1. Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Assessment and Treatment
Itamar Gati
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

2. Today’s Presentation
Presenting a model and means for locating career decision-making difficulties of individuals
Presenting possible treatment of the difficulties  2

3. Parsons (1908) Zytowski (2008) 3

4. Indeed, it is difficult to make career decisions:
Quantity of Information: often large N of alternatives and factors, within-occupation variance  information is practically unlimited
Quality of Information: soft, subjective, fuzzy, inaccurate, biased
Uncertainty about: the individual’s future preferences, future career options, unpredictable changes and opportunities, the probability of implementing choice
Non-Cognitive Factors: emotional and personality-related factors, the necessity for compromise, actual or perceived social barriers and biases
Lack of knowledge about the process is among the prevalent difficulties 4

5. CDM Difficulties of 15,000 surfers on the Future Directions website
CDM Difficulties of 15,000 surfers on the Future Directions website (Gati & Meyers, 2003)
Are you experiencing difficulties in making your career decision?

6. Assessing clients’ needs involves
Locating the focuses of the client’s career decision-making difficulties
Appraising the degree to which the client’s preferences are crystallized
Assessing the client’s decision-making status
Acknowledging the client’s career decision-making profile (pattern, style): Interventions aimed at facilitating career decision making should be tailored to the client’s career decision-making profile (pattern, style) 6 6

7. Career Decision-Making Difficulties
The first step in helping individuals is to locate the focuses of the difficulties they face in making career decisions
Gati, Krausz, and Osipow (1996) proposed a taxonomy for describing the difficulties (see next slide), based on:
the stage in the decision-making process during which the difficulties typically arise
the similarity between the sources of the difficulties
the effects that the difficulties may have on the process and the relevant type of intervention

8. Prior to Engaging in the Process
Locating the Focuses of Career Decision-Making Difficulties (Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996)
Prior to Engaging in the Process
Lack of Readiness due to
Lack of motivation
Indeci-siveness
Dysfunc-tional beliefs
During the Process
Lack of Information about
Cdm process
Self
Occu-
pations
Ways of obtaining info.
Inconsistent Information due to
Unreliable Info.
Internal conflicts
Externalconflicts

9. Empirical Structure of CDM Difficulties (N = 10,000)
Lack of motivation
General indecisiveness
Dysfunctional beliefs
Lack of info. about self
Lack of info about process
LoI about occupations
LoI about addition sources of help
Unreliable Information
Internal conflicts
External conflicts

10. Difficulties Arising prior to Beginning Process
Lack of Readiness
Lack of motivation – a lack of willingness to make a decision at a certain point in time
General Indecisiveness (negative perceptions of self, anxiety related to the decision-making process, diffused self-concept and identity)
Dysfunctional Beliefs – a distorted perception of the career decision-making process, irrational expectations, dysfunctional thoughts

11. Difficulties Arising during the Process
Lack of Information
About the Decision Making Process - how to make a decision wisely and the specific steps involved in the process
About the Self (preferences, abilities)
About Occupations (alternatives, their characteristics)
About Ways of Obtaining Information

12. Difficulties Arising during the Process
Inconsistent Information
Unreliable Information – stems from contradictory information about the individual or about considered occupations
Internal Conflicts – among alternatives, among factors considered, between an alternative and a preferred characteristics, difficulty in compromising
External Conflicts –between the individual’s preferences and the preferences voiced by significant others

13. The Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ)
The CDDQ was developed - to test this taxonomy and - to serve as a means for assessing individuals’ career decision-making difficulties
Cronbach Alpha internal consistency estimate: for the total CDDQ score

14. 14

17. 17

22. The Four Stages of Interpretation
Ascertaining Credibility, using validity items and the time required to fill out the questionnaire
Estimating Differentiation based on the standard deviation of the 10 difficulty-scale scores
Locating the salient, moderate, or negligible difficulties, based on the individual's absolute and relative scale scores
Determining the confidence in the feedback and the need to add reservations to it (based on doubtful credibility, partial differentiation, or low informativeness)

23. Distribution of types of feedback in the four groups

24. Among the salient difficulties is “lack of information about the career decision-making process”
The Distribution of the Three Levels of Difficulties (negligible, moderate, salient difficulty) in the Ten Difficulty Categories and the Four Groups (N = 6192; H-Hebrew, E-English, p-paper and pencil, I-Internet)

25. Research Findings Osipow and Gati (1998) - American students (n=403)
The correlation between the CDDQ and the CDS was = .77
The correlation between the CDDQ and the CDMSE was negative, as expected, r = -.50
The total CDDQ scores of students who had not yet made a decision were noticeably higher than the scores of students who had already made a decision.

26. Gati, Osipow, Krausz, and Saka (1998) 95 pairs of counselors - counselees
The median correlation between the counselor’s judgments and the counselee’s self-reports in the 10 difficulty categories of the CDDQ was .49 (range ).
The lowest agreement was in the difficulty categories involving a lack of information

27. Lancaster, Rudolf, Perkins, and Paten (1999)
The correlation between the total CDDQ score and the CDS was = .82

28. A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Good fit of the empirical data to the theoretical structure was found across cultures
The structure of difficulties is similar as well across cultures
Much variance is found among individuals in each group; only a little variance in career decision-making difficulties is attributable to cultural differences

29. CDDQ’s 3 Major Clusters by Area

30. Differences in the CDDQ Means between Canadian and Israeli Career Counselees (r =.98)

31. The CDDQ can be used for:
Initial screening of clients (e.g., in terms of the 3 major categories or the 10 difficulty categories) and directing them to various interventions (face-to-face, Internet-based guidance systems)
Locating the focuses of clients’ career decision-making difficulties (“needs assessment”)
Evaluating the effectiveness of career interventions (e.g., before/ after)

