Abstract
This study examined the validity of the Future Career Autobiography (FCA; Rehfuss, 2009), a qualitative instrument designed to capture change or stability in individuals’ life and occupational narratives across time as a result of narrative career interventions. Italian female entrepreneurs (N = 82) were randomly assigned into either an experimental group (n = 40) that received career counseling consistent with the Life Design paradigm or a control group (n = 42) that received no intervention. The results indicated a significant narrative movement or change in the post-FCAs of the experimental group, moving from general to more specific life and occupational themes, while the control group’s pre- and post-FCAs remained similar across the same time period. In addition, word count analysis revealed expanded narrative expression within the experimental group’s post-FCAs. Together, these findings support the validity of this qualitative instrument.
Keywords
Narrative theorists believe that language is the vehicle through which individuals create and recreate their understanding of the self and the world (McAdams, 1997; McAdams, Josselson, & Lieblich, 2006). This focus upon narrative has fostered the development of many therapeutic interventions that seek to understand and enhance the power of an individual’s story (Sarbin, 1986; White & Epston, 1990; Zimmerman & Dickerson, 1996). This dynamic conceptualization has been embraced by career counselors and vocational psychologists and has led some to view identity itself as storied (Burke & Stets, 2009; McAdams, 1997; Savickas et al., 2009). Career theorists such as Cochran (1997), Peavy (1997), Savickas (2005, 2010), Guichard (2005, 2009), Duarte (2009), and Amundson (2010) have all expressed the importance of individuals’ narratives in the construction of the self and career. Savickas and others (Guichard, 2009; Savickas, 2010, 2012; Savickas et al., 2009) are considering this evolution in the understanding of self and career as a new paradigm referred to as Life Design. Counseling consistent with Life Design conceptualizes individuals as in process and under continual construction of their storied identity. Interventions consistent with this paradigm, therefore, focus upon helping individuals develop their stories both professionally and personally. Such interventions seek to cultivate both intention and action through story telling, but often involve more than narrative career counseling, as they seek to expand the individual’s personal self-concept and promote active engagement with life (Savickas, 2010, 2012; Savickas et al., 2009). A few interventions that reflect this paradigm include the Career Story Interview (Savickas, 2010), The Storied Approach (Brott, 2001), Narrative Career Counseling (Cochran, 1997), Career Cycles (Zikic & Franklin, 2010), My System of Career Influences (McMahon, Watson & Patton, 2005), and others described by Brott (2005) and Maree (2007).
At the heart of narrative theory is the belief that individuals narrate their identity through story (McAdams, 1997). As they tell a fuller, thicker story of themselves, they become aware of whom they perceive themselves to be. Accordingly, through coconstruction, narrative and constructivist interventions seek to help individuals produce this thicker narrative by helping them to tell their life and career stories in a manner that draws out who they are (McAdams, 1997; Rehfuss, 2009; Sarbin, 1986). By filling in the details to their story, such as what, why, how, and who contributed to their career decisions or interests, individuals achieve a clearer self-concept that enables them to make informed career choices (Brott, 2005; Del Corso & Rehfuss, 2011). As individuals develop this clearer self-concept, the self-narratives they tell about their life and career should reflect this shift as well. This change in self-narrative related to life and occupation should, therefore, be measurable and reflect the expanded, fuller, or clearer conceptualization of the self (Savickas, 2010). Traditional quantitative instruments, however, are limited in their ability to measure and reflect such qualitative changes in individuals’ self-narratives. Yet, instruments that accurately measure this qualitative change are vital to validate the efficacy of such interventions and to demonstrate the viability of these models.
Currently, only one brief instrument, The FCA claims to measure this type of narrative change. The FCA was developed by Rehfuss (2009) to identify, assess, and measure modifications in individuals’ occupational and life narratives over time as a result of narrative and constructivist career interventions (Rehfuss, 2009). The measure draws out the individual’s future narrative by asking them to write a brief paragraph describing where they hope to be in life and what they hope to be doing occupationally in 5 years (see Rehfuss, 2009, for a full description). The FCA is designed to be used before and after a career counseling intervention, thus creating an initial and subsequent FCA that are then compared and qualitatively scored to note any changes, expansions, or clarifications in the individual’s narrative. The initial scoring model focused solely on thematic content changes and proved helpful in identifying change (Rehfuss, 2009), but there remain several challenges to its validity.
