Abstract

The current study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a group coaching program to improve college students’ career exploration behaviors based on the self-affirmation theory. Participants were undergraduate students at a University in Seoul and volunteered in the program during the break. The group coaching program was conducted twice a week during three weeks, a total of six times, and each session lasted 2 to 2.5 hours. In this study, the effect of self-affirmation embedded in the group coaching program on various psychological variables and college students’ career exploration behaviors were examined. A mixed-randomized analysis was conducted to compare the pre, post, and follow-up tests of the experimental, comparison, and no-treatment control groups, each consisting of 18 participants. The results showed that participants in the experimental group coaching condition showed more significant improvements in psychological resources, career self-efficacy, openness, problem-focused coping, and career exploration behaviors compared to the comparison and control groups, and these results were maintained even after the program ended. The implications of this study for coaching theory and practice, as well as limitations and future research directions, were discussed.