TPC Journal V8, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 2 171 the phenomenon being studied and supports attempted generalizations. Common findings across the three participants were as follows: (a) all three foster care participants experienced significant positive trends on at least one CCRSI factor in spite of relatively high baseline scores; (b) all participants rated the value of their respective customized interventions highly; (c) field notes were important for counselors when engaged in SCRD interventions; (d) the participants’ demographic differences demonstrated at the beginning of the present study supported the customized intervention idea; and (e) combining inferential statistical and visual analyses of the data provided important information when the visual data alone were unclear. Limitations Although the treatments were customized, the duration of the baseline, treatment, and withdrawal phases were similar for all participants. Consequently, because the three treatment interventions had to be the same length of time within the A-B-A single-case design, the counselor was unable to customize the duration of the interventions. Each foster care participant may have benefitted from being able to engage in the treatment phase as long as needed. Unfortunately, the scheduling circumstances did not allow for this option. Scheduling challenges also forced restricted time frames for the baseline and withdrawal phases. The data collection process required participants to follow a prescribed self-monitoring schedule. They did not consistently conform to it, especially during the baseline and withdrawal phases. This inconsistency caused the counselor to issue reminders more often than desired and led to some inconsistencies in data collection protocols. The varied settings in which the interventions occurred may have caused a reactive effect. Regarding the generally high baseline scores, the participants may have been influenced by a halo effect at the outset. The gender and ethnicity of the participants, two African American females and one Caucasian/African American female, caused the sample to be somewhat homogeneous. During the repeated collections of the CCRSI data, the items were presented in the same order. Consequently, the internal validity of the study may have been enhanced if the items were presented randomly each time. The study was conducted in the field setting rather than in a laboratory. Although field settings are more realistic than laboratory research, it is more difficult to control events that may reduce the internal validity of a study (Heppner, Wampold, Owen, Thompson, & Wang, 2016). Therefore, the limitations cited above are not unusual for experimental field studies. Recommendations for Future Research The recommendations focus on further research using the SCRD model. Two SCRD experimental research thrusts are presented herein. One focuses on serving foster care youth, and the other focuses on understanding and enhancing career and college readiness self-efficacy for diverse populations. Assuming that the usefulness of a customized approach with a common framework similar to the S.T.A.R.S. model has been established in this study, additional independent variables that have potential for enhancing the postsecondary education readiness of foster care youth can be developed. Self-efficacy represents an attitude or belief variable, and other interventions can be developed to address either additional attitudinal variables (e.g., aspirations) or knowledge and behavior variables that are important for successful access to postsecondary education. Given that the customized intervention approach with the independent and dependent variables derived from the career and college readiness self-efficacy construct proved useful for a sample of foster care adolescents, applying the same approach to more diverse populations is recommended. All K–12 students can benefit from interventions designed to enhance their career and college readiness self-efficacy. Can this be accomplished across other populations?