Though the FCA appears to measure narrative change or movement (Rehfuss, 2009), no experimental study has been conducted to support its reliability and validate its accuracy. Without the use of a control group in the initial study (Rehfuss, 2009), changes or modifications in the narratives of participants could be attributed to the assessment itself or to the passage of time. If the process of writing a brief self-story itself produces change, then simply completing the FCA may result in narrative change. If an individual’s self-story simply changes over time, then the initial study’s results would be in question. In addition, as Rehfuss (2009) demonstrated, the design of the FCA provides the opportunity to gather both the personal life and the professional occupational narratives of the individual. However, designed as a brief narrative instrument, its ability to delineate change or movement in both life and occupational narrative has not been fully demonstrated. Thus, more clarity is needed regarding its sensitivity to both types of narrative change. Finally, given that narrative and constructivist approaches seek to foster fuller and more complete narratives (Cochran, 1997; Sarbin, 1990; Savickas, 2005, 2010), it may prove beneficial to explore if the actual number of words used by individuals in their narratives change significantly from pre- to post-FCAs. The reasoning behind this is that as individuals gain a deeper understanding of the self, their narratives are expanded, clarified, and reconstructed into fuller descriptions of the self. As their identity changes, they are better able to elaborate or more fully narrate their stories, projects, and themes. This type of expansive movement therefore could be reflected in the number of words used by the individual in recounting their narrative.
In light of the described theoretical frameworks and the increasing need to substantiate the effectiveness of narrative career interventions, the present work explores the qualitative reliability and validity of the FCA (Rehfuss, 2009) as a tool to measure movement or change in individuals’ narratives over time. Specifically, the study examined two hypotheses consistent with its rationale:
Hypothesis 1. The experimental group’s pre- to post-FCAs will demonstrate a significant increase in the number of words produced, while the control group’s pre- to post-FCAs will remain constant in the number of words produced.
Hypothesis 2. The experimental group’s pre- to post-FCAs will show a thematic movement that can be qualitatively categorized, while the control group’s pre- to post-FCAs will demonstrate only stagnation or lack of movement (Rehfuss, 2009).
Method
Participants
The present study randomly assigned Italian female entrepreneurs (N = 82) into either an experimental group (n = 40) that received career counseling consistent with the Life Design paradigm or a control group (n = 42) that received no intervention. These women were all Italian citizens located in rural areas who had indicated a desire to make career transitions and begin to develop their own small businesses related to textiles or agriculture in a regional district of Italy. All individuals agreed to participate in the study. The participants belonging to the experimental group were between the ages of 22 and 58 years (M = 44.58, SD = 9.80), while the participants belonging to the control group were between the ages of 23 and 64 years (M = 44.56, SD = 11.22).
Qualitative Measure
The FCA is a narrative measure developed by Rehfuss (2009) to assess the effectiveness of narrative and constructivist career interventions. The FCA collects and highlights an individual’s personal and career motives, values, and direction in a narrative form. The FCA consists of a sheet of paper titled “Future Career Autobiography” with space for the individual’s name and these specific instructions: “Please use this page to write a brief paragraph about where you hope to be in life and what you hope to be doing occupationally five years from now” (Rehfuss, 2009). In addition, the individuals are verbally told to take 10 min to complete the form. The FCA is purposely limited in its length and time of administration, because a brief, focused, and concise narrative is the desired outcome (Rehfuss, 2009). A short, narrative portrait of the individual aids the practitioner and individual in quickly identifying the individual’s current life and occupational goals and facilitates later comparison between pre- and postnarratives to identify narrative change or lack of narrative change in the individual (Rehfuss, 2009).
