The effect of a career help seeking based psychoeducational program on university students' career help seeking attitudes

The primary objective of this study was to develop a psychoeducational program to improve university students' attitudes toward seeking career help and to test its effectiveness. In line with this purpose, a scale development study was conducted to determine university students' attitudes towards seeking career help. To test the validity and reliability of the "Career Help Seeking Attitudes Scale" (CHSAS), data were collected from seven different student groups (n=1786) using various scales. As a result of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), it was determined that the scale consisted of five sub-factors and twenty items, the internal consistency coefficients of the entire scale and its sub-factors were at a statistically acceptable level, and the total variance explained was above the recommended minimum threshold value. In the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), it was determined that the predicted structural model of the scale was consistent with the data, and the model fit values were at an acceptable level. Formal, metric, and measurement invariance were provided, but not strict invariance in the measurement invariance analysis performed according to gender. In the measurement of invariance analyses, goodness of fit values was found at acceptable levels of formal, metric, and scale invariance levels of the scale. These results support the fact that the CHSAS is a reliable scale in terms of five dimensions (intention, positive and negative affect, self-concealment, subjective norm) and psychometrically. In the process of developing the career help seeking based psychoeducation program (CHSASP) for university students, which was the main purpose of the study, expert opinions were obtained, and a four-week pilot study was conducted at the end of the process. During the implementation process of the program, data were collected from 466 students using the Personal Information Form and CHSAS, and 71 students with a standard deviation below -1.00 of the total scale score were identified and an 11-session psychoeducation program was applied to the experimental and control groups that each consisting of 11 students. The CHSAS was administered as a pre-test before implementation began, a post-test was administered after the program ended, and a follow-up test was administered nine weeks after the post-test. The obtained data were analyzed using two-factor analysis of variance for mixed measurements, and the results were compared. The study showed that the psychoeducation program was effective in improving students' career help seeking skills and that this effect was long-lasting.