Psychological Association
Please no plagiarism and make sure you are able to access all resource on your own before you bid. Main references come from Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2012) and/or American Psychological Association (2010). You need to have scholarly support for any claim of fact or recommendation regarding treatment. I have also attached my discussion rubric so you can see how to make full points. Please respond to all 3 of my classmates separately with separate references for each response. You need to have scholarly support for any claim of fact or recommendation like peer-reviewed, professional scholarly journals. I need this completed by 06/22/19 at 12pm.
Expectation:
Responses to peers. Note that this is measured by both the quantity and quality of your posts. Does your post contribute to continuing the discussion? Are your ideas supported with citations from the learning resources and other scholarly sources? Note that citations are expected for both your main post and your response posts. Note also, that, although it is often helpful and important to provide one or two sentence responses thanking somebody or supporting them or commiserating with them, those types of responses do not always further the discussion as much as they check in with the author. Such responses are appropriate and encouraged; however, they should be considered supplemental to more substantive responses, not sufficient by themselves.
Read a your colleagues’ postings. Respond to your colleagues’ postings.
Respond in one or more of the following ways:
· Ask a probing question.
· Share an insight gained from having read your colleague’s posting.
· Offer and support an opinion.
· Validate an idea with your own experience.
· Make a suggestion.
· Expand on your colleague’s posting.
1. Classmate (J. Sch)
Assessments are one of the tools counselors can use to help clients make informed decisions, guide clients in career decisions and aid in job search. When choosing which assessment to use counselors must evaluate the reliability, validity, and standard error of measurement (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012) and use tests that are fair to all individuals assesses according to age, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, race and other personal characteristics (American Psychological Association, 2004) in order to deliver accurate results for their clients. Because my goal is to work with military veterans and at-risk youth with drug, alcohol and gang issues I will look at two assessments I feel will be appropriate to use with at-risk youth.
Career Beliefs Inventory and the Differential Aptitude Test
The first assessment I am going to discuss is the Career Beliefs Inventory (CBI). According to Capuzzi and Stauffer (2012) CBI helps clients identify attitudes and beliefs that are hindering them achieving their career goals. Developed in 1994, CBI assesses client beliefs on My Current Career Situation, What Seems Necessary for My Happiness, Factors that Influence My Decisions, Changes I Am Willing to Make, and Effort I Am Willing to Initiate integrating career and personal counseling topics in a 96-item test. Helping clients develop the self-awareness they need to create successful career paths through ongoing learning and increased satisfaction in the their personal and work lives is the measure of success in CBI as clients are tasked with answering the question of Why? and What? Concerning career choices making it a useful compliment to traditional interest and ability assessments. (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012) For my purpose I believe CBI is a good test to use with at-risk youth in my program as it will allow me to gain more information about their career goals and beliefs and how their beliefs can be hindering their ability to reach their goals. The American Psychological Association states counselors should, “Review and select tests based on the appropriateness of test content, skills tested, and content coverage for the intended purpose of testing.” (American Psychological Association, 2004, p. 5) As I expect many of the youth in my program do not have work experience, and many may lack clear career plans and goals I believe it would be beneficial to gather information concerning their beliefs about work and identify areas they may need assistance in. It can also highlight areas youth may need to explore further.
The second assessment I would like to discuss is the Differential Aptitude Test. Capuzzi and Stauffer (2012) describe the Differential Aptitude Test as being designed to give insight into academic and vocational interests of students and young adults in grades 8-12. Additionally, the Differential Aptitude Test Individual Report is a good tool which gives clients a clear narrative interpretation of scores in “Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Ability, Abstract Reasoning, Clerical Speed and Accuracy, Mechanical Reasoning, Space Relations, Spelling, and Language Use”. (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012, p. 173) which provide the greatest impact for clients. It is designed to be administered to groups.
Strengths
I believe the (CBI) and the Differential Aptitude Test are appropriate to use with at-risk youth in my program because both are designed to be used with my target population. According to Capuzzi and Stauffer the CBI was developed for use with high school and college populations and well as clients considering midlife career changes. It is administered individually and based on Krumboltz’s learning theory that personal characteristics, environmental events, learning opportunities, and skills influence an individual’s career beliefs and that interest inventories and aptitude tests help counselors serve as educators for their clients acting as catalysts for awareness. Through answering why and what questions regarding their career choices counselors help gain cognitive insight into the choices they make and why they belief certain ways about careers and options available to them. The Differential Aptitude Test is a group test that provides counselors with a basis for advising clients based on their Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Ability scores.
