The clinical effects of individual career counseling on clients’ psychological distress: the influence of adherence to the intervention model, working alliance and neuroticism

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Reference

Arifoulline N, Milot-Lapointe F, Le Corff Y. (2024). The clinical effects of individual career counseling on clients’ psychological distress: the influence of adherence to the intervention model, working alliance and neuroticism. Career Development Quarterly.

Abstract

This study examined the clinical effects of career counseling on psychological distress and the role of counselor adherence, working alliance, and client neuroticism in predicting these effects. The 239 participants received an average of 7.81 sessions at a university career counseling center. Among clients with a clinical level of psychological distress (n = 179) at the study’s inception, 55.87% recovered, 22.35% improved, 19.55% experienced no change, and 2.23% saw an aggravation of their psychological distress. Results showed that a higher level of counselor adherence to the intervention manual significantly increased the probability that clients recovered or improved as compared to not experiencing significant change. Working alliance did not predict clinical change, nor did it moderate the effect of counselor adherence. Clients who improved had higher levels of neuroticism than clients who recovered.

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