| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate the
utility of viewing employment group programs as processes of
enhancing personal agency. Personal causation theory
(deCharms, 1976) was used to operationalize the concept of
personal agency. Two questions were investigated. First,
does personal agency increase in individuals after
participating in employment groups? Second, how do the
outcomes derived from employment groups compare to deCharms'
conditions for developing personal agency?
Twenty-seven unemployed or underemployed participants
from three different programs were interviewed to elicit
anecdotal stories from their experience before and after the
program, and to collect helpful and hindering factors using
the Critical Incident Technique. The Origin Scoring System
was used to rate the stories yielding pre- and post-program
scores for each participant. A 2-factor analysis of
variance with repeated measures revealed a strong treatment
effect (p<.001) with no group effect, suggesting a
significant increase in personal agency in the three groups
represented. A sorting of critical incident outcomes
demonstrated that deCharms1 conditions for developing
personal agency are valid with employment groups but six
additional conditions were required to complete the sorting.
Other findings suggested the presence of out-of-program
experiences complementing or detracting from the program,
the fundamental importance of supportive interactions among
group members, the need for the balanced use of both task-
oriented and supportive components in a program, and skills
identification as the most valued aspect of self-assessment.
The findings suggest that personal agency may be a useful
organizing principle for guiding theory, research and
practice in employment and career counselling.
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