by Scott Beveridge, Sharon Heller Craddock, James Liesener, Mary Stapleton, and David Hershenson
Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin
VOLUME 45, NUMBER 4, Summer 2002
Copyright© PRO-ED, Inc.
Reprinted with permission
Existing theories of career development have been criticized in the rehabilitation literature for having questionable applicability to persons with disabilities. Given the diversity of disabilities and of persons with disabilities, the authors doubt that a generally applicable theory can be developed. They propose a viable alternative to guide rehabilitation counseling practice: a framework that posits that the career development of individuals (including those with disabilities) at any given point in their lives can be classified into one or more statuses, each of which calls for different interventions. These statuses form the acronym INCOME: Imagining, informing, Choosing, Obtaining, Maintaining, and Exiting.
The purpose of this article is to propose a framework for conceptualizing career development that is applicable to persons with disabilities. Conte (1983) pointed out that no existing theory of career development adequately took into consideration the particular needs of persons with disabilities. Consequently, these theories were of questionable use in describing, predicting, or facilitating the career development of persons with disabilities. Both Conte and Curnow (1989) indicated there were three factors in the lives of persons with disabilities (particularly persons with precareer onset disabilities) that rendered existing theories inapplicable to them: (a) limitations in early career exploratory experiences, (b) limited opportunities to develop decision-making abilities, and (c) a negative self-concept resulting from societal attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Over the past: decade, several attempts have been made to create a process model of career development that would address these issues (Hershenson & Szymanski, 1992; Szymanski & Hershenson, 1998; Szymanski, Hershenson, Enright, & Ettinger, 1996). We would like to suggest an alternative model that we believe addresses these issues and is more directly applicable to guiding rehabilitation counseling practice.
We concur with the conclusions of the aforementioned studies that there is neither the need nor the possibility for a separate theory of career development for persons with disabilities. This follows from Thomas and Berven's (1984) observations that (a) there is greater diversity among persons with disabilities than between them and persons without disabilities, and (b) the heterogeneity of persons with disabilities precludes the possibility of a single theory common to them all. Our conclusion also follows from our review of definitions of career development, which indicated that there was a lack of agreement on a definition of the construct. For example, the National Career Development Association's (2000) definition of career development concerned "the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan" (definition of terms section, paragraph 2). McDaniels (1996), however, argued that the definition must include leisure as well as work. Pietrofesa and Splete (1975) noted that, "Career development is an ongoing process that occurs over the life span and includes home, school, and community experiences related to an individual's self-concept and its implementation in life style as one lives life and makes a living" (p. 4), and Peterson, Sampson, and Reardon (1991) defined it as "the implementation of a series of interrelated career decisions that collectively provide a guiding purpose or direction in one's work life" (p. 21). After reviewing more than 20 definitions of career development in the literature (and several books on the topic that failed to define the term), we felt that the one that best served us as a working definition was Kroll, Dinklage, Lee, Morley, and Wilson's (1970):
Career development denotes the lifelong sequence and pattern of an individual's work-related behavior, including all work-relevant experiences and activities before and after entry into a formal occupation. Career development is a continual process of working out a synthesis or compromise between the self and the reality opportunities and limitations of the world. (p. 11)
Given this lack of agreement on even the scope of the term career development, it is not surprising that a review of the status of career development theory by Patton and McMahon (1999) found that "conclusions within the literature generally agree that it remains inadequate and incomplete ... and lacking in comprehensiveness and coherence ... particularly in its failure to account for diversity within the population" (p. 5).
Despite these conceptual and methodological problems,, there is still a need for a conceptual framework to guide rehabilitation counselors in tracking and facilitating the career development of persons with disabilities. To address that need we propose the following framework. INCOME consists of' six statuses through which the person with a disability can move: Imagining, informing, Choosing, Obtaining, Maintaining, and Exiting. In constructing this framework, we drew particularly from the work of those theorists who sought to make their models applicable to persons with disabilities. These include Donald Super (1957, 1990), who, to his great credit, included a chapter titled "Disabilities in Vocational Development" in his 1957 book; Danley and Anthony's (1987) choose-get-keep model for psychiatric rehabilitation; and the work adjustment models of Lofquist and Dawis (1969; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984) and of Hershenson (1996a, 1996b).
