Hope-Action Theory and Practice

Abstract

Hope-Action Theory presents a theoretical structure that holds Hope as the center point of career development. Associated with hope are competencies such as self-reflection, self-clarity, visioning, goal setting and planning, implementation, and adapting. There also are environmental factors that influence the entire career development process. In order to assess the practical utility of Hope-Action Theory a series of intervention research studies were initiated in different contexts. This article reviews the results from these studies. The first one applied specific active interventions with a group of internationally trained health professionals. The second study involved unemployed clients using a series of face-to-face and online interventions. The third group focused on the needs of refugees and was set up with a control and experimental groups using a two week group delivery approach. Positive results from all of these studies supports the utility of Hope-Action Theory and the set of active interventions that were used in this research.