Reseach Studies

ERIC_NO: ED305574
TITLE: Initial Intervention Outcomes of the Dependable Strengths Project.
AUTHOR: McMurrer, James E., Jr.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1989
ABSTRACT: Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP) is a self-development process designed to facilitate positive self-constructions and improved personal functioning. This study examined the effectiveness of DSAP interventions. Participants (N=30) were college graduates who had expressed a desire to improve their educational and career planning and decision-making skills. Participants completed the Adjective Check List (ACL) before and after the DSAP workshops. Results showed significant changes in the expected direction for all but one of the ACL scales. The second evaluation included career exploration clients (N=17) of students enrolled in a graduate career counseling course who completed a modified version of the DSAP. Four of seven ACL scales completed showed changes in the expected direction. The third evaluation included federal government employees (N=27) who particpated in a career planning workshop based on DSAP concepts. Participants described themselves as having more self-confidence. The fourth evaluation included teachers (N=22) enrolled in a summer course based on DSAP concepts designed to help them improve the motivation to achieve and the self-esteem of their students. Results showed teachers used a higher proportion of favorable adjectives and a lower proportion of unfavorable adjectives to describe themselves at the end of the course than at the beginning. In the final evaluation a comparison group of university students (N=33) in a course for prospective teachers completed the ACL on two occasions; the comparison group did not show significant changes in ACL scores. (ABL)

UW Libraries Catalog Call Number: LA 7 Th40855; Thesis 40855
TITLE: An Investigation of the Effects of Two Career Counseling Interventions upon Psychological Well-Being,
Self-Efficacy, and Locus of Control
AUTHOR: Densen, Eric L.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1992
ABSTRACT: Individuals who are uncertain about their choices of majors/careers are believed to also experience various psychological concerns (decreased feelings of well-being; decreased self-esteem and self-efficacy; externalized locus of control). In this study it was hypothesized that efforts to reduce the level of major/career choice uncertainty (i.e., career counseling) would provide psychological benefits in addition to benefits in the target domain. Two treatment groups and a waiting list control group were established from a sample of (n = 71) college undergraduates. Different variations of Forster's (1985) career counseling intervention were administered to each treatment group. Treatments differed in their inclusion ("breadth") or exclusion ("depth") of a values clarification component. Treatment impact was compared using several psychological measures. Multivariate analyses revealed significant post-treatment gains, and improvement relative to the control group, for the two treatment groups on most measures. Treatment impact differed significantly only on psychological well-being. Results support the hypothesized relationship of major/career uncertainty and psychological benefits. Implications for the delivery of career counseling services and future research are discussed.

UW Libraries Catalog Call Number: BF 21 Th39908; Thesis 39908
TITLE: An Investigation of a Strengths-Based Intervention to Improve Adolescent Self-Esteem
AUTHOR: McMurrer, James E., Jr.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1992
ABSTRACT: This study evaluated the Dependable Strengths Articulation Process as a strategy for enhancing adolescent self-esteem. A highly qualified teached conducted the intervention in her 10th grade health classes. A comparison group consisted of students who had taken the health course from the same teacher a year earlier but without the dependable strengths unit. The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was used as preintervention and postintervention measures. The results of this investigation using a quasi experimental design support a presumptive conclusion that the Dependable Strengths Articulation Process intervention affected the self-esteem of the 10th grade health course students and support continuing research on the application of the dependable strengths concepts in educational settings.

International Journal of Personal Construct Pschology: 4:281-292, 1991
TITLE: Facilitating Positive Changes in Self-Constructions
AUTHOR: Forster, Jerald R.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1991
ABSTRACT: The Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP) is a systematic set of procedures designed to facilitate an increase in positive self-construction. It was used to facilitate positive changes in self-descriptions as measured by the Adjective Check List. The DSAP encourages participants to identify good experiences, which are used to elicit personal constructs. These constructs are distilled to a select group, labeled as dependable strengths, and cross-verified by a listing of supportive experiences. The DSAP is explained and elaborated with the concepts and corollaries of peronal construct psychology. Research is cited to support the DSAP's focus on positive experiences and its promise for increasing positive self-constructions. A case is made to focus on positive events when eliciting personal constructs for use in anticipated self-roles.


Articles:

TITLE: Focusing on Strengths and Hope at School and Home
AUTHOR: Forster, Jerald R.

TITLE: Your Best Plans Should Use Your Best Strengths
AUTHOR: Forster, Jerald R.
PUBLICATION: Wakefield, S.M. (Ed), Unfocused Kids: Helping Students to Focus on Their Education and Career Plans. (pp.383-394). CAPS Press.
INTRODUCTION: High School students are encouraged to articulate their strengths and use those strengths when making their most important plans. The rationale for articulating strengths is based on the psychological literature describing the well-documented advantages of optimism, hope and focus on strengths. Haldane's process of Dependable Strengths Articulation (DSA) is recommended. (For the complete article, contact the Center for Dependable Strengths by clicking here).