Following Helms's (1995) use of the term, we are proposing a set of statuses, not stages. The concept of stages within developmental theories denotes a set of characteristics that have been outlined by Kohlberg (1968). According to Kohlberg, stages must follow an invariant sequence, be qualitatively different from each other, refer to general characteristics, represent hierarchical integrations, and be universal. With statuses, however, there is no necessary implication that one must achieve each status before moving on to the next one. One can skip or revisit statuses, and they may recur in any order. A person can be in more than one status at the same time, for example, choosing a different occupation while maintaining a job in one occupation. Logically, however, the first time an individual enters each of these statuses, he or she must have gone through all of the preceding ones at least once. For example, one cannot maintain a job until one has obtained it. One may, however, have obtained several jobs before maintaining one of them. In each status, one must consider the interaction of three factors: the individual, his or her environment, and the general culture and subcultures within which the other two factors are located (Vondracek, Lerner, & Schulenberg, 1986). It might be noted that in the last iterations of his five-stage model of career development, Super (1990) introduced the idea that one could recycle through stages. Although this addition to his model achieves some of what we believe needs to be added to stage models, it does not free them of the characteristics that Kohlberg listed. We therefore believe that a change to a status model is needed to best represent the realities of career development, particularly that of women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities.
Although our focus is on persons with disabilities, we have sought to develop a framework for conceptualizing career development that is also applicable to persons without disabilities, members of minority and majority groups, and both women and men. In applying this framework to persons with disabilities, we have concluded that three distinct subgroups undergo essentially different career development processes and therefore must be discussed separately within each status: those with precareer-onset disabilities, those with midcareer-onset disabilities, and those with episodic disabilities (e.g., multiple sclerosis or bipolar disorder). More is known about variables affecting the career development of persons with precareer-and midcareer-onset disabilities than of persons with episodic disabilities because separating these disabilities as having distinct characteristics is a new concept. In our discussion of these categories of disabilities within each status, the information regarding persons with episodic disabilities thus will necessarily be the most tentative and the least detailed. When considering episodic disabilities within each status, however, it is important to consider the possible cumulative impact of exacerbations or the progression of an episodic disability on the person (e.g., self-efficacy beliefs, work motivation, general endurance, psychological reserve), on the work environment (e.g., material resources, accommodations, social supports), and on the employer and co-workers (e.g., adjustments to staffing to meet work needs, benefits managements, paperwork, costs, concerns related to the person's future work capacity).
We shall now define the six statuses of the INCOME framework; discuss particular issues in each status for persons with precareer-onset, midcareer-onset, and episodic disabilities; and suggest issues or strategies of intervention with persons in that status. Interventions specific to persons with precareer-onset, midcareer-onset, or episodic disabilities are included in the discussion of these three subcategories. General principles of intervention for that status are presented following that.
IMAGINING
Imagining is the status in which the individual comes to the realization that there are occupations; the realization that work, jobs, or careers exist; or the realization that jobs exist of which he or she was formerly unaware. This status has three substatuses: awareness, fantasy, and reality-based imagining. As a child, the individual becomes aware through his or her interaction with the environment that jobs, occupations, and careers exist. In early childhood, the immediate family has the most impact (Hershenson, 1996a, 1996b; Roe, 1956). Children then begin to learn about the world of work through the media and through school. By observing inidividuals in their immediate environment, children discover that people engage in certain activities in order to make money, buy things, and define themselves. Using the mechanism of social learning (Bandura, 1986), children observe the reactions of people in their environment and begin to form attitudes about work and careers. While in this status, children begin to give meaning to and develop values about the concepts of work and career. They begin to develop attitudes about work salience, work goals, societal norms concerning work, and work definitions (Szymanski et al., 1996). Imagining continues or recurs throughout an individual's life span (e.g., adult career daydreams), but its foundation is rooted in early childhood experiences.
Precareer-Onset Disabilities
According to Conte (1983), individuals with precareer-onset disabilities have limited career-related opportunities during their development. These limited experiences can affect the individual throughout his or her career development, resulting in career indecisiveness (Strohmer, Czerlinski, Menz, & Engelkes, 1984), vocational immaturity (Lerman & Guilfoyle, 1970; McHugh, 1975), low self-concept (Bartel & Guskin, 1971), and fewer perceived career options (Lerman, 1976; Salomone & McKenna, 1982).
The counselor needs to explore the individual's early developmental experiences with him or her in order to understand the effects of this critical period on his or her career development. Did the individual lack relevant experiences? Did this result in the development of an attitude that he or she cannot work? Did this result in alienation from the world of work? As a result of this exploration, the counselor and the consumer can decide on interventions to minimize the effect of limited early career experiences, such as pairing the consumer with a role model with a disability or providing general work experiences through job shadowing or internships. Through these experiences, the consumer can reassess his or her career attitudes in an enriched and supportive environment.
