In recent years, many counseling psychology training programs in the United States have adopted social justice principles into training. Although previous studies have provided thought-provoking ...discussions on social justice advocacy, they mostly reflected the voices of psychologists in academia; therefore, the advocacy work of practitioners has been neglected. In order to explore the advocacy experiences of counseling psychologists in practice, we utilized qualitative content analysis to analyze semistructured interviews with 11 practitioners who were trained in social justice-oriented counseling psychology doctoral programs. The findings were clustered under three domains: (a) participants’ development of a social justice orientation, (b) different ways of implementing advocacy in practice, and (c) positioning advocacy in psychology. The interviews depicted resources and challenges with regard to integrating advocacy into practice indicating that counseling psychologists continue to struggle with systemic barriers that limit their advocacy actions. We discuss implications for research, practice, and training in counseling psychology.
People from lower social classes experience significant difficulties in many life domains including work, yet their work lives continue to be understudied in psychology. This study examined the ...applicability of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), which emphasizes the role of socioeconomic constraints in shaping work and well-being outcomes, in a non-Western, collectivist cultural framework. Specifically, we tested the associations of social class with work volition and career adaptability in predicting decent work and job and life satisfaction with a sample of 401 low-income Turkish employees. Results of structural equation modeling analyses supported all hypothesized paths of the proposed model. Social class predicted decent work directly and indirectly through work volition and career adaptability, and decent work predicted job satisfaction and life satisfaction. In addition to extending the research on the international utility of the PWT, these results support the notion that social class has a crucial role in low-income working adults' access to decent and fulfilling work along with their attainment of well-being. The results of this study also underline the importance of promoting decent work among low-income individuals to improve their personal and work lives. Implications for practice with low-income Turkish employees and directions for future research are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
The present study describes the ways in which social class influences low-income Turkish employee's access to decent and fulfilling work along with their general well-being. Our results emphasize the necessity of further scholarly attention to low-income individuals' work-related experiences and an inclusive psychological practice that integrates advocacy at multiple levels.
Meritocratic beliefs continue to be widely accepted in the United States; nonetheless, upward mobility is out of reach for many American women due to pervasive barriers to accessing decent work. The ...present study aims to explore American women's work aspirations and beliefs in the American Dream (the premise that no matter where people come from, with hard work, they can achieve prosperity) in light of the gap between this notion and the social inequalities in their working lives. We conducted semistructured interviews with 17 American women from diverse racial, educational, and work backgrounds to examine these women's work aspirations and beliefs on the American Dream. Qualitative content analysis yielded 3 domains: (a) aspiring for work that fulfills essential human needs, (b) multilayered influences on women's work aspirations, and (c) making sense of work aspirations in relation to beliefs on the American Dream. Our findings highlight the importance of relationships and systemic factors in shaping women's work aspirations. In addition, women's beliefs on the American Dream reflect complex interactions between endorsing meritocratic beliefs and their personal experiences. Implications for counseling psychology theory, research, and practice are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
This study shares voices of American women from diverse backgrounds by documenting women's work aspirations and beliefs in the American ethos of meritocracy in relation to their working lives. It provides insights on individual, interpersonal, and systemic factors that affect women's work-related experiences and aspirations.
With the purpose of contributing to the growing international research on social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study examined Lent's (2004) social cognitive model of well-being in a sample of ...Turkish college students. Three hundred and three students completed a battery of questionnaires assessing trait positive affect, overall life satisfaction and domain-specific support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goal progress, and satisfaction. The results of a structural equation model revealed that the well-being model fit the data well and accounted for 66%, 61%, and 45% of the variance in academic goal progress, academic satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction, respectively. Furthermore, all hypothesized relationships were supported except for two paths (i.e., outcome expectations→goal progress, and positive affectivity→academic satisfaction). These findings extend previous research on the international applicability of social cognitive model of well-being and highlight the potential use of environmental support, self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations in the development of goal progress, academic and life satisfaction in a cultural context which is a blend of Eastern and Western cultural perspectives.
•We tested social cognitive model of well-being in Turkish college students.•The structural model had a good fit to the data.•Almost all (14 out of 16) paths supported the hypotheses.•Social and cognitive variables explained large amounts of the variance in both domain and life satisfaction.•Findings add to the literature on cross-cultural utility of the social cognitive model of well-being.
In this study, we conducted a narrative analysis of interviews with unemployed and underemployed adults to better understand their experiences and to learn how they are coping with job loss. Seven ...men and six women from diverse backgrounds who were receiving career exploration and job search services were interviewed at a one-stop career center in a northeastern city of the United States. Using narrative inquiry as the methodological lens, the findings revealed three themes: the story of unemployment, factors that affect the unemployment experience, and coping strategies for unemployment. The participants used both micro and macro perspectives in constructing meaning about their work-based problems. The participants who had access to financial resources, relational and instrumental support, and adaptive coping skills seemed to be managing the crisis reasonably well. Other participants, particularly those faced with health issues, poverty, and lack of relational and instrumental support were struggling, often manifesting feelings of despair and frustration. The three themes were integrated in the discussion, highlighting implications for theory, research, counseling, and public policy.
