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Using Sand Tray to Facilitate College Students' Career Decision‐Making: A Qualitative Inquiry
Author(s) -
Swank Jacqueline M.,
Jahn Stephani A. B.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the career development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.846
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 2161-0045
pISSN - 0889-4019
DOI - 10.1002/cdq.12148
Subject(s) - helpfulness , tray , psychology , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , medical education , qualitative research , process (computing) , applied psychology , cognitive information processing , career development , pedagogy , social psychology , medicine , computer science , engineering , sociology , mechanical engineering , social science , psychiatry , operating system
Career decision‐making can be a challenging and stressful process for college students, and career counselors can be instrumental in helping college students to ease this process. Sand tray, an expressive, play therapy technique, offers career counselors a potentially useful method in this regard. The authors examine the use of sand tray to promote the career decision‐making process. Four undergraduate college students engaged in a sand tray intervention designed to promote career decision‐making. In the final session, students participated in an interview and had the opportunity to review and reflect on their sand tray photographs. Results of a phenomenological‐based analysis revealed 5 themes: (a) initial skepticism, (b) helpfulness, (c) awareness, (d) self‐expression, and (e) continued work. Career counselors may use this unique, creative approach to help clients who are stuck in the career decision‐making process. Future research may include examining the use of sand tray with other interventions, as well as examining intervention effectiveness on career outcome variables.