Procedure and Data Analysis
The FCA (Rehfuss, 2009) was administered to both the experimental group and the control group prior to receiving any career counseling interventions. Participants were given 10 min to complete the pre-FCA, after which the FCAs were then collected and retained by the practitioner (Rehfuss, 2009). The control group then returned home while the experimental group remained for a 6-day career counseling workshop consistent with the Life Design paradigm (Guichard, 2009; Savickas, 2009, 2010, 2012; Savickas et al., 2009). The control group returned at the end of 6 days, and the FCA was again administered and completed by both groups. The control group did not receive any form of intervention between pre-FCA (Time 1) and post-FCA (Time 2); although, they did receive the career counseling interventions subsequently.
The career counseling involved both narrative and constructivist interventions that were delivered individually and through group activities over a 6-day period. The interventions involved written exercises including: the strengthened career genogram (Di Fabio, 2002, 2009, 2010), the analysis of individual’s life history (Di Fabio, 2002), and exercises to deepen professional interests and professional values (i.e., pyramid of interests, iceberg of interests, jewel case of values, and clothes of values; Di Fabio, 2002).
To verify that there were no statistically significant differences in the mean number of words produced in the FCA between the experimental group and the control group at pretest, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. Moreover, to verify that there were statistically significant differences on the mean number of words produced in the FCA between the experimental group and the control group at posttest, a repeated measures ANOVA with one between-subjects independent variable (experimental group/control group) and one within-subjects variable (Time: T1/T2) was performed.
Each participant’s pretest and posttest FCA responses were also paired for narrative comparison as described by Rehfuss (2009). This thematic analysis was conducted by two independent reviewers who were doctoral students not involved in the right up of this study. These reviewers were trained in the use of the FCA and how to identify content themes through reading the methods of Rehfuss (2009) and practicing on 20 sample pre- and post-FCAs, where they analyzed the narratives, noted themes, and compared their results with an expert’s results. Themes are identified by noting words, phrases, and descriptions used in the first FCA and then looking for or noting new and similar words, phrases, and descriptions in the post FCA (see Rehfuss, 2009, for a fuller description). Each rater in this study first worked independently on all of the individual’s paired FCAs and then met with the other rater to discuss identified changes. It had been predetermined that when disagreement on identified themes arose the two raters would discuss the identified themes and reach a consensus on placement within one of the eight thematic categories. Disagreements were noted and Cohen’s κ statistic was performed to determine interrater reliability and consistency among the two independent raters on the consistency of their qualitative theme identification and is reported with the results. The review of the participants pre- and posttest FCAs identified a consistency of general narrative themes and changes or movement in most, but not all, occupational and life narratives. To examine whether the general overall highlighted changes (change themes vs. stagnation) also demonstrated statistical significance between group differences, a chi-square test was used.
Results
Pretest ANOVA
ANOVA completed at pretest revealed no significant differences between the experimental and the control groups with regard to the mean number of words produced in the FCA: experimental group (M = 38.55, SD = 19.86 ); control group (M = 48.12, SD = 29.53 ); F(1, 80) = .2.93, p = .091.
Repeated Measures ANOVA
Repeated measures ANOVA with one between-subjects independent variable (experimental group/control group) and one within-subjects variable (Time: T1/T2) was completed to assess group changes relative to the mean number of words produced in the FCA over time. There were statistically significant differences between the pretest and posttest for the experimental group only by time interaction, F(3, 78) = 80.84; p < .001; η2 = .50; see Table 1).
Number of Words: Means and Standard Deviations Relative to the Experimental Group (Pretest and Posttest) and the Control Group (Pretest and Posttest)
Note.
General FCA Themes
The qualitative analyses of the FCAs for both groups revealed that the wording and some thematic content were similar and consistent between the pre- and post-FCAs reflecting a consistency in individuals’ narratives over time. The participants’ pre- and post-FCAs frequently included repetition of the same words, phrases, desires, and thematic content related to the general areas of quality of life and occupational desires as initially identified by Rehfuss (2009). Quality of life themes most often reflected the values of the participants: achievement, relationships, security, and experiential (see Table 2). The two occupational desires themes of positive and negative desires were also consistently identified across both narratives (see Table 2).
