Preparing for working life : effects of group counseling on adolescents' career development and mental health
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: The present dissertation has two main aims. The first aim was to examine the effects of two preventive group counseling methods on adolescents' career development and mental health. These methods apply the theories of the importance of an active and supportive learning environment in strengthening participant's preparedness to deal with career choice and the school-to-work transition. The second aim was to examine the mediating role of career preparedness in career development and counseling. Two randomly assigned effectiveness trials were carried out. The first field trial (N=416) examined the effectiveness of the School-to-Work intervention method and the mediating role of employment preparedness in attempts to improve the transition to working life and to prevent mental health problems associated with failed transitions among 17-24-year-old vocational school graduates. The second field trial (N=1034) examined the effectiveness of the Towards Working Life intervention in attempts to enhance preparedness to make an educational choice and to improve the transition to post-basic education among 15- to 16-year-old ninth graders. Both trials included a one-week workshop program that focused on enhancing career preparedness, i.e. preparation to career choice or employment, as a proximal goal. In these trials, students were randomized into a control and an experimental group. Participants were assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and during "post-transitional" phases, ten or twelve months later, when most of the participants were either working or continuing studies. The results of the first trial showed that the School-to-Work intervention increased participants' employment and correspondence between their employment, vocational education and career plans at the ten-month follow-up. The absolute gain in employment achieved by the intervention was evaluated to be approximately 6.3% in this study. This would mean an increase of approximately 27% in the proportion of employment that would have been achieved without the interven-tion. In addition, the intervention increased participants construction of personal goals related to work life, finances and property at the same time point. The group method also had a preventive impact on depressive symptoms and psychological distress at the ten-month follow-up among those initially at risk for mental disorders. Analysis of the meditating variables showed that the intervention increased graduates employment preparedness at the post-treatment assessment, which in turn increased their employment ten months later. Furthermore, employment increased the construction of working life-related personal goals and lower financial strain, which in turn was associated with lower depressive symptoms at the ten-month follow-up. In conclusion, the results of the study support the assumption that the transition from vocational school to work can be promoted with methods strengthening students' employment preparedness as a proximal goal. The results of the second trial showed that the Towards Working Life group intervention had interaction effects with baseline risk for depression and learning difficulties on symptoms of depression and school burnout. Among those initially at risk for depression, the intervention decreased symptoms of depression. For students who were at risk for depression and had learning difficulties, the intervention decreased school burnout. The results also showed that the intervention directly improved students career choice preparedness, which in turn fostered career planning task values. In general, the effects of the experimented interventions on career development and on mental health were small but significant. Consequently, a more cost-effective approach than targeting a whole age group, would be the design of intensive workshop format career interventions as selective primary prevention programs. The selective programs would be targeted at those in greatest need of support, particularly those who experience the aims of the intervention practices as relevant in their current life situation and exhibit deficient career preparedness, and who have learning difficulties or mental well-being problems. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Author: Petri Koivisto
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1921691265