Lia D. Falco

Ethical and Professional Issues in Experiential Growth Groups: Moving Forward.

The purpose of this introductory article is to provide a context for how experiential growth groups are typically used to train counselors, to preview the contributions in this issue, and to suggest future directions for researching and implementing such groups.

The Use of Process Notes in the Experiential Component of Training Group Workers

The purpose of this article is to examine the use of process notes as a group counseling technique. The use of process notes during a group counseling experience for graduate students in a Masters degree program is described, and suggestions for incorporating the technique into practitioner training programs are discussed.

Improving Career Decision Self-Efficacy and STEM Self-Efficacy in High School Girls: Evaluation of an Intervention

This study evaluated whether a career group intervention that incorporates the four sources of self-efficacy and addresses perceived career barriers is effective at improving the career decision self-efficacy and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) self-efficacy for adolescent girls. Of the 88 girls in our study, 42 students were Latina and 46 were White, 40 were freshman, and 48 were sophomores attending the same high school. From this sample, 44 of these girls participated in a 9-week treatment group. Using repeated measures analysis of covariance with ethnicity and grade as covariates, results indicated that, compared with the control group (n = 44), participants in the treatment group improved significantly on variables of career decision self-efficacy and STEM self-efficacy and increased those gains at 3-month follow-up. The discussion focuses on implications for career counseling, limitations of the study, and future research.

Evaluating Construct Validity of the Middle School Self-Efficacy Scale With High School Adolescents

This study presents an exemplar for psychometric evaluation and modification of established measures when applied to new populations. Specifically, we describe the use of two subscales (Career Deci...

The School Counselor and STEM Career Development

There is an increasing concern that the demand for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers in the United States will exceed the supply. In the United States, very few students, and underrepresented students in particular, are pursuing STEM educational and occupational goals that underscores the need for school counselors to understand how to maximize opportunities for student success in STEM. Understanding the factors that influence students’ academic and career choices early on is necessary in order to provide effective interventions and responsive services that will have a positive impact on students’ future STEM career outcomes. Using social-cognitive career theory as a framework, this article synthesizes pertinent research on student STEM engagement, so that school counselors will be better able to support STEM career development for all students, especially those from historically underrepresented groups. Implications for school counseling practice are discussed.