Midcareer-Onset Disabilities
Understanding how the individual with a midcareer-onset disability conceptualizes work and how his or her attitudes were formed can be critical to vocational rehabilitation. The counselor should explore the individual's attitudes about work and career and her or his breadth of knowledge about careers (i.e., knowledge of various careers, perceived capability to pursue various career paths). It is essential to understand the meaning that the individual gives to disability while in the Imagining status. Does the individual believe that having a disability means that he or she cannot work or that it obviates certain career paths? How does the meaning that the individual gives disability influence his or her ability to visualize him- or herself as capable of working? The attitudes and expectations resulting from this meaning need to be explored.
It is also necessary to explore the messages about having a disability that the individual receives from his or her environment and the surrounding culture. This information guides the counselor in developing both client-focused and environmental interventions. At times the environment sends either direct or indirect messages that prevent the individual from imagining. Thus, it is sometimes necessary for the counselor to work outside of the traditional dialogistic role to effect environmental change (e.g., through advocacy or consulting with client-support systems).
Episodic Disabilities
The impact of episodic disabilities is that each significant functional change in the individual's disability has the potential to have a similar effect to that of acquiring a midcareer-onset disability. It is important to understand the effect of each episode or change in functional abilities on the individual's attitudes about work, disability, and their interaction. Long-term availability of services is crucial for the individual with an episodic disability. The role of the counselor of clients in the Imagining status is to encourage them to think about work and occupations, the place of these concepts in their lives, and how the meanings they give these concepts are affected by the person's disability.
INFORMING
Informing is the status in which the individual acquires information about him- or herself, the world of work, existing opportunities, and his or her cultural context. This status includes both the individual's development of work competencies (Hershenson, 1996b) and the acquisition of information about the self, the world of work, and cultural supports and barriers. The interaction of these factors and the messages obtained from the environment result in the individual's development of career self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986, 1997; Hackett & Betz, 1981). This results in the individual's filtering the information to which he or she is exposed based on his or her resultant perceptions about what is and is not possible. Information that is congruent with the developing career self-efficacy of the individual will be accepted and incorporated into his or her career self-image. Information that is incongruent will tend to be discounted, even if: it reflects positive work competencies or opportunities.
While in the status of informing, individuals build on their understanding of the existence of careers that resulted from Imagining. They begin to explore and gather information about the requirements, characteristics, and benefits of various careers. Individuals go through various processes of "trying on" different careers through fantasy, tentative, and realistic phases (Super, 1953). During this experimental process, individuals compare their self-knowledge of their work competencies and work values with the requirements, characteristics, and benefits of the different careers. According to Hershenson (1996b), individuals begin developing work competencies in early childhood through their successes and failures in their interactions with their environment. Work competencies include the person's work habits, physical and mental skills that are applicable to jobs, and interpersonal skills (Hershenson, 1996a, 1996b). In addition to developing skills, individuals begin to develop an understanding of their physical and cognitive abilities from the feedback that they receive from their environment.
Throughout this process of acquiring skills and information, individuals receive feedback from their environment (e.g., through parents, peers, grades in school subjects). Based on this feedback, individuals form beliefs about both their abilities and existing opportunities. The individuals' knowledge about their own abilities, knowledge of careers, beliefs about their capabilities to fulfill career requirements, and beliefs that their abilities will not be blocked by environmental or attitudinal barriers result in the career self-efficacy. This formulation of career self-efficacy is based on Bandura's (1986, 1997) theory, as applied to career development by Hackett and Betz (1981). Thus, career self-efficacy is determined by the complex interactions of individual characteristics, environmental characteristics, and cultural characteristics.
The career self-efficacy that is developed through environmental feedback will serve as a strong predictor of the individual's career path (Hackett & Betz, 1981; Hackett & Bryars, 1996; Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1986; Nesdale & Pinter, 2000). If the individual believes that he or she is not good at math, then he or she will not pursue physics or engineering, even if these careers match the individual's interests and values. If the individual believes that discrimination will prevent him or her from becoming a professor or a police officer, then he or she will be less likely to pursue these careers. The individual's career self-efficacy thus serves as a career gatekeeper.
Precareer-Onset Disabilities
The limited career experiences identified by Conte (1983) and Curnow (1989) typically leave individuals with precareer disabilities with significantly less information about themselves and careers. It typically is necessary for counselors to use both formal and informal techniques to help individuals with precareer disabilities in exploring interests, needs, values, abilities, skills, and the world of work.
