Planejamento de carreira em adolescentes com altas habilidades/superdotação

Abstract

Although studies have advanced in relation to the knowledge of the functioning and forms of specific assistance to individuals with high skills / giftedness, in the field of professional guidance, career programs are still scarce in Brazil. Objectives: This Doctoral Thesis had the general objective of verifying the effects of an intervention in professional guidance for adolescents with and without giftedness, in the choice of professional career. To answer the objectives, two empirical studies were developed. The first article compared the sociodemographic characteristics, the level of vocational indecision, the maturity for professional choice, the perceived general selfefficacy and the personality factors between adolescents with and without giftedness; to verify associations between sociodemographic characteristics, level of vocational indecision, maturity for professional choice, perceived general self-efficacy and personality factors of adolescents with and without giftedness. The second article analyzed the effects of an intervention in vocational guidance for adolescents with and without giftedness in relation to the maturity for professional choice, vocational indecision, perceived general self-efficacy and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Method: Both articles reported a longitudinal design, with the participation of 31 adolescents, 12 with giftedness and 19 without diagnosis of giftedness, aged between 13 and 20 years. The adolescents were recruited for convenience at a public and a private school in Rio Branco - Acre, Brazil. The gifted were identified and referred by the Rio Branco Center for High Skills / Gifted Activities (NAAH / S). The intervention took place in a group, over a period of eight weeks, with weekly meetings lasting two hours each. The evaluation of the intervention was carried out before its beginning (pre-test), immediately after its end (post-test I) and two months after the end (post-test II). Before the start of the intervention (pre-test), the adolescents were invited to sign the Informed Consent Form or the Free and Informed Consent Form, the sociodemographic data questionnaire, Brazil Economic Classification Criteria, Maturity Scale for Professional Choice, Battery Personality Factorial, Vocational Indecision Scale, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and Perceived General Self-Effectiveness Scale. Post-test I took place immediately at the end of the eighth session, post-test II was performed two months after the end of the intervention. In the post-test I and II, the adolescents answered the same instruments applied in the pre-test, with the exception of the sociodemographic data questionnaire, Brazil Classification criteria and the Personality Factor Battery. The results were analyzed using absolute and relative frequencies (%) for qualitative variables, and by means and standard deviations for quantitative variables. Associations between variables were analyzed using Pearson or Spearman correlations. The intra-group comparison was performed using the t test for paired samples. Conclusions: In Study 1, it was found that adolescents without giftedness had higher levels of neuroticism. Gifted adolescents achieved higher levels of perceived general self-efficacy. The gifted also showed higher levels of determination, extraversion, self-knowledge and openness, compared to the group without endowment. On the other hand, the group without gifted had higher levels of responsibility and lower levels of self-efficacy compared to the gifted. In Study 2, the results showed that professional guidance intervention reduced vocational indecision and stress symptoms. Specifically, gifted adolescents demonstrated increased levels of determination, self-knowledge and maturity for professional choice between pre-test and follow-up. In addition, they showed a decrease in the symptoms of depression and stress. It was concluded that the professional guidance intervention programs for adolescents, with and without giftedness, have effects in reducing the level of vocational indecision and in the symptoms of stress. These effects are maintained, even after two months of completion of the intervention, in the follow-up.