Susan C. Whiston

Vocational Counseling and Interventions: An Exploration of Future ‘‘Big’’ Questions

This article in a series on the next ‘‘big’’ questions in vocational psychology focuses on vocational interventions. The author proposes three primary questions with the first question asking vocational psychologists to consider the role they are going to play in the delivery of effective vocational or work-related interventions. The second question also addresses effective interventions and concerns what interventions are most helpful to which clients and under what conditions. The final question proposed by the author concerns what are the cost/benefits ratios of career counseling or vocational interventions.

Content Analysis of the Journal of Career Assessment

A review of the content of the Journal of Career Assessment was conducted from the journal’s inception (i.e., 1993) through 2011. A total of 545 articles were analyzed for this content analysis. The content analysis was based on content, characteristics of empirical studies, and authorship. In terms of content, the major areas were career assessment, theoretically based articles, and issues related to special populations. Strengths of empirical studies included large sample sizes and ethnically diverse samples, whereas limitations concerned an over reliance on college student participants and not reporting information regarding race or ethnicity of the sample. The content analysis concludes with a list of the 15 most productive scholars who have published in the journal.

The Working Alliance in Career Counseling A Systematic Overview

The research related to the working alliance in career counseling is reviewed in this article. This review indicates that the working alliance does typically increase over the course of career counseling. Furthermore in career counseling, most of the correlations between the working alliance and various outcome measures were significant and hovered around .30, which is consistent with findings related to the correlation between the working alliance and the outcome in psychotherapy. In terms of factors that predict the working alliance’s contribution to career counseling outcome, there is a lack of studies and more research is needed in this area. This article also provides suggestions for practice in career counseling and recommendations for future research.

Examining School Counselors' Commitments to Social Justice Advocacy.

Many school counselors endorse using social justice advocacy to close achievement gaps. In this study, school counselors from a single state scored in the moderate to high range on the Social Issues Advocacy Scale. Results showed alignment between school counselors’ self-endorsement of social justice advocacy and scores on the Advocacy Competencies Self-Assessment. School counselors working in recognized comprehensive programs, including Recognized ASCA Model Programs and Indiana Gold Star, scored higher on social justice advocacy measures than those in non-recognized programs.

Casting No Shadow: Assessing Vocational Overshadowing

Vocational overshadowing has been defined as an underemphasis on career concerns when personal problems coexist. This study explored whether vocational overshadowing occurred based on observers’ perception of the setting (i.e., either career counseling center or mental health counseling center). Clinicians in-training viewed an analogue counseling session in which the only difference between the two vignettes was whether the session was conducted in a career counseling center versus a mental health counseling agency. The participants then completed measures of the working alliance, evaluation of session process, and level of client’s neuroticism. Clinicians in-training perceived the working alliance, session factors (i.e., depth, smoothness, and arousal), and client’s level of neuroticism similarly, regardless of the setting of the session. The only slight difference was in the participants’ perceptions of the session conducted in a career center. Implications of these findings for research, practice, and education were discussed.

Randomized Clinical Trials in Counseling An Introduction

As the field of counseling moves toward evidence-based practice, researchers and clinicians may be interested in conducting randomized clinical trials. Although the randomized clinical trial is not the only method for conducting effectiveness studies of counseling interventions, it is a design that can produce important results. This article discusses the foundational steps in designing a randomized clinical trial and provides suggestions for researchers who are interested in conducting this type of research.

The Effectiveness of Male-Targeted Sexual Assault Prevention Programs: A Meta-Analysis

According to Black et al., one in five women will be raped during their lifetimes. In one national survey, it was found that of 14,989 female college students from nine institutions, 34% reported experiencing a completed or attempted sexual assault in their lifetimes and 21% of them reported that they had experienced a completed or attempted sexual assault as a college student. Therefore, effective sexual assault prevention efforts targeted at men are needed, and several initiatives have been developed. The current study provides a meta-analytic investigation of male-targeted sexual assault prevention interventions. Eligible studies were located from the following databases: Psychological Information Database, Education Resources Information Center, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Google Scholar, Dissertation Abstracts Online, Criminal Justice Abstracts, and reference sections of relevant articles. The weighted mean effect size for between-subjects studies of sexual assault attitudes showed improvement (d = −0.24, k = 25), and the effect was statistically significant (p < .001). The weighted mean effect size for between-subjects studies of future inclinations toward engaging in sexually aggressive behavior (d = −0.20, k = 13, p = .02) and toward engaging in sexual assault prevention behavior (d = 0.27, k = 10, p = .007) showed statistically significant improvements as well. However, the weighted mean effect sizes for between-subjects studies of rape empathy, sexual assault knowledge, sexual assault–related attitudes, and sexual assault perpetration were nonsignificant. Results show there is significant room for growth, both in terms of practical applications and further research.

Qualitative Analysis of Clinical Notes: Do Counselors Ignore Work and Academic Concerns?

Intake summaries and progress notes written by counseling trainees were examined to determine the extent to which work or academically related problems are discussed in counseling sessions when clients present with distress attributed to work or academic problems and personal concerns. Content analysis revealed that work or academically related problems were rarely discussed. The notes were also examined to explore factors or processes that distract counselors from addressing work or academically related problems in counseling sessions when clients indicated problems in work or academic area. Relational problems were found to be the most common topic that was likely to have distracted counselors from addressing work or academic problems. Finally, the data also revealed failure to integrate work and academic areas with discussions of personal concerns.