Case+Studies

toc =** Applying Holland’s Theory to the Case of Susan (class handout Fall 2013) **=

Susan is a 17-year old Caucasian high school junior. She has a 2.5 grade point average, and her favorite classes are drafting and shop. Susan is in a co-op program in which she attends school in the morning and works in the afternoon, which she enjoys because “it’s more fun than sitting in class all day.” Her father is a building contractor, and her mother is a homemaker.

Susan enjoys athletics and fixing and repairing things. She has no interest in going to college but is not sure what else she might do. She has been talking with her friends and parents about what she might do after graduating from high school. She doesn’t know much about the range of job possibilities but thinks she would like to work with her hands. In her co-op program, she’s seen the work of welders, toll-and-die makers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. Susan’s brother is an electrician, and her older sister stays at home with two young children. She also is familiar with the building trades by observing her father’s work. Last summer, she asked her father if she could work for him, but he said she was too young. She has asked him again for the upcoming summer and is awaiting his answer.

Susan’s parents have given her little guidance about work but do expect her to finish high school and beyond that, “be happy.” She really would like to try something related to building and construction but wonders how difficult it would be as a girl. Although her father has not overtly discouraged her interest in construction, he believes it is an inappropriate choice for her. He is concerned about her physical safety on the job site as well as whether she might be harassed by her coworkers.

Susan doesn’t know what to do after high school and feels confused about how to even start choosing a direction. She secretly hopes that her father will hire her after graduation but is afraid to ask him directly about it.

1. What is Susan’s type likely to be, and in what type of environment might she be congruent?
 * Discussion Questions **
 * __// Susan is likely to be RCA; realistic, conventional, artistic. maybe slightly enterprising. It would be hard to know without a formal assessment //__**
 * __//Realistic, Conventional, Artistic//__**

2. How would you use Holland’s framework to encourage Susan’s exploration? How does Holland’s theory assist you in understanding Susan’s career dilemma? How might it help you in working with Susan? __**// Holland’s theory might confirm what Susan feels, and broaden her ideas of other potential careers. Since her interests are not consistent, it could be confusing for her to decide what she wants to pursue. We might suggest that she explore her artistic type or conventional //**__

3. What interventions might be effective to increase her career exploration and decision making? __**// Susan may benefit from shadowing people in careers other than construction. We might also show her a list of careers and occupations that match her type to see if there is anything that might spark an interest. Perhaps also make her take a holland code so we can be more confident in #1. We also may want to find a woman in the field of construction that she can shadow to expose her and her family to that option for women. //**__

4. How might you help Susan address her relationship with her parents, particularly with her father? __**//If her father see her investment and true interest in construction, he may be more likely to hire her. If Susan shadows people in construction, or anything else, those workers could talk to her parents about how well they think Susan may fit in the job. We could also have a family counseling session. The women speakers could also reassure the father that she is capable of pursuing a career in the construction field and that she will not be harassed as much as he would think. Since the woman works for a different agency, she might have different insight as to how her fellow co-workers treat her.//**__

5. How would you address Susan’s concerns about being a female in the building and construction trades? __**// Susan could shadow or interview other women in the construction trades to gain some perspective on how those women feel about their own experiences. Since Susan’s mother and sister are homemakers, we may want to explore how she feels about women in the workforce. //**__ = = =** Applying Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) to the Case of Melissa (class handout Fall 2013) **= Melissa is a 32-year-old Caucasian woman who is a midlevel executive working for a large firm that conducts marketing research. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA in marketing. She is married to Kevin (a 42-year-old Caucasian man) who works for a similar company in another town; they met while they were attending a professional meeting. They have been married for 7 years and have two small children, ages 2 and 4. The children live primarily with Melissa; Kevin comes home each weekend. Melissa, then, has primary responsibility for the household and child rearing during the week, but she and Kevin share the tasks on the weekend.

Melissa sought career counseling because she was feeling anxious and resentful of the demands she was juggling at work and at home. She feels that she and Kevin are able to communicate very well; they talk and e-mail each other several times a day, and they maintain time for themselves on the weekends. She also feels that they both make time for their children. But she is frustrated that they live so far apart and that her job is not as rewarding as she hoped. She enjoys some aspects of her work, primarily the opportunity to create new research surveys, and she enjoys working with clients and with her colleagues in the company. Melissa does not feel, however, that she is able to use her skills most effectively and also feels that she does not receive adequate recognition for her work. She has been passed over for promotions, and she is not certain if this was due to her performance or her status as a working mother or because she is a woman. The last time she was passed over for a promotion, she seriously considered talking to her manager about it but decided against it because she did not want to “rock the boat.”

