occupational therapy, which had been suggested by card sort and
interest inventory results. However, the modified card sort strategy at
least enabled her to generate an expanded range of options, uncon-
taminated by faulty self-efficacy percepts, from which to choose.
Overcoming Barriers to Choice and Success
A fundamental assumption of SCCT’s choice model is that persons
will be unable and unwilling to translate their occupational inter-
ests into goals and their goals into actions if they perceive insur-
mountable barriers to career entry or success. Thus we think it is
important that counseling for career choice or change focus not
only on expanding clients’ occupational options but on helping
them to (1) carefully consider potential barriers to their career pur-
suit or success, (2) analyze the likelihood of encountering these bar-
riers, and (3) prepare strategies to prevent or manage likely barriers
to occupational attainment and to cultivate social supports in their
family or peer environments.
We have found it helpful in our counseling practices to use the
decisional balance sheet developed by Janis and Mann (1977) to
help our clients identify potential choice barriers (Brown & Lent,
1996). Although this procedure was originally developed to facili-
tate a thorough consideration of possible consequences to decisional
alternatives, it can be modified for use in identifying potential barri-
ers. We ask clients to generate both positive and negative conse-
quences in relation to each career alternative they are seriously
considering. We then have them focus specifically on anticipated
negative consequences that might prevent them from pursuing par-
ticular options. The client is subsequently assisted to estimate the
likelihood that each barrier will actually be encountered and to
develop strategies to prevent and manage the most likely barriers.
To illustrate, consider again our thirty-five-year-old client.
Using the balance sheet procedure, she identified a highly likely
and (for her) significant barrier to pursuing an academic career in
urban sociology. Specifically, she indicated she was in a longstand-
290 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT