Abstract:

The aim of this investigation is to present a methodology of intervention in group career counselling that focuses on promoting the exploration of self and environment and reduction of career indecision, of adolescents dealing last year of Obligatory Education in Portugal. It is intended to support the advance in the decision making of adolescents regarding the continuation or not their school after last year of Obligatory Education, and promote a more realistic career decision as to the way forward. They also foster the assumption of an active role on the part of adolescents towards taking responsibility for your career exploration process. Three hundred and twenty one adolescents (190 girls, 59,2% and 131 boys, 40,8%; M.age=15,15, SD.age=0,49) participated in this study (178 in the experimental group and 143 in the control group). The methodology of intervention in group career counselling is based on Spokane (1991), and Gibson & Mitchell (1998) models of career counselling process and includes five weekly sessions of 90 minutes with the adolescents, and two sessions with the families. A quasi-experimental design of two independent groups with repeated measures (at the pre-treatment and at the post-treatment) has been used. Pre- and post- test measures of career exploration (CES, Career Exploration Survey; Stumpf, Colarelli & Hartman, 1983) and career indecision (CDS, Career Decision Scale; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico & Koshier, 1976) were administered to experimental (n=178) and control (n=143) groups. The results of CDS and CES Anova for repeated measures of career exploration and indecision evidence a significant effect for the changeable moment of evaluation for the dimensions Level of indecision (F=21,69; p<0,05); Employment Outlook (F=24,88; p<0,01), Intended-Systematic Exploration (F=90,43; p<0,01), Amount of Information (F=2,65; p<0,01), Satisfaction with –information (F=78,44; p<0,001), and Decisional Stress (F=4,23; p<0,04). The results in the post-treatment indicate that the adolescents in the experimental group reduce vocational indecision and they had developed their career exploration behaviours. The within-groups effect sizes and the percentage of change were high for the majority of measures in the experimental group and almost null in the control group, so we can point out that the program is effective, for the reduction of vocational indecision and promotion of career exploration and commitment. The implications of this study for the practice and future investigations are discussed.

Keywords:

Group Career Counseling, Adolescents, Career Indecision, Career Exploration.