She and Kevin have talked about opening their own marketing research firm; that is one option that she is considering. Kevin’s company has no openings at her level, so it is not possible for her to move and join him at his firm. There is no real reason they need to stay in this geographic area, because they have no family obligations or ties other than their current jobs.

1. What are the rewards in Melissa’s environments? __**// Research surveys, her clients and colleagues, marketing, being able to communicate with her husband. //**__ 2. How would the TWA characterize Melissa’s unsatisfactoriness? How would you incorporate this into counseling? 3. What is Melissa’s adjustment style, and how would you work with her to increase the correspondence with her environment? __**// Rhythm: steady. Pace: slow. Celerity: low, since she doesn’t want to bring up to her manager why she has been passed over for promotion //**__ 4. How would you incorporate the personal issues that Melissa is facing into career counseling? __** Have her express her feelings, desires, concerns and how all those impact career choices, which also go full circle to have an affect on those feelings, desires, concerns, etc. **__ 5. How would you incorporate Melissa and Kevin’s work-family interface into counseling? __** I would have Kevin attend counseling so he can be aware of the stress and difficulty his wife is making to allow him his career. **__ 6. How do Melissa’s gender and race influence her career decisions? __**// As a mother and working mother, she seems to be afraid to discuss promotions with her manager, as she thinks those roles are influencing their decisions. //**__
 * Discussion Questions **

=** Applying Gottfredson’s Theory to the Case of Dorece (class handout Fall 2013) **= Dorece is a 21-year-old African American woman who is a student at a major urban university on the East Coast. She was referred to career counseling by her academic advisor, because she had not yet declared a major despite accumulating enough credits to be considered a junior. Dorece presents herself as quite self-assured yet seems unnerved by the prospect of making a decision. She comes to counseling each week with a different idea of what she might choose, which she states with considerable enthusiasm. However, she does not complete the tasks assigned by her counselor, such as investigating the requirements of the major or what the job might entail, nor does her enthusiasm carry into the following week.

Dorece is the youngest child of four and grew up in an upper-middle-class home in suburban Washington, D.C. Her father is an advertising manager for a radio station, and her mother is a government attorney. Dorece attended an exclusive all-girls private high school, where she excelled in all her courses and graduated with a 3.8 grade point average. She enjoyed choir, French club, and the sailing club. Her older siblings have successfully completed graduate or professional degrees and are working in the Washington, D.C. area.

When she entered college, Dorece was encouraged by her parents not to choose a major too hastily but, rather, to explore various opportunities before she settled on the “right choice.” She initially enrolled in standard freshman year courses and did well in all of them. She particularly enjoyed her English classes and found that she appreciated the challenge of creative writing. Despite this, however, she did not declare English as a major because her father expressed concern about what she could “do” with a degree in English. After rejecting English as a major, she experienced similar concerns with other majors and soon found herself ruling out most of the possibilities. She has considered becoming a broadcast journalist, because many have told her that her good looks and presentation style would serve her well in that field. She has considered nursing, because she enjoys caring for others and has considered teaching for the same reason. Her sisters, however, were horrified when she mentioned these possibilities, claiming that she would disgrace the family if she entered such a gender-stereotypical occupation. She continued to search for the “right choice” for a major.

Dorece is in a serious relationship with an African American man who is attending graduate school at the same university. He is completing his doctorate in political science and has some aspirations to a political career; if that is not possible, he would like an academic career. He and Dorece have discussed her lack of decision making; he thinks she should become an English major. He also has expressed concern that it may be detrimental to his future political career if she were to enter broadcast journalism. = = 1. What specific hypotheses would you develop about Dorece from Gottfredson’s theory? 2. How has Dorece circumscribed her career options? How has she compromised her choices? Dorece circumscribed her career options by going for the more stereotypical career of being a teacher. she has turned down the option of what she might want to do because her boyfriend and her father have expressed that they were concerned about what she would do in the field (could be gender issues), or how her relationship with her boyfriend could be detrimental to his career. // She has circumscribed the option of nursing and teaching because of the “disgrace” it may bring to her family. // // She has compromised the option of English, as well as some others, because of the limiting factor of what to “do” after earning those degrees. // 3. What interventions might be effective in addressing her current career status? 4. What would you do as a counselor from the perspective of Gottfredson’s theory to help Dorece make a career decision? 5. Who is likely to influence Dorece’s decision? How much pressure does she feel now? What types of pressure and from whom
 * Discussion Questions **