Consistent Themes Across Future Career Autobiographies (FCAs)
Specific Degrees of Change
According to narrative theory, changes in people’s words or stories are often indicative of movement or change in their perceptions or lives (White & Epston, 1990; Zimmerman & Dickerson, 1996). FCAs were analyzed in accordance with the occupational change themes identified by Rehfuss (2009): general fields and desires to specification and exploration, general interests to more specification, nondescription to specification, disregard to direction, vagueness to focus, hindered to hopeful, fixation to openness, and stagnation. The first seven themes reflect narrative movement while the last (stagnation) reflects no narrative movement or change. These degrees of change themes related to life and occupation frequently demonstrated significant change by becoming more specific, clarified, or advanced in some way (Carr, 1986; Clandinin & Connelly, 1998; Savickas, 2005).
Specific analysis of the general degrees of change themes (seven change themes vs. stagnation) revealed that in relation to personal life changes, in the experimental group, 34 participants (85%) exhibited changes and 6 (15%) exhibited stagnation; whereas, in the control group, 3 participants (7.1%) presented change themes and 39 (92.9%) presented stagnation. The chi-square distribution highlighted differences between the experimental and control group (χ2 = 47.06, p < .001). In relation to professional occupational changes, in the experimental group, 38 participants (95%) exhibited change themes and 2 participants (5%) exhibited stagnation; whereas, in the control group, 5 participants (11.9%) presented change themes and 33 (88.1%) presented stagnation. The chi-square distribution highlighted differences between experimental and control group (χ2 = 53.44, p < .001).
For the experimental group, the degrees of change in the FCA’s personal life themes revealed 18 (45%) general fields and desires to specification and exploration, 4 (10%) general interests to more specification, 1 (3%) nondescription to specification, 9 (22.5%) disregard to direction, 1 (2.5%) vagueness to focus, and 1 (2.5%) hindered to hopeful. The control group’s degrees of change themes revealed 2 (4.8%) general fields and desires to specification and exploration, and 1 (2.4%) nondescription to specification. The interrater reliability for the raters was found to be κ = .84 (p < .001).
The degrees of change themes related to the FCA’s occupational themes for the experimental group included 18 (41.9%) general fields and desires to specification and exploration, 13 (30.2%) general interests to more specification, 4 (7.5%) nondescription to specification, 3 (6.70%) disregard to direction, 1 (2.3%) vagueness to focus, and 2 (4.7%) hindered to hopeful. Whereas, the degrees of change for the control group included 3 (7.1%) general fields and desires to specification and exploration, 1 (2.4%) general interests to more specification, and 1 (2.4%) nondescription to specification. The interrater reliability for the raters was found to be κ = .87 (p < .001).
Themes
This section provides examples of the qualitative results following the occupational degrees of change themes identified in the experimental group’s FCA analysis (Rehfuss, 2009). These examples were selected after the review and identification of themes had been completed. The researchers discussed the FCAs that were placed into each thematic area and then together they selected statements that they found reflected throughout most of the FCAs in that thematic content area. Since, the eight thematic constructs were developed to focus upon occupational change (Rehfuss, 2009), their utility in describing changes in personal life proved to be somewhat cumbersome. Future research should seek to assess and develop more accurate thematic codes for movement or change in life narratives represented in individual’s FCAs. Nevertheless, examples for both occupational and personal life changes are provided.
General fields and desires to specification and exploration
FCAs often indicated a movement from general fields and desires toward specific themes. For instance, one example of an occupational change included: “I hope I’ll be working in some field related to foreign languages” (initial FCA) to “I hope I’ll be working in the field of foreign languages (including part-time or distance), doing translations, or private language lessons, or working as a clerk in the Ukrainian Embassy” (subsequent FCA). An example of a personal life movement between initial and subsequent FCAs include statements such as “I hope to live on my farm, with my family” (initial FCA) to “I hope to live where I live now, on my farm, but in a new house I’m building with my husband by my side and with what we have planted, built, grown, and produced” (subsequent FCA).
