Forty Cases: A Framework for Studying the Effects of Career Counseling on Career and Personal Adjustment

Two sets of research findings, the demonstrated effects of career counseling on career adjustment and the relationship between career adjustment and physical and mental health, were combined to provide the rationale for studies of the effects of career counseling on mental health and psychopathology. A two-phase, discovery- oriented research paradigm was used to collect traditional career adjustment data, mental health adjustment data, client and therapist counseling process data, and demographic data. One hundred and eighty-eight adult clients were screened for moderate levels of both career and mental health concerns. Forty of those adults then received a minimum of eight sessions of career counseling. Studies using this data base are now under way examining (a) the effects of career counseling on mental health adjustment, (b) the relationship between career adjustment and mental health adjustment, and (c) the relationship between counseling process and career and mental health adjustment. This article details this new research paradigm and describes specific analyses now being conducted.