The impact of career development program on university students' career indecision, career awareness, and career optimism levels

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of a career development program training, implemented online, on university students' career indecision, career awareness, and career optimism within the scope of the research. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test, consisting of experimental and control groups, was used in the study. The content of the program was determined based on a needs analysis conducted through literature review and interview techniques. The study group of the research consists of 3rd-year students studying at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa in the 2023-2024 academic year and volunteering to participate in this study. The candidates who applied to participate in the program were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, with the experimental group consisting of 10 participants and the control group consisting of 15 participants. The career development program training prepared by the researcher was applied to the experimental group participants online in 6 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, by the researcher; no intervention was made to the control group. To determine the effectiveness of the program, the Career Decision Scale, Career Awareness Scale, and Career Futures Inventory were used in the pre-test and post-test measurements. Non-parametric techniques, including Mann-Whitney U Analysis and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, were used to analyze the data obtained from the research group. The participants in the experimental group, who benefited from the career development program training, showed a significant decrease in career indecision and a significant increase in career awareness and career optimism levels. To examine whether the training had a significant group-level effect, the pre-test and post-test score differences of the experimental and control groups were compared. While a significant difference was identified in favor of the experimental group in the variables of career awareness and career optimism, no significant difference was observed between the two groups in career indecision. It is thought that the training did not create a significant group-level effect regarding career indecision due to the research group's lack of serious problems related to career indecision. Based on all these findings, it is considered that the online career development program training supports the career development of university students.