It is exciting to see the questions and aspects of the students of the health visitor programme becoming experts, since the aspects of the selection of workplace and the position are very narrow. At the same time, they have much more labour market experience obtained in different fields than the previous generation (mostly in the field of trade, catering/event management, marketing) and they see a broad range of choices (e.g. job transition, further learning, job abroad or performing more careers at the same time). Contrary to all these, their situation is determined rather by uncertainty, fear and the knowing what they would not like, instead of consciousness and the ability to make use of possibilities. [1]
Many of the young or middle age health visitors with professional experience repeatedly ask the question to themselves: would I like to do this job in the future; is it sure that I would like to work as a health visitor until my retirement? Their questions and the answers thereto are much more influenced by the focus on values. Owing to their experience and by founding their financial background, they preferably become more confident in the answers of the questions of their careers. Contrary to all these, the social and professional expectations, the compliance to the changes of the family roles or the internal motifs bring the experienced and established health visitors to recurrent choices. Among the health visitors facing with difficulties due to individual situations or the lack of the maturity of the personality, there are some to remain alone with their questions and uncertainty, they get stuck and they are only adrift and do not form they career.
The most difficult situation over the age of 55 may be when the uncertainty regarding the health visitor work appears. Many external and internal factors may face the members of this age group with the reconsideration of their relation to their profession. For most of them, the shift of the priorities in the profession, the accelerating pace or the newly appearing expectations are the most difficult to cope with. At the same time, mostly the health visitors living and working in the small settlements face the radical change of the local society: the disappearance of the local intellectuals and the lack of the groups thinking together and supporting each other. For them, the biggest challenge is the possibility of the professional renewal and the decision on the modification or the leaving of the profession.
Developmental psychological background
Since the 1960’s, personality development is considered to cover the whole life of the individual. Although with different emphases, the constituents and the characteristics of development are present from the birth until the grave. The concept of development includes not only growth and progress, but the appearance of any new behaviours, the termination or weakening or the reduced efficiency of the development of functions as well. This is a complex process formed by the mutual interactions of biological, psychological, social and historical factors and during which certain functions of personality develop as the part of the continuously integrating whole. Regarding this topic, it is important to point out the adaptive character development out of its characteristics. Development can be considered as the ability of the continuous adaptation to the continuously changing environment. In this regard, the success of development may be considered as the success of adaptation. Out of these events, crisis and limit situations particularly emerge, which create significant changes in the life of the individual: urge him/her to set new objectives or give new tasks to him/her.[2]
The key concept of the psychosocial development theory of Erik H. Erikson (1902-1994) is the self-identity which is the conscious self-experience formed in the relationships. He considers the development of functions as a process which he divides to decisive phases, stages. He considers the external and internal conflicts and the solutions of the individual given to such conflicts to be the decisive elements of personality development. He assumes an internal pattern for the stages of development. Each stage is characterised by the appearance and the solution of a developmental crisis (turning point), which are:
- infant age, the conflict of basic trust,
- small children age, the conflict of autonomy,
- kindergarten age, the conflict of initiation,
- schoolchildren age, the conflict of capacity,
- adolescent age, the conflict of identity,
- young adult age, the conflict of intimacy,
- middle adult age, the conflict of generativity (creation ability),
- old age, the crisis of self-integrity (entirety).
There is no possibility here to discuss the life tasks and the concerning conflicts in depth. However, it is important that the intensity of crises and conflicts may be different in case of each individual: there are people for whom conflicts work as a hiding creek in the background, while in certain cases, the change of mental condition is spectacular. The development of personality is performed, only if the conflict of the given life stage is more or less solved by the individual. The tasks which were failed to cope with in the given stage of life return and mean another task later on.
Career planning, career development
While the principles and theories determining occupational choices used to be static and the focus was on the suitability and regarding the determination of career and labour profiles on personality typology, nowadays the theoretical background of career planning can be characterised by a complex approach.[3] Occupational choice and career development is now considered as a process influenced by various effects and effect systems and upon their analysis, the following three important principles shall be considered:
“principle of development: occupational choice is an integral part of career development
- principle of personality: the laws, the orientation, the maturity etc. of personality are decisive in the selection of career
- principle of activity: personality is basically an activity regulating system manifesting in the process of career development” [4]
Based on the complex theory, in the field of human resources management, suitability for the given profession is considered as a multiple possibility, while the occupational choice and the integration as a continuous development.
”Development in the given profession is the process of growth and development, which includes each moment spent in the profession” [5]
I think that independently of which station of the career is under question, health visitors deserve support in raising questions arisen regarding their relation to their profession or career and in the search for the answers thereto. The learning-oriented supervision offers an excellent field for this process. Important questions of career development may arise, such as:
- becoming a specialist or generalist expert;
- reconciliation of work and private life;
- professional progress – development of managerial competences;
- autonomy, stability, belonging to an organisation, experience of serving and helping others and of meeting challenges;
- the feeling of creativity, creativeness and innovation.
If the decisions on career development can be consciously experienced in the health visitor job and the feeling of satisfaction and the experience of professional success get reinforced in the professional decision, it will be beneficial for the whole health visitor network. For all this, the development of self-awareness and self-reflexivity, the consciousness in the field of career development and from the shapers and maintainers of the basic health care system the ensuring of possibilities and support are necessary.
[1] Bokor, A. (2006) Létezik-e itthon Y generáció? (Does a Y-generation exist in Hungary?)
http://odkutato.hu/storage/app/uploads/public/56b/aff/1ca/56baff1ca4d8e219283677.pdf
(Downloaded on 30th January 2017)
[2] Horváth-Szabó, K., Kézdy, A., S. Petrik, K. (2007) Család és fejlődés, Sapientia Szerzetesi Hittudományi Főiskola (Family and development)
(Downloaded on 30th January 2017)
[3] Dr. Budavári-Takács, I. (2011) Karriertervezés, Szent István Egyetem (Career planning)
http://www.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop412A/2010-0019_Karriertervezes/index.html
(Downloaded on 30th January 2017)
[4] Dr. Budavári-Takács, I (2011) p 14
[5] Dr. Budavári-Takács, I (2011) p 15