In addition, individuals with precareer disabilities may experience segregation, stereotyping, and low expectations (Curnow, 1989). They thus may develop a low career self-efficacy and limit the information that they incorporate. This theory is supported by research indicating that individuals with precareer disabilities have lower self-esteem (Curnow). In fact, according to Conte (1983), the "professional may actually hinder the vocational development of disabled persons by contributing to the process of stereotyping and segregating disabled persons" (p. 322). To assist the individual in increasing his or her self-efficacy, the counselor needs to focus on the individual's strengths, provide opportunities for success, and assist the individual in confronting prejudice and discrimination.
Midcareer-Onset Disabilities
Typically, it is stated that the best predictor of an individual's postdisability career development is his or her premorbid experiences. We believe this is an oversimplification. Although this is a critical factor, we propose that it is the interaction of these experiences with the meaning given to disability regarding his or her capabilities, resulting in career self-efficacy, that best predicts the career development of the individual with a midcareer disability. According to Bandura (1986, 1997), perceived self-efficacy beliefs are derived from information and feedback received through four processes: actual performance, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological cues. The role of the counselor therefore is to provide interventions involving these processes that are aimed at assisting the individual in developing self-efficacy beliefs that are consistent with the realities of his or her abilities and the context of his or her environment. This may require family or environmental intervention as well as individual interventions.
Episodic Disabilities
For the individual with an episodic disability, it is important to examine the effect of each exacerbation or change on the individual's career self-efficacy. Assisting the individual in developing problem-solving skills and informing him or her of available accommodations before they are needed are useful strategies that can result in the individual's maintaining his or her career self-efficacy through exacerbations or changes in functionality. Accomplishing this requires continued access to services over time. The role of the counselor of clients in the informing status is to facilitate the individual's exploration of self; occupations; realistic options; and the impact of the environment, culture, and disability on the individual.
CHOOSING
Choosing is the status in which the individual integrates the information from the previous statuses and selects from among the known occupations. This status and the following two (Obtaining and Maintaining) were suggested by Danley and Anthony's (1987) choose-get-keep model. Multiple factors interact during this status that affect the ultimate decision or direction of career development. Occupational choice is predicted by the interaction among the information possessed by the individual, the fit between personality and environment type, the fit between the individual's needs and the job's perceived benefits, the individual's decision-making style, and chance. The breadth and depth of information obtained by the individual during the previous statuses influences this status. The ability of the individual to choose a career that matches his or her personality, needs, and abilities is dependent on this information. The individual's career self-efficacy also influences career choice by filtering the information that: the individual has incorporated about him- or herself and the world of work.
The most widely researched and used factor to understand and assist career choice is the fit between the individual and the work environment. According to Holland (1985), an individual's career decisions and outcomes are predicted by the fit between the individual's personality type and the occupation's environment type. Personality and environment can be categorized into six corresponding types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Congruency between personality and environment types results in greater career satisfaction and satisfactoriness (Holland).
In addition to person-environment fit, there are several other factors that can have an equal amount of influence on career development. One of these factors is the individual's work goals, which are tied to work motivation (Hershenson, 1996b). According to Maslow (1987), there is a hierarchy of needs that accounts for the direction of an individual's motivation. At the bottom are basic needs, such as food and shelter. Until these needs are satisfied, the individual is not motivated to satisfy higher needs. At the top is self-actualization, which is the focus of the individual once all lower-order needs have been satisfied. Holland's matching theory is most applicable for those needs near the top of Maslow's hierarchy. For individuals addressing needs that are low on the hierarchy, work goals will be determined less by personality type than by concrete needs (money, shelter, day care, hours). The effect of the environment on these needs, through oppression and systematic discrimination, can be an important variable in this status. For individuals with disabilities, understanding his or her needs and their relationship to disincentives related to social security, housing, and medical care is crucial.
Finally, the individual's decision-making style (Herr & Cramer, 1996; Krieshok, 1998) greatly influences this status. Previous explanations of the Choosing status generally assume a logical decision-making approach; however, this is not how all individuals make decisions. For some individuals, family is a critical factor. Others rely on intuition or impulse. Chance can also play a pivotal role. These decision-making styles can be placed into a tripartite typology: two inner-directed types (rational and emotional/ impulsive) and one outer-directed type (accidental/ compliant; modified from Arroba, 1977).