= **Krumboltz Theory to the Case of Jim (class handout Fall 2013)** =

Jim is a 27-year-old Caucasian male who suffered a spinal cord injury in the neck area 4 years ago, which has severely limited his mobility. How his injury occurred is unknown to Jim. He related that he was attending a party in honor of his completion of the Reserve Officer's Training Corp (ROTC), and the last thing he remembers is opening the bathroom door and closing it behind him. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the bathroom floor and could not move. He underwent 6 months of hospitalization and therapy. Jim returned to finish his baccalaureate degree, is currently enrolled in a graduate program, and is seeking counseling because he has begun to have doubts about whether or not he is taking the right career path.

During his high school years, Jim was involved in volunteer work at two schools for children with physical and cognitive disabilities. He enjoyed working with the kids individually and in groups. One of the things that he liked most was seeing the progression that the children made over time. He also enjoyed sports and being active. The aspects of sports he enjoyed the most were the teamwork, motivation, and the sense of achievement he received after successfully accomplishing a goal. He wanted to incorporate both of these factors in choosing a career and chose to pursue physical education with an adaptive emphasis to include children with special needs.

Jim was very active in college, becoming involved in many campus activities, such as student government, intramural sports, and ROTC. He also continued to volunteer working with children. After 4 years in college, he was a year and a half from finishing his degree, a well-respected student leader on campus, and near completion of the ROTC program, when the accident occurred.

Following the accident, Jim knew he could no longer pursue physical education and decided to major in recreation therapy, because it involved actively participating with a client or groups and also might include sporting activities. He completed his degree three and a half years later and decided to enroll in graduate school. He hoped one day to pursue a doctorate and decided first to enroll in a master's program. He also hoped to move away from home and establish his independence.

Jim found a few things that were difficult in going to a school out of state. Two roadblocks were a lack of wheelchair-accessible housing accommodations and insurance and medical benefits. After researching the possibility of a move, he found that it would be more difficult than it was worth, and, feeling pressured by the time constraints of the deadlines for applications, he applied to a local graduate program in rehabilitation counseling. He chose rehabilitation counseling as a good complement to his bachelor's degree in recreation therapy. He as admitted and began to take classes.

Although his conflict had been solved, Jim felt rushed by the decision and was not 100% sure this was the right direction for him. He took one class in the summer session to ease himself into attending classes again, to get familiar with the campus, and establish himself in the program. This class was a basic introductory counseling class that exposed him to a few different aspects of counseling he had not considered. He now wants to determine whether to leave rehabilitation counseling and enter a more general counseling curriculum for his master's work or finish his master's and seek a doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology.

**Discussion Questions** 1. How may Jim have foreclosed his career options? What are specific examples of options he has foreclosed, if any? Jim said after his accident that he could no longer pursue physical education but he just assumed that. Jim lost his leadership activities by just stopping his volunteer work.

2. What barriers is Jim encountering, if any? Jim thinks that because he is in a wheelchair that there are only certain things that he can do. He thinks that he cannot get medical benefits but he can apply for Medicaid. These are proximal barriers.

3. What might be Jim's outcome expectations about his decisions about graduate training? Jim is going to get his doctorate, get away from home, and be independent.

4. How would you incorporate Jim's disability into your approach to counseling? I would increase Jim's self-efficacy and discuss what he is able to do instead of what he cannot do. I would also want to look into any mental health issues he is having because he thinks he is limited in his abilities. This could be a sign of depression and that needs to be treated before any career counseling could be effective.

5. What additional information would you seek? I would need to find out how severe Jim's disability is because I need to know what certain things he is not able to physically do. I also would want to find out what coping mechanisms he uses and to discuss his strengths.

6. How have Jim's learning opportunities been shaped by his disability and by his cultural background? Jim thinks that people in wheelchairs can only do certain things no matter what. He thinks that there is a lot that he cannot do anymore.

7. What social cognitive strategies would you employ to help Jim make a career choice? I would try to increase Jim's self-efficacy and his social support network.