The Role of Identity for the Practitioner and the Student: Culturally Inclusive Career Services for Pacific Islander Students in Higher Education
The purpose of this qualitative study that used a phenomenological research approach is to understand how higher education career services practitioners design and deliver career planning and professional development for Pacific Islander students at 4-year non-profit institutions within the continental United States. This study aimed to discover what efforts are enacted by career services staff to connect with the Pacific Islander student population on college campuses and to determine how career staff approach counseling this population from a relationship building and culturally inclusive career counseling perspective. By using Career Constructivist Development Theory (CCDT) and Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT), this research examined the phenomenon of how the identities and lived experiences of career services practitioners influence their counseling approaches, how practitioners consider the cultural background, values, upbringing, ideologies, and customs of their Pacific Islander students, and how culture influences the career decision-making process. Findings and implications offer insight on what is necessary for student services practitioners to meet the needs of Pacific Islander students in higher education.
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