Precareer-Onset Disabilities
For the individual with a precareer disability, the lack of early career experiences can have a negative effect on Choosing. Not only does this lack of relevant experiences limit the information from which decisions are made and decrease self-efficacy, it also results in limited early decision-making opportunities (Conte, 1983). This limited decision-making practice has been found to be correlated with social immaturity and indecisiveness (Curnow, 1989). The counselor needs to assess the self- and career knowledge of the individual with a precareer disability, and he or she may have to use and develop techniques to increase this information. However, the practitioner must be careful not to contribute to the segregation and discrimination of the individual with a precareer disability through either the measures and assessments used or the information provided. In addition, the individual's self-efficacy needs to be supported throughout the decision-making process. It may be necessary to teach the consumer a decision-making model.
The counselor needs to take the time to uncover and understand the individual's work goals. What are the individual's needs and disincentives (Berkowitz, 1987; Stone, 1984; Warner & Polak, 1995)? The practitioner's shortsightedness on these issues can cause him or her to wrongly mislabel the individual as indecisive, resistant, or lazy. Understanding the person in context is crucial during the Choosing status. Sometimes, not working is the only viable career decision at a certain point in time. In such instances, the focus shifts to preparation for the future.
Midcareer-Onset Disabilities
For the individual with a midcareer-onset disability, understanding the meaning of disability to the individual and his or her needs is critical. Although this is important for all disability groups because it influences career self-efficacy, it may be of greater importance for an individual who must change his or her self-concept because of an acquired disability. The fact that a person can still functionally perform a job may be negated by the belief that having a disability means he or she cannot work. Again, understanding career self-efficacy is necessary and needs to be explored with the individual. Information and decision-making skills alone may not be enough if self-efficacy is low. Understanding the person in context is important for the individual with a midcareer disability as well. Intervention,; need to focus on increasing self- and career knowledge, increasing self-efficacy, increasing decision-making skills, and minimizing disincentives and environmental barriers.
Episodic Disabilities
Each exacerbation or change in functioning can alter the individual's career path and require a return to the Choosing status. Learning self-advocacy skills and self-accommodation skills can lessen the effect of each change or exacerbation. Exploring the effect of changes or exacerbations on the consumer's definition of his or her disability is necessary, as is the assurance that services will be available on a long-term basis. The role of the counselor of clients in the Choosing status is to facilitate the client's decision-making process and clarify the effects of the person's disability on this process.
OBTAINING
In the Obtaining status the client implements his or her career decision and obtains a job. Obtaining employment is similar to Salomone's (1982) fourth stage, which calls for the implementation of a career decision involving job placement or starting one's own business. Securing employment is recognized as a critical outcome of the vocational rehabilitation process. Information from the 1990 Census (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992) showed that 60.6% of adults with disabilities were not participating in the workforce. A recent survey of Americans with disabilities (National Organization on Disability, 2001) found that two thirds of individuals with disabilities who were not working wanted to work. These findings suggest that obtaining employment can be particularly difficult for people with disabilities. People with disabilities face several additional barriers to obtaining employment, including discrimination and negative attitudes that some employers have, job search and transportation difficulties, and the need for support services (e.g., day care, medical/ psychological treatment, work adjustment counseling; Salomone & McKenna, 1982; U.S. Department of Justice, 1992; West, 1995). The principle of nondiscrimination on the basis of disability has been established by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), but the existence of the law itself does not guarantee compliance or resolve the problem of employment discrimination.
The environment plays a role in the Obtaining status in other ways. The economy strongly influences the availability of jobs in the labor market for all people, but particularly for those in marginal jobs. Miller (1999) indicated that for persons with disabilities and for members of other marginalized groups, both the reality and the individual's perception of the occupational opportunity structure are frequently more important considerations in career development than the person's interests, values, or abilities (i.e., the factors usually focused on in career counseling). The person's family, culture, and society must also be considered as important environmental influences during the Obtaining status. The person's family situation as it relates to employment (e.g., conflicts that may impede work attendance, childcare issues, transportation issues, family values, goals), cultural attitudes that may clash with work attitudes and behaviors (e.g., punctuality), and societal attitudes (e.g., prejudice against persons with disabilities) will influence a person's participation in the labor market.
The career choice made in the Choosing status remains only a decision until the person obtains a job. The process of obtaining a job may involve one or more of three approaches: independent job search, assisted job search, and arranged job search. The traditional independent job search involves contacting as many employers as one can by sending out resumes, contacting employers via telephone, applying directly to companies, and using other sources of job leads (e.g., newspaper ads, employment agencies). An independent job search is a full-time job and may prove to be the hardest work one will do. An assisted job search means that the person with a disability has the assistance of a professionally trained counselor in researching and assessing the available job opportunities (e.g., job analysis, job modification, accommodation). The couns