Assessing Special Populations
In addition to recognizing assessment instruments that are effective to use with at-risk youth in my program, it is important for me to be able to use assessments that are culturally appropriate for my clients. The American Psychological Association (2004) states test users, “Evaluate the available evidence on the performance of test takers of diverse subgroups. Determine to the extent feasible which performance differences may have been caused by factors unrelated to the skills being assessed” (p. 5) in addition to avoiding the use of tests for other than recommended by its developer. Helping at-risk youth identify beliefs that can block their career progress may be one of the best ways to change the negative thoughts and cognitions they have about themselves and their abilities to reach their goals. I think helping youth see that just because they missed one step on their path to achieving their goals in life and having successful careers can help change their lives from leading them down the path of believing they are failures in life or that they cannot turn their lives around. As Capuzzi and Stauffer state “career assessment can serve to empower clients to take control of their lives through the role they play and the choices they make in the career counseling process”. (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012, p. 188) Being able to administer individual assessments like the CBI and group assessments like the Differential Aptitude Test to the youth in my program allows me to determine which assessment and modality of administration best fits the youth I will be working with.
Conclusion
When working with youth in a program where many have little or no job skills it will be important that as a counselor I am able to use assessment instruments to help discover why clients think the way they do about their career options, as well as what they think their strengths, abilities, and interests are. Once we can identify what clients want out of a career and which careers best fit their personalities, skills, strengths and interests are we can discuss and explore plans for them to achieve their goals. To that end, I think using assessments like the CBI and the Differential Aptitude Test will prove to be useful tools for gaining insight into career counseling for the youth served by my program.
References
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2012). Career counseling: Foundations, perspectives, and applications. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education
“Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education.” American Psychological Association, Joint Committee on Testing Practices., 2004, www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/fair-testing.pdf.
2. Classmate (L. Str)
The two assessment instruments I selected are the Career Thoughts Inventory and the Vocational Interest inventory. The Career Thoughts Inventory was developed to support the Cognitive Information Process Theory. The Cognitive Information Process Theory assist with problem-solving and decision-making when making a career choice. The Career Thoughts Inventory of 48 items that measure the “mental readiness or dysfunction, in the areas of decision-making confusion, commitment, and anxiety, and external conflict” (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012 pp. 170). According to Capuzzi & Stauffer (2012) the Vocational Interest inventory measures the interest levels in different occupational felids listed in Roe’s Theory. Roe’s Theory believes that career choices are based on human needs and early life experiences (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012).
As a clinical mental health counselor in training I feel that these two theories apply in my field as they are grounded in theoretical theories which provides a framework for counseling professionals which is also a strength of these two assessments. Another strength of the Vocational Interest inventory is that it is able to be self-administered and self-interpreted. Another strength of the Career Thoughts Inventory, a workbook also is included along with the test that has activities to help with the decision-making process of choosing of a career (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). It is important to be aware of testing special populations because counselors must take in consideration clients’ special needs may not generalizable based on the majority norm (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). Based on a client’s cultural background particular instruments may have to be applied to a particular group (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012).
References
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2012). Career counseling: Foundations, perspectives, and applications. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
3. Classmate (M. Rod)
Currently, I serve individuals living with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness or SPMI. Some individuals living with SPMI are deemed as a vulnerable population. There are some cognitive limitations with certain SPMI diagnosis. With that in mind, I have chosen the Kuder Occupational Interest Surveyand the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test to utilize with the population I serve.
The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey is a great survey to help individuals identify their interest (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). I think this can be helpful as the results are very direct and concrete. The results address patterns of interest versus the level of interest (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). I feel this can be a great conversation starter and can help a client move forward with their stage of change.
The Wonderlic Basic Skills Test reminds me of the assessments utilized when assessing an individual for disability benefits related to a mental health disability. This test assesses for basic skills such as verbal skills or problem solving (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). This test is generally used for teens and young adults to determine job readiness. However, I believe this can be utilized with some individuals living with SPMI due to some cognitive limitations.
According to the American Counseling Association (2014) or APA, counselors need to be competent in the assessments that they utilize and to not practice outside the scope of their expertise. When utilizing assessments with vulnerable populations, such as individuals living with an SPMI diagnosis, special consideration needs to be considered. I personally have found that there must be flexibility in how the questions are asked, time requirements should be considered, and sometimes collateral information from family or other formal and natural supports to understand the entire situation. Overall, the counselor must be aware of the population the assessment was normed for and skilled in adjusting the administration and interpretation of the results. I believe that if in doubt and for good practice, seek supervision especially when working with special populations.
American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/docs/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=4
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2012). Career counseling: Foundations, perspectives, and applications. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bottom of Form
Required Resources
· Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2012). Career counseling: Foundations, perspectives, and applications. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
o Chapter 6, “Individual and Group Assessment and Appraisal”
· The Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education
http://www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/fair-code.aspx
Media
· Video: Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2007). Vocational psychology and counseling: Vocational/career assessment.Baltimore: Author.
o with Dr. Darrell Luzzo
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 18 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads– Download Video w/CC Download Audio
Website