TITLE: Focusing on Strengths and Optimism
AUTHOR: Forster, Jerald R.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 2003
INTRODUCTION: My primary purpose in writing this paper is to increase the reader’s awareness regarding the considerable value of positive thoughts and positive emotions. This increased awareness is important because there is growing evidence that we are hurting ourselves by our lack of awareness about the value of focusing on the positive aspects of our community and ourselves.

However, before I go too far in the direction of focusing on how we are hurting ourselves, I need to recognize that I am attempting to elicit your fear that you are on an incorrect path. This fear-based approach is the very approach I want to discredit. This negative or fear-based approach is the approach that has been used since the beginning of the human species to warn people of impending danger to which they must respond by flight or fight. Instead, I want to make the case for approaching the future with a different perspective, one that focuses on the positive, on strengths, assets and the benefits of cooperative teamwork. Let me start this case with a few positive assertions: You, and those you care about, could:

1. be more productive at work and school
2. have better long-term health and live longer
3. be happier in a more authentic way
4. be more creative and more effective when solving problems
5. contribute more to your communities
6. have a better life

If I were making these assertions on your television screen, you would probably think I was speaking in an infomercial or at least as an advertiser for some new miracle drug. But no, I am not a snake oil salesman. I am simply making some assertions that are based on my reading of the theory and research literature in psychology, counseling, and organizational development. Let me give you some samples of the literature I am talking about. To access the entire article, click here.

ERIC_NO: ED305573
TITLE: Rationale of the Dependable Strengths Articulation Process.
AUTHOR: Forster, Jerald R.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1989
ABSTRACT: The Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP) is a systematic intervention which enables individuals to recognize, articulate, communicate, and use their Dependable Strengths. Dependable Strengths are those personal strengths that are clearly established and owned by the individual. They can earn the Dependable Strengths designation by satisfying these criteria: (1) they have been used in at least three different Good Experiences; (2) they can usually be traced back to childhood; and (3) the owner wants to use them in future activities. Good Experiences occur when one feels one has done something well, enjoyed doing it, and takes some pride in it. The DSAP model can be used to focus on the effects of the weight given the person's meaningful constructs. If the weighting factor is stressed, then methods designed to change self-esteem would seek to increase the weighting of those constructs known to be related to the person's Dependable Strengths. The intended outcomes of the DSAP include a revised self-identity and increased self-esteem. Assumptions underlying the DSAP include the following: individuals and modern society are complex; a person's self-identity depends upon the particular qualities attended to by the person when the individual is aware of the self; and if the person rates highly on valued qualities the person will have high self-esteem and continue to seek growth and mastery.

ERIC_NO: ED465909
TITLE: Career as Story: An Introduction to the Haldane Idiographic Method of Career Assessment for Multicultural Populations.
AUTHOR: Biller, Ernest F.
PUBLICATION_DATE: 2002
ABSTRACT: In order to take into consideration the unique experiences, background and language differences inherent among multicultural populations for the purposes of career assessment, the process must allow for the counselee to construct their own story. This paper suggests the use of Haldanes Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP) for these purposes. The author proposes that the Haldane DSAP process is appropriate for all populations, including special needs, alternative education students as well as multicultural groups. The DSAP process requires many hours of well-supervised group work to help counselees work through the process, but the benefits to the individuals with regards to building self-esteem are limitless. It is recommended that this is an excellent process for use with clients/students who are not ready to benefit from the use of more traditional career assessment tools. (GCP)

ERIC_NO: ED305575
TITLE: The Dependable Strengths Articulation Process: How It Works.
AUTHOR: Haldane, Bernard Johnson
PUBLICATION_DATE: 1989
ABSTRACT: Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP) is a self-development process designed to facilitate positive self-constructions and improved personal functioning through a systematic intervention that enables participants to recognize, articulate, communicate and use their Dependable Strengths. Because it is a peer-assisted process, each participant experiences a degree of interdependency. In a seminar or workshop, short exercises are given to illuminate some ways in which research, technology and financial changes impact each person's life. Participants recall experiences which have come close to being self-actualizing and which are named "good experiences." Good experiences are prioritized for top importance. In support teams, while one participant describes how he/she went about making the good experiences happen, the others write down strengths they hear the person describing. Participants write reports describing how they operate at their best, what strengths are used, and how they combine in career developing activities. In shorter exercises, participants study past achievements and accomplishments. The outcomes of DSAP indicate that it is at least as effective and less costly to individualize such counseling in groups. Perhaps a new time has arrived for career and life planning. (An appendix provides a guide for an intervention process which teaches students to appreciate their Dependable Strengths and the potential value of this knowledge for their future development. Seven stages are described.) (ABL)

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