Role induction in career counseling.

Many vocational psychologists advocate addressing career as well as personal concerns in career counseling. However, some clients may have inappropriate expectations toward career counseling and may not be prepared or want to discuss personal issues. This study examined whether perceptions of the career counseling process could be modified with the use of role induction. Results indicated that, whereas role induction was associated with perceptions of students' own career concerns, gender was a strong influence in perceptions of counseling overall and in the stigma associated with a holistic perspective on career counseling.

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Personal issues and career issues often intertwine (Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Hackett, 1993), and career counseling clients may be best served if given the opportunity to address personal concerns in addition to career concerns. Theorists have pointed out that, in many cases, career concerns can be strongly affected by a variety of personal concerns, including contextual factors, relationship issues, and personality characteristics (Betz & Corning, 1993; Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Croteau & Thiel, 1993; Krumboltz, Savickas, & Walsh, 1996; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996; Swanson, 2002). In situations where potential personal concerns are strongly linked to career issues, a holistic or broad approach to career counseling in which both career and personal concerns are discussed may be preferable to a narrower approach, which would only allow for exploration of career issues. The latter may lead both counselor and client to overlook the impact of personal issues on career issues. However, some clients may have inappropriate expectations toward career counseling (Galassi, Crace, Martin, James, & Wallace, 1992; Gold & Scanlon, 1993; Lewis, 2001) and may not be prepared or want to discuss personal issues. In other words, they may not know what career counseling may entail or understand their role in the counseling process. This study focused on perceptions of career counseling when clients are provided with different types of role induction to career counseling.

Vocational psychologists know that a more holistic perspective to career counseling may be more satisfying and effective for clients. Researchers have found that clients who seek career counseling were more satisfied with the experience when both personal and career issues were addressed (Nevo, 1990) and that clients' perceptions of the most helpful events in career counseling included self-exploration (Anderson & Niles, 2000; Heppner & Hendricks, 1995; Kirschner, Hoffman, & Hill, 1994) and discussion of issues pertaining to family relationships (Heppner & Hendricks, 1995). Previous literature has also pointed out how issues regarding mental and physical health can have an impact on career development (Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Manuele-Adkins, 1992; Swanson, 2002).

However, although theorists advocate for a holistic approach to career counseling, some clients appear to want to focus only on self-exploration as it relates to career issues. A study by Galassi et al. (1992) found that, when students were asked to explore their preferences for activities in career counseling, they preferred talking only about specific careers and career decision making. There may be many reasons for this mismatch between perceptions of clients and what they ultimately find satisfying in counseling. One factor may be their assumptions or perceptions regarding career counseling. Heppner and Heppner (2003) noted that "career counseling has been often viewed as a time-limited, rational process, with an emphasis on information giving, and testing" (p. 432). Some clients may strongly push for this counseling style, leading their counselors to circumscribe the counseling process, thereby perpetuating the notion that career counseling is centered on advising and information giving.

A resistance or lack of knowledge of how to express personal issues may also limit clients' holistic self-exploration. Although clients know that they may need to engage in self-exploration during career counseling, they may find it easier to talk about specific careers and/or decision making, rather than face self-exploration directly (Galassi et al., 1992). In some cases, clients have been shown to present personal issues as career problems (Haverkamp & Moore, 1993; Manuele-Adkins, 1992; Niles, Anderson, & Cover, 2000). Clients may have different reasons for not sharing their personal concerns on intake, but some may resist disclosing their personal concerns because they are uncertain about what topics are appropriate or safe for discussion or because they are initially unaware of the interplay between career and noncareer issues (Niles et al., 2000).

Research on personal therapy has revealed that clients disclose more personal issues when the client perceives the counselor as warm and empathetic (Halpern, 1977) and when the counselor is attractive (Harris & Busby, 1998). Personal therapy research also shows that clients are more likely to disclose personal issues when the counselor facilitates disclosure with questions (Hill & Gormally, 2001), when the therapist self-discloses (Simonson, 1976), and when the client has been in therapy for longer periods (Farber, 2003). Although there is no research on facilitation of client personal disclosure in career counseling, career research supports the idea that approaches that have proved successful in personal counseling may be equally effective in career counseling (Anderson & Niles, 2000).

One factor that may help clients engage in holistic self-exploration is the working alliance between the client and counselor. Researchers have argued that a strong working alliance is essential to effective career counseling (Meara & Patton, 1994) and often recognize it as a significantly important aspect of the career counseling process (Heppner & Hendricks, 1995). Additionally, clients' attitudes and expectations toward career counseling may significantly affect their willingness to participate in career counseling. A study by Rochlen, Mohr, and Hargrove (1999) found that college students tended to value career counseling that was shorter, involved interactions with professionals in their area of interest, and was held off campus.

Expectations about the number of sessions involved in career counseling may play a role as well. Some clients may have inappropriate expectations toward career counseling in that they believe that counseling can be accomplished in only two (Corbishley & Yost, 1989), three (Galassi et al., 1992), or four sessions (Gold & Scanlon, 1993). Tinsley, Tokar, and Helwig (1994) demonstrated that clients who start career counseling with low expectations tended to have lower levels of involvement during their first session (which may then influence involvement in later sessions). Niles et al. (2000) found that career counseling clients tend to talk more about career concerns at the intake session and about noncareer concerns in later counseling sessions.

Research has also suggested that career counseling clients tended to have lower motivation for staying in counseling than did clients with personal issues (Lewis, 2001). Because career counseling clients are more likely to discontinue counseling earlier than those seeking personal counseling, they may lose the opportunity to explore both career and noncareer issues. Another issue is that, even though researchers have suggested that the process of counseling can incorporate a holistic approach (Anderson & Niles, 1995, 2000; Betz & Corning, 1993; Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Heppner & Hendricks, 1995; Kirschner et al., 1994), it is conceivable that many clients may assume that the actual process of career counseling is so different from personal counseling that career counseling will not allow for the inclusion of personal issues.

Regardless of clients' underlying reasoning and expectations of counseling, the previous literature suggests that clients may need to know more about what to expect from career counseling. Thus, practitioners are encouraged to educate clients on the career counseling process (Galassi et al., 1992; Niles et al., 2000; Spokane, 1991). This includes helping clients know that it is perfectly appropriate to address both career and noncareer concerns in counseling (Anderson & Niles, 1995; Manuele-Adkins, 1992; Niles et al., 2000) and assisting them to recognize the association between career issues and other issues in their life (Corbishley & Yost, 1989; Lewis, 2001; Lucas, 1992, 1993; Miller, 1993) in order to increase client satisfaction with career counseling.

Didactic instruction has been the technique most frequently used to prepare individuals for therapy. Role induction, also referred to as anticipatory socialization (Orne & Wender, 1968), is used to educate clients about the rationale for therapy, therapy process, (realistic) expectations for change, prognosis, and examples of therapist behavior and good client behavior (e.g., self-disclosure, reflection, regular attendance, client responsibilities; Connors, Walitzer, & Dermen, 2002; Walitzer, Dermen, & Connors, 1999; Whitaker, Phillips, & Tokar, 2004). This preparation has been presented via interview, lecture, audiotape, and film (Peca-Baker & Friedlander, 1987; Walitzer et al., 1999). Role induction research suggests that the clients receiving role induction attend more therapy sessions (Katz et al., 2004; Stark & Kane, 1985), have improved symptom outcomes (Coleman & Kaplan, 1990), and are more satisfied with their treatment programs (Katz et al., 2004).