► Narrative analysis conducted with 13 unemployment men and women ► Survival needs pervaded the narratives. ► Participants with financial resources found alternate ways of deriving meaning. ► Participants used micro and macro perspectives in understanding work challenges. ► Financial and relational resources were important sources of support.
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Decent Work Scale (DWS), a recently developed measure that assesses the psychological experience of the quality of one’s ...work life. The proposed five-factor structure was verified with a sample of 326 Turkish working adults. Consistent with previous research, a five-factor bifactor model showed best fit to the data. The results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the structure of the instrument was invariant across gender, income, and social class groups. Convergent and discriminant validity were supported by positive correlations with person–organization fit, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and work meaning and by negative correlations with withdrawal intentions. Evidence of predictive validity was obtained by regressing the five subscales on four outcome measures. These findings suggest that the Turkish version of the DWS can be used for assessing decent work among Turkish working adults and cross-cultural psychological research.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has resulted in unimaginable loss of life coupled with the loss of livelihoods for millions of people across the globe. In this article, we discuss the ...unique challenges of this crisis with a particular focus on how the pandemic has led to intersecting losses that have been exacerbated by ongoing social marginalization and inequities. An integrative treatment model informed by psychology of loss theories is presented for understanding the intersecting losses evoked by the pandemic-including the loss of work and financial security, relationships and collective rituals, routines and work-life boundaries, and physical and psychological health. Innovative features of this integrative perspective include a focus on enhancing critical consciousness, the use of integrative mental health and work-based interventions, and trauma-informed care. A case example and an integrative, prevention-based intervention that focuses on both work and mental health issues conclude the article.
Public Significance Statement
This article examines the intersecting nature of losses that have been evoked by COVID-19, which encompass work and financial security, relationships and collective rituals, routines and work-life boundaries, and physical and psychological health. These losses, which have taken place amidst the continuing struggle of marginalization and social inequity, call for a concerted effort by psychology, writ large, to innovate and integrate practices and prevention efforts. New directions for integrative practices and prevention are presented in conjunction with a conceptual model that can inform future efforts to support people and communities during and after the pandemic.
Globalization, technological advancements, and macroeconomic forces have created significant challenges for working in the United States and other countries. Recent crises about working include ...long-term unemployment/underemployment and the rise of precarious work, which negatively impact individuals' mental health and well-being. To fully understand the nature and impact of these problems, it is essential to give voice to the people whose lives are affected by the work-related crises. In the present study, we used social constructionism and the Psychology of Working Framework/Theory to understand how 42 American adults from diverse backgrounds make meaning of the crises about work. We used modified consensual qualitative research to analyze the participants' responses to a question on their potential solutions to the crises about work in the United States. The data analysis revealed 3 domains: government and corporate policies, social justice, and values. These domains were interwoven with each other through the threads of emotional reactions, locus of causality, and political ideology. Implications for vocational psychology theory, research, policy, and practice are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
The present study shares insights from a diverse group of Americans on the crises about work in the United States. Highlighting the importance of research that affirms the lived experience of people confronting an ever-changing world of work as a source of knowledge for theory, practice, and public policy, this study contributes to the literature on the nature of work in contemporary United States.
The purpose of this study was to describe the development of a new intervention for jobseekers and to assess its efficacy using a naturalistic, pre-post intervention design. In contrast to existing ...work-based interventions, the Work Intervention Network (WIN) intervention targets multiple intersecting domains through four modules and via six group sessions: deepening and sustaining relationships; fostering social awareness and reducing self-blame; building emotional resilience and self-care; and planning, exploring, and engaging in the job search. To evaluate the intervention, we first recruited a sample of 33 jobseekers to provide feedback on the program. Integrating their feedback into the design of the program, we then recruited a sample of 108 jobseekers who filled out surveys before and after the six-session intervention, which assessed work and mental health functioning across the four domains. Results revealed that participants were highly satisfied with the intervention and reported large increases in social support, belonging, psychological well-being, job search engagement, and work hope as well as decreases in isolation and self-blame. This study provides strong support for the WIN intervention and has implications for how to support jobseekers in an increasingly precarious labor environment.
The aim of the current study was to examine whether the key constructs targeted in the Work Intervention Network (WIN) intervention uniquely predicted well-being outcomes and mediated relations ...between un/underemployment and these outcomes. Using data from a sample of 462 adults in the U.S., we positioned employment status as a predictor of life satisfaction, well-being, and psychological distress. We also tested four mediators of these relations that operationalized targets in the WIN intervention – career engagement, social support, self-care, and self-blame. Employment status indirectly predicted life satisfaction, life meaning, and psychological distress via self-care and self-blame. Career engagement mediated the relation between employment status and psychological distress but in an unexpected direction. Social support was not directly predicted by employment status but predicted life satisfaction and life meaning. Results provided initial support for the WIN intervention and corroborate the contention that employment status is an important predictor of well-being.
