness (Sampson et al., 2004) to engage the career development process. She seemed frustrated and unwilling to explore her interest inventory results. This may be linked back to the disappointment, regret and perhaps even grief associated with the “loss” of her music aspirations. It is very likely she developed some negative career thoughts in that process. The verified path model indicates the importance of identifying, challenging and altering these negative thoughts to allow Sue to act upon a new, more accurate version of these thoughts. The use of the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) assessment and workbook (Sampson et al., 1996) could aid Sue’s counselor in this process by identifying and challenging negative career thoughts. When Sue’s negative thinking is transformed and becomes more realistic and positive, career-related self-efficacy should be ready for enhancement. In fact, Lent (2005) mentions that self-efficacy building attempts may be enhanced from some preliminary cognitive restructuring procedures. Bandura (1977) and Lent (2005) suggest targeting the four sources of self-efficacy to accomplish this positive change. One possible career counseling goal could target the personal performance accomplishments source of self-efficacy. Sue’s counselor could work with Sue to break down her present goal of finding employment into more discrete, attainable steps and milestones to build Sue’s confidence (or self-efficacy) in such tasks. For instance, during the next week Sue could look at the career center’s job listings and indicate three she likes and three for which she would never apply. This would allow for discussion of jobs of interest and areas to avoid in the next session as well as supporting Sue’s efforts to engage in the tasks necessary to explore career information and make an eventual choice. Sue and the counselor could work at Sue’s pace to accomplish a list of associated, small goals to build self-efficacy while simultaneously working toward Sue’s initial goal of finding employment. This case and model indicate that even when a client presents with a need to explore career information it may not be the most prudent move for a counselor to initially engage in career exploration with the client. There may be steps that are necessary, or at least allow for the attainment of readiness in order to successfully engage in career exploration. These steps seem to include addressing negative career thinking followed by adequately addressing career problem-solving self- efficacy, indicating that both CIP and SCCT theories function in complementary ways. Limitations and Implications Given all of this discussion of counseling with Sue, it is important to note limitations of this research. Most SEM indicators verify the adequacy of the final model provided in this study. However, because it is not fully verified by all relevant indicators and not all possible related variables are taken into account, there may be a better fitting model that explains career exploratory behavior. Future research could focus on finding a better fitting model with a larger sample size to explain career exploratory behavior. Additionally, the sample was made up of college students, the majority of which were European American, and this may limit the generalizability of these findings to dissimilar groups. Additionally, research outside of the career realm may benefit from the consideration of such a model as it relates to other important life choices and exploration in which career counseling clients typically engage (e.g., choice of spouse, major