CAREER SELF-EFFICACY IN OCCUPATIONAL-THERAPY PRACTICE

Career expectations contribute to job satisfaction, which ultimately a ffects personnel retention. This paper focuses on a current trend in c areer literature: career self-efficacy, judgments about the efficacy o f one's career choice and adjustment. Career self-efficacy is relevant to occupational therapy in that therapists are leaving the profession because of unmet career expectations. This paper explores Bandura's s elf-efficacy theory (the basts of career self-efficacy) and discusses the authors' experience in clinical practice and education relating th e application of career self-efficacy to occupational therapy. Suggest ed methods for enhancing career self-efficacy include the implementati on of a professional development course based on Bandura's self-effica cy theory; incorporation of self-efficacy content into the professiona l theory and practice courses, clinical supervision that creates reali stic self-perceptions of performance during the field-work experience; and transitional programs for entry-level practitioners that identify and explore personal career expectations and support for the experien ced practitioner.