TPC-Journal-V4-Issue4

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 4 292 of the four themes (Practice, Training, Theory & Research and Advocacy) that emerged from the authors’ qualitative analysis of question 3. The resulting list, ranked by importance in terms of time-to-action on a scale of 1 (long-term, considered less urgent) to 5 (immediate, considered more urgent), is presented in Table 1. This table also includes averages and variations of participants’ responses from both rounds of data collection. Beyond the relative importance that experts placed on these items, some interesting patterns should be noted about the final rankings. Six of the top 11 items were Practice items, which is consistent with the top ranking of the Practice category overall (see Table 2). Training-related actions were ranked first and second on the list, which suggests the high importance of training future career counselors about the plight of traditionally marginalized populations in the context of the current economic climate. While not prevalent at the top of the list, the highest ranked Advocacy item suggested that the career development profession take an inward look at its history in service of informing future actions. As one expert stated, “I often think that paying attention to the roots of the career counseling profession in terms of the social reform movements of the last century would help the current field find its passion and mission for advocacy.” Theory & Research items also were not prevalent at the top of the list. Interestingly, though, the highest ranked item of this category was not about a particular theory, but rather was a suggestion to expand all theories to include traditionally marginalized populations’ lived experiences. Finally, the lowest ranked item on the list had a mean of 3.45. Given the scale (1 [long-term] to 5 [immediate]), experts believed that all 18 of the items should be addressed at some point by the career counselors and counselor educators. Table 1 Ranked Action Steps Action Items Theme Round 2 Round 3 M IQR Rank M IQR Final Rank Increase knowledge, awareness and counseling skills in regard to contextual and cultural factors’ influence on the career development of traditionally marginalized populations. Training 4.82 0 1 4.91 0 1 Career counseling and programming should be culturally and contextually relevant to various traditionally marginalized populations (e.g., involving networking, mentor development, career knowledge and experiential learning) and should be developed in partnership with these populations when possible. Practice 4.73 0 2 4.73 0 2 a Increase knowledge of economic systems and their effect on clients’ career development. Training 4.73 0 2 4.73 0 2 a On college/university campuses, provide career services to marginalized students and alumni by collaborating with student and alumni organizations. Practice 4.64 1 4 4.64 1 4 Expand the vision of theory and research in the field of career development to include those who have been typically left out of the career development narrative. Theory & Research 4.36 1 5 4.55 1 5 a