Adaptation and Evaluation of an Intervention Model for Career Decision-Making Difficulties Among College Students

• Grant number: 25/11556-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Fundamentals and Assessments in Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Rodolfo Augusto Matteo Ambiel
• Grantee: Luara Carvalho Ribeiro da Motta
• Host Institution: Escola de Ciências da Vida (ECV). Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-CAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The project addresses career decision-making difficulties among college students, a challenge that directly impacts mental health and the transition between university and the world of work. Despite the relevance of this issue, there is a shortage of culturally adapted and validated interventions for the Brazilian context. In 2023, with support from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the Swiss National Science Foundation, the authors began the transnational adaptation and validation of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (Gati et al., 1996), in collaboration with researchers from Brazil, Switzerland, Portugal, Mozambique, and Angola. Building on this international collaboration, this project aims to translate and adapt a career decision-making intervention protocol. The research will encompass all the necessary stages for cultural adaptation, as well as the implementation of the protocol with college students divided into control and experimental groups. The intervention will be conducted by career counselors who have been pre-selected based on defined criteria, thoroughly trained both theoretically and practically, and supervised by the project leaders. The proposed method will allow for the control of individual and contextual variables and the assessment of the quality of the therapeutic alliance. If successful, the project will significantly contribute to the field of career guidance by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the intervention in the Brazilian context and promoting the development of evidence-based practices with both national and international applicability. (AU)