General interests to more specification
Some participants started with a variety of general interests, but over time, their FCAs refined these themes. One participant’s description on the initial FCA related occupational life: “teacher of embroidery,” yet, on subsequent FCA, “I hope to continue my work as a teacher of embroidery with a new and well-equipped seat and to expand the number of my students I work with through creating initiatives with local schools and increasing my visibility by participating in exhibitions.” Similarly, an initial personal life FCA was described as “In a house in nature, close to my friends” and on the subsequent FCA, “I hope to move. I’d like to live in a smaller house that puts me in closer contact with nature, possibly on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines in a house with a garden. There, I can build a community of friends to share my life and create a cultural network that can satisfy my interests and that allows me to work with more freedom.”
Nondescription to specification
Many participants’ initial FCAs began with general personal and professional themes, but after the intervention, their themes became more focused and detailed. For example, the initial FCA stated “In five years, I hope to live in a quiet place and travel,” but the subsequent FCA became more focused: “I hope to live in a quiet place with my family near the sea (a place of relaxation and serenity for me), away from the hustle and bustle of the city. My work will be with travel to always stimulate my curiosity and desire for knowledge.” An initial FCA occupational description included “Do the best I can at work,” yet, the subsequent FCA stated, “Have successfully developed my textile business . . . and to finally have the joy of being prosperous in something that will last.”
Disregard to direction
Some participants in the initial FCA did not consider or understated their life and occupational goals. A personal life example on the initial FCA was simply, “On my farm,” while on the subsequent FCA, the theme expanded to “live and work in my local area because there I can balance my work and my family.” Similarly, an occupational example on the initial FCA was “I hope to work in my local area.” Subsequent FCA included: “I hope to still live and work in my local area, but I want to develop a stronger connection with my educational work at school because my work stimulates my art and art stimulates my work and my land feeds me, my art and my work.”
Vagueness to focus
For many participants, their FCAs moved from an initial sense of uncertainty and vagueness about life or occupation toward a narrative with a clearer direction and focus. For instance, a personal life example from an initial FCA stated, “In my current home, but with some more comfort,” while on the subsequent FCA, “I became aware that I was happy with my current home and especially with my family.” An occupational example of an initial FCA was described as “Working between Italy and Japan,” whereas the subsequent FCA included: “Traveling often between Italy and Japan, thanks to my craft textile company. I will have collaborators who work with me and I may also work on the internet, but I will always maintain a connection with my country and my home.”
Hindered to hopeful
Initial FCAs sometimes reflected a sense of fear or indifference toward personal projects and work that were replaced with more hope in subsequent FCAs. On initial FCA, a personal life example included: “In a renovated house in the country, if I have the money to redo it,” but on subsequent FCA, “In my renovated house that my husband and I will begin to redo according to his schedule and plan. It will be hard work, but in the end I will have more time to devote to my passions of painting and gardening.” A professional occupational example on the initial FCA: “Continue to work with a little more peace,” yet, on subsequent FCA, it became “I hope to devote more time to doing the things that I like, where I get to use my creativity to expand my work beyond simple commissions.”
Stagnation
Not all FCAs reflected even a slight movement or change from initial to subsequent assessment, demonstrating a continued stagnation. A personal life example on the initial FCA was described as “I hope to always live in my local area because I cannot think of leaving my home and my loved ones,” and on subsequent FCA, “To always live where I live now because I cannot think of leaving my home and my loved ones.” Likewise, a professional occupational example on initial FCA: “I hope to do something with the family farming business,” and on subsequent FCA, “I hope to work on the family farm.”
Fixation to openness
No changes were identified in the FCAs that reflected this theme.
Discussion
The results strongly support that this qualitative instrument can identify, assess, and measure modifications in individuals’ occupational and life narratives over time as a result of narrative and constructivist career interventions (Rehfuss, 2009). These findings are consistent with narrative theory (Cochran, 1997; Savickas, 2005; White & Epston, 1990) and validate the findings of the initial exploration by Rehfuss (2009). The FCA, therefore, can be used by career counselors to briefly assess clients’ current life and occupational narratives prior to interventions, and then used after interventions to verify if movement and change have taken place for the individual. Such a measure is important to have as narrative and constructivist career counseling interventions and conceptualizations continue to become more common.
The results confirmed the first hypothesis since the experimental group’s FCAs demonstrated significant increases in word count, while the control group’s FCAs did not. This finding supports the use of word counts as a form of highlighting that narrative change has taken place. The fact that the control group’s word count did not increase significantly confirms as well that individuals’ narratives often stay consistent over time without specific intervention or life experiences (Cochran, 1997; Rehfuss, 2009; Sarbin, 1986; Savickas, 2005, 2010). Also, given that the interventions were consistent with the Life Design paradigm and consisted of both constructivist and narrative techniques, the findings seem to support the idea that as individuals engage in such activities, their narratives become more real, whole, and expanded (Guichard, 2009, Savickas et al., 2009). The increased word count seems to suggest that these women had begun to narrate a fuller, expanded story that included more specification about their lives and occupational futures (Rehfuss, 2009). Moving forward, it may be helpful to include the word count technique in assessing FCAs in order to clarify quantitatively the degree of narrative change that has taken place; although, the FCA is not a quantitative measure and, therefore, this type of analysis would be more appropriate for secondary descriptive purposes rather than to validate change.
The second hypothesis was also confirmed as the experimental group’s FCAs demonstrated thematic movement, while the control group’s FCAs primarily reflected stagnation. Such thematic movement is demonstrative of changes that have taken place in an individual’s narrative over time. These changes reflect a fuller picture of the self and one’s life and occupational goals (Savickas, 2010). Likewise, the majority of the control group’s narratives reflected stagnation over time consistent with what narrative theory would predict. Both findings seem to support narrative theory and the reliability of the FCA to measure what it says it is measuring.
What is interesting to note is that there were exceptions to these findings. Within each group, several individuals diverged from the norm. Within the experimental group, several individuals’ narratives reflected stagnation. Such responses, as in Rehfuss’ initial 2009 study, reflect a lack of movement and often a fixation that indicates the need for more career or life interventions to help the individuals move through the barriers preventing them from changing or expanding their narrative. This finding is supportive of the FCA’s ability to differentiate when change has not taken place, allowing for more specific interventions and discussion of barriers, challenges, or indifference that may be causing stagnation in the individual’s life. Within the control group, several individuals’ narratives changed even without intervention. Such movement may be reflective of the individuals’ desire to change. It has been suggested that just thinking about change produces change (de Shazer, 1991). Knowing that they would soon be engaged in career counseling may have fostered such a change. These findings highlight again the strength of the instrument to identify change or lack of change and its usefulness to the therapist and individual.
Finally, the absence of narrative movement captured by the fixed to openness theme may be the result of developmental differences between Rehfuss’ (2009) sample of undecided undergraduate college students and this study of women who were seeking to develop as entrepreneurs. It would not be expected that these women would have expressed a fixation on a specific career, as they had already indicated an openness to exploring new options for their careers by seeking to engage in this career counseling program. In addition, the specific occupational change themes described by Rehfuss (2009) do not seem to adequately describe the expansion of personal life themes and suggest the need for greater delineation of such themes in future studies. Exploring and identifying personal life narrative change with a new thematic categorization beyond what exists currently may be warranted.
Results from this investigation indicate that the FCA does measure narratives over time; however, several limitations could modify these findings. The small number, single sex, and restricted geographical location of participants limit the generalizability of the findings. In addition, the cultural context of being a woman entrepreneur in Italy may have influenced the results. The participants in this study live in the context of a paternalistic culture and this might have made these women more desirous of change and therefore any form of counseling might have resulted in fuller expressions than women from more egalitarian cultures. Therefore, future studies should seek to expand the number of participants and include a more diverse sample that includes diversity of cultural contexts. Future research should also address limitations of the design using a Solomon four-group design to more clearly differentiate the effect of the instrument from the interventions.
The FCA currently provides the only way for professionals to offer a simple, fast, concise, and inexpensive way to reliably validate the effect of narrative career interventions. Given that narrative and constructivist interventions are continuing to expand, a reliable and valid measure of change is vital to career counselors and vocational psychologists seeking to demonstrate and clarify movement in individuals’ life and career narratives. The findings of this study support the usefulness of the FCA.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.