34. Locating the Focuses of Clients’ Career Decision-Making Difficulties
Client B (#615) is an 18-year-old Caucasian woman who is a business school freshman.
Her CDDQ results showed the following salience:
general indecisiveness, ways of obtaining information.
dysfunctional beliefs, lack of information about the CDM process, the self and occupations, unreliable information, internal conflicts
lack of motivation, external conflicts,
(Gati & Amir, 2010)

35. Testing the effectiveness of intervention: MBCD’s Effect (Cohen’s d) on Reducing Career Decision-Making Difficulties (Gati, Saka, & Krausz, 2003)

36. Implications for counseling
Interpretive feedback provides an initial diagnosis of the client’s difficulties and needs and facilitates focusing on those that most deserve attention and intervention.
Filling out the CDDQ again after a while can be used to test the effectiveness of the intervention.
It is crucial for Internet-based assessment of career decision-making difficulties, where no expert counselor is available.

38. Assessment of Career Decision-Making Difficulties involves:
Measuring the difficulties
computing the 10 difficulty scale scores
computing the 3 major cluster scores
computing the total CDDQ score
Interpreting the Client’s difficulty profile
locating salient, moderate, or negligible difficulties
evaluate confidence of interpretation

39. The Next Step: Treating the Difficulties
Difficulties differ in:
their sources (cognitive, emotional)
severity
Implications (length of intervention, prevents making decisions or leads to a non-optimal one)
Based on these
order of treatment

40. Mean Treatment Sequence
Severity Ratings and Recommended Treatment Sequence, (N = 28 Expert Counselors)
Difficulty
Mean Severity Ratings
Mean Treatment Sequence
Lack of Readiness
lack of motivation
7.50
3.44
indecisiveness
7.43
4.93
dysfunctional beliefs
7.21
4.18
Lack of Information
about the process
4.36
4.61
about the self
6.32
3.61
about occupations
4.43
6.82
about add sources
3.79
8.14
Inconsistent Information
unreliable inf.
5.30
7.39
internal conflicts
7.61
4.89
external conflicts
6.86
6.26

41. Suggestions for Treating the Ten Types of Difficulties

42. The four steps in dealing with the difficulties
Verify its existence
Identify its sources
Plan an intervention
Treat it !!

43. Lack of Readiness: Lack of Motivation
Primary assessment – temporary or chronic-avoidant?
Locate the source (locus of control, uncertainty, lack of career decision-making self-efficacy)
Discuss the costs and benefits of postponing the decision
inform client that not making a decision is also a (sometimes legitimate) decision
present the importance of going through a systematic process and illustrating the different implications of making or not making a decision

44. Lack of Readiness: General Indecisiveness
Determine sources (negative perceptions of self, anxiety, diffused self-concept and identity)
Possible treatment:
Discuss previous experience in decision making
Reinforce previous good decisions
Identify factors involved in indecisiveness and treat them separately

45. Lack of Readiness: Dysfunctional Beliefs
Identify, understand and change dysfunctional beliefs into functional ones by using CDDQ, CTI and CBI
Discuss the fact that the decision needs to be based on known facts and specifically:
The resilience of the world of work
The importance of choosing out of genuine interest
The collection of more information about relevant occupations

46. Lack of Information about the Process
Present the PIC Model:
Prescreening – sequential elimination, relevant aspects and considerations, use CACGS
In-depth exploration – information sources for each stage, distinguish between structured and “soft” information, computer-assisted systems
Choosing – Assess whether various choices can be actualized, rank options and choose

47. Lack of Information about the Process (cont.)
Awareness to
The various aspects or factors that need to be considered
The role of career counselors
Acknowledging
The uncertainty involved in the decision
The need / the role of compromise

48. Lack of Information about the Self
Clarify client’s preferences (importance of specific aspects, optimal level and compromise levels)
And client’s abilities (general cognitive and specific abilities)
Discuss with the client's his or hers past experience and achievements

49. Lack of Information about Careers
What are the options (educational, occupations, jobs)
What characterize them (and what distinguish among them)
What are the relations among education, training, occupations, and jobs

50. Lack of Information about the Additional Sources for Help
Inform client about additional sources of
help about:
career decision making process,
self (preferences, abilities, personality)
career alternatives

51. Using the Information: Unreliable Information
Explore whether unreliable information is about:
self (preferences or abilities) or
career
locate specific contradictions in information
Treating contradictions about self: help client discover client’s skills, interests and important considerations and successful past experiences
Treating contradictions about alternatives: guide to relevant and reliable information sources

52. Using the Information: Internal Conflicts
Assess whether the conflict is about preferences or actualization problems
Discuss the need to compromise and recommend framing preferences in terms of aspects rather than alternatives
If the conflict is about problems of actualization - discuss options, assess the probability and costs of actualizing the plans, help to assess the cost of compromise, and construct an alternative plan.
Help the client decide what to choose as an occupation and what as leisure activity

53. Using the Information: External Conflicts
Identify clients’ significant others and discuss different factors for their importance (client, relationship, decision, social context and culture-related)
Suggest to reconsider importance of others, rephrase conflicts in terms of aspects or factors considered rather than alternatives (e.g., medicine vs. law helping people vs. money)

54. To sum up
Career choices are based on decision-making processes, therefore career counseling is also decision counseling
Locating individual’s career decision-making difficulties is a core component of the assessment of their needs; it shapes the counseling process
Measuring career making-decision difficulties is not enough – it is important to interpret them

55. For further information: www.cddq.org itamar.gati@huji.ac.il