Career Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale
Karen M. O’Brien, Mary J. Heppner, Lisa Y. Flores, and Lynette H. Bikos
Below is a list of activities regarding counseling. Indicate your confidence in your current ability to perform each activity according to the scale defined below. Please answer each item based on how you feel now, not on your anticipated (or previous) ability.
Not Confident Moderately Confident Highly Confident
0 1 2 3 4 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Select an instrument to clarify a career client’s abilities.
2. Provide support for a client’s implementation of his/her career goals.
3. Assist a client in understanding how his/her non-work life (e.g., family leisure, interests, etc.) affects career decisions.
4. Understand special issues related to gender in career decision-making.
5. Develop a therapeutic relationship with a career client.
6. Select an instrument to clarify aspects of a career client’s personality which may influence career planning.
7. Explain assessment results to a career client.
8. Terminate counseling with a career client in an effective manner.
9. Understand special issues related to ethnicity in the workplace.
10. Understand the special issues that lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients may have in career decision-making.
11. Provide knowledge of local and national job market information and trends.
12. Choose assessment inventories for a career client which are appropriate for the client’s gender, age, education, and cultural background.
13. Assist the career client in modulating feelings about the career decision-making process.
14. Apply knowledge about current ethical and legal issues which may affect the career counseling process.
15. Understand special issues present for lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients in the workplace.
16. Communicate unconditional acceptance to a career client.
17. Select an instrument to assess a career client’s interests.
18. Select an instrument to clarify a career client’s values.
19. Understand special issues related to gender in the workplace.
20. Understand special issues related to ethnicity in career decision-making.
21. Listen carefully to concerns presented by a career client.
22. Synthesize information about self and career so that a career client’s problems seem understandable.
23. Help a career client identify internal and external barriers that might interfere with reaching his/her career goals.
24. Use current research findings to intervene effectively with a career client.
25. Be empathic toward a career client when the client refuses to accept responsibility for making decisions about his/her career.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: A total score should be calculated by adding the scores on all items. Scores also should be calculated for each subscale.
Items 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 16, 21, 22, 23, and 25 comprise the Therapeutic Process and Alliance Skills subscale.
Items 1, 6, 7, 12, 17, and 18 comprise the Vocational Assessment and Interpretation Skills subscale.
Items 4, 9, 10, 15, 19, and 20 comprise the Multicultural Competency Skills subscale.
Items 11, 14, and 24 comprise the Current Trends in the World of Work, Ethics, and Career Research subscale.
Copyright by Karen M. O’Brien and Mary J. Heppner. This scale can be used for research or clinical purposes without contacting the authors.
O'Brien, K. M., Heppner, M. J., Flores, L. Y., & Bikos, L. H. (1997). The Career Counseling Self‑Efficacy Scale: Instrument development and training applications. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 20-31. (Instrument translated into Chinese, French and Portuguese).
Not Confident Moderately Confident Highly Confident
0 1 2 3 4 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Select an instrument to clarify a career client’s abilities.
2. Provide support for a client’s implementation of his/her career goals.
3. Assist a client in understanding how his/her non-work life (e.g., family leisure, interests, etc.) affects career decisions.
4. Understand special issues related to gender in career decision-making.
5. Develop a therapeutic relationship with a career client.
6. Select an instrument to clarify aspects of a career client’s personality which may influence career planning.
7. Explain assessment results to a career client.
8. Terminate counseling with a career client in an effective manner.
9. Understand special issues related to ethnicity in the workplace.
10. Understand the special issues that lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients may have in career decision-making.
11. Provide knowledge of local and national job market information and trends.
12. Choose assessment inventories for a career client which are appropriate for the client’s gender, age, education, and cultural background.
13. Assist the career client in modulating feelings about the career decision-making process.
14. Apply knowledge about current ethical and legal issues which may affect the career counseling process.
15. Understand special issues present for lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients in the workplace.
16. Communicate unconditional acceptance to a career client.
17. Select an instrument to assess a career client’s interests.
18. Select an instrument to clarify a career client’s values.
19. Understand special issues related to gender in the workplace.
20. Understand special issues related to ethnicity in career decision-making.
21. Listen carefully to concerns presented by a career client.
22. Synthesize information about self and career so that a career client’s problems seem understandable.
23. Help a career client identify internal and external barriers that might interfere with reaching his/her career goals.
24. Use current research findings to intervene effectively with a career client.
25. Be empathic toward a career client when the client refuses to accept responsibility for making decisions about his/her career.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: A total score should be calculated by adding the scores on all items. Scores also should be calculated for each subscale.
Items 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 16, 21, 22, 23, and 25 comprise the Therapeutic Process and Alliance Skills subscale.
Items 1, 6, 7, 12, 17, and 18 comprise the Vocational Assessment and Interpretation Skills subscale.
Items 4, 9, 10, 15, 19, and 20 comprise the Multicultural Competency Skills subscale.
Items 11, 14, and 24 comprise the Current Trends in the World of Work, Ethics, and Career Research subscale.
Copyright by Karen M. O’Brien and Mary J. Heppner. This scale can be used for research or clinical purposes without contacting the authors.
O'Brien, K. M., Heppner, M. J., Flores, L. Y., & Bikos, L. H. (1997). The Career Counseling Self‑Efficacy Scale: Instrument development and training applications. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 20-31. (Instrument translated into Chinese, French and Portuguese).