The life and career game Who You Are Matters!® among university students: a bricolage in postmodern career counseling

Career counseling has been expanding from traditional trait and personality models to constructivist models that emphasize subjective experiences, holistic interventions, psychological resources, narratives, and context. This study examines the narrative life and career game Who You Are Matters!® to learn about player experience, stories, and actions gaining a deeper understanding of the processes of storytelling and storylistening in life and career exploration and goal setting. Participants in the study were female, first-year, second-year, and/or first-generation college students who ranged between 18-23 years of age. Experiences and stories are explored through multiple lenses including well-being, psychological capital, agency, and transformational learning. Gratitude and broaden-and-build are also briefly examined as contributing factors that amplify player benefits. The findings are presented loosely as a bricolage that shapes the construction and interpretation of meanings and patterns that inform career exploration in game play. Findings suggest that the structure and context of game play focuses and funnels intentional goal setting and action through six synergistic themes. The study demonstrates how the game Who You Are Matters!® is efficacious in promoting life and career exploration, engendering psychological capital, and cultivating well-being, answering the National Career Development Association's call for more creative and holistic interventions that equip and inspire action and agency.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Colorado State University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Authors dc:creator

• Canji, Martha, author
• Carlson, Laurie, advisor
• Dik, Bryan, committee member
• Feller, Rich, committee member
• Jennings, Louise, committee member

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25675/3.02421

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/211802