Table 1 Career planning group counseling program

Week 1

First meeting and welcome

①To promote understanding among team members, establish good interpersonal relationships, and build trust between team members and counselors as well as among team members

② To enable team members to understand the nature of the team, become familiar with the team rules, establish groups, and develop a team atmosphere and team norms

①Warm-up activity (40 min): “Interview with the stars”

②Theme activity (60 min): Establishing a team. First, the leader and counselor introduce themselves, then the counselor introduces the nature, goal and content of the team, reads the team code, and signs the team contract with the team members. Finally, groups are established, with 10 members in each group and 3 groups in total. Members of the group elect their own leaders and establish group names and slogans, and finally shout out slogans and show the group members' understanding of the group slogans

③Summary and sharing (15 min): Members first share the feeling of this activity in the group, and finally the group representatives give a summary speech. The counselor summarizes the situation of this theme activity

④ Homework assignment (5 min): influencing factors that affect your career choices

Week 2

Strengthen awareness and lead to reflection

①Strengthen the awareness of “career” and “occupation” among the members

② To make the team members more aware of the career choices they face, to inspire exploration of their careers and to make them think about the factors that affect their career development, and then to guide them to understand career planning and its significance

①Warm-up activity (40 min): Occupational quiz fun

②Theme activity (60 min): “Career Crossroads”. Distribute the “Career Crossroads” cards to each member. Members share and discuss the main factors that influence career development. Finally, the counselor introduces personal factors as the main factors affecting career development

③Summary and sharing (15 min): Members first share their feelings and gains of this activity in the group, discuss the importance of personal factors in career development, and finally the group representative give a summary speech. The counselor summarizes the situation of this theme activity

④ Homework assignment (5 min): Prepare a 1–2 min introduction of yourself

Week 3

Show charm, show your true self

①To help members to recognize themselves and the character, abilities, and personality traits of others

②To Guide members in self-exploration, strengthening self-affirmation, and the impact on career planning

②Warm-up activity (40 min): You and I in the mirror

②Theme activity (60 min): simulate