Development of a Mental Imagery Training Package for the Career Development of Unemployed Youth

Shahriar  Shiaraninezhad; Zahra Yousefi; Mohsen  Golparvar

Authors

Shahriar Shiaraninezhad Department of Educational Psychology, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7202-2343
Zahra Yousefi Assistance Professor, Department of Cilinical Psychology, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran. Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5856-3605
Mohsen Golparvar Professor, Department of Psychology, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Research Center for Behavioral and Psychological Science, Department of Psychology, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1425-5480

Keywords:

unemployment, mental imagery, career development

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a mental imagery training package for the career development of unemployed youth. The research method was conventional content analysis based on the approach proposed by Hsieh and Shannon (2005). The research corpus comprised all texts related to mental imagery and the career development of unemployed individuals that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The research instrument consisted of a line-by-line examination of the texts, and the data were analyzed using the five-stage method developed by Hsieh and Shannon (2005). The results of the psychological content analysis of unemployment revealed three concepts: (1) causes of unemployment, (2) foundational pillars of career development, and (3) components of career development for unemployed individuals. The content analysis of mental imagery also revealed three concepts: (1) psychopathology, (2) goals of positive mental imagery, and (3) strategies. Following the content analysis of the texts, the process of adapting the mental imagery method to unemployment was conducted according to the approach proposed by Yousefi and Golparvar (2023). This stage resulted in the development of eight 90-minute training sessions incorporating positive mental imagery content for career development. Mental imagery for securing employment, increasing self-efficacy, and enhancing employability capacity was addressed by modifying four categories of imagery: intrusive mental images, employment-related images that trigger maladaptive emotions, paralyzing images that inhibit practical career-related action, and disconnected images in the domain of employability and career-development skill enhancement. Corrective strategies capable of improving career development were also examined based on the concepts extracted from the texts. Cognitive restructuring, physiological-emotional regulation, cognitive-behavioral strategies, and experiential-perceptual strategies were selected as frameworks for skill modification. Content-validity assessment by experts using the content validity ratio indicated that the package possessed satisfactory content validity (CVR = .98). Based on these findings, the package may proceed to the stage of examining its implementation validity.

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