Empowerment as a Function of Contextual Self-Understanding

Abstract

Consumer empowerment in rehabilitation counseling has been conceptualized as a function of informed choice and self-determination and has been linked to the concepts of self-efficacy and locus of control, among other variables. Self-understanding in relation to environmental opportunities represents an important underlying component of such empowerment-related variables. A controlled experiment investigated the effect of work interest profiling in vocational assessment on career decision self-efficacy and work locus of control as indicators of empowered status. Statistical analysis (a) confirmed the absence of significant gains in empowerment-related variables with participants receiving traditional vocational assessment activities and (b) identified significant effects related to career decision self-efficacy for those receiving proactive assessment designed to promote self-understanding in relation to environmental opportunities (i.e., contextual self-understanding). Results suggest proactive vocational assessment, designed to foster contextual self-understanding, offers utility in the promotion of empowerment-related variables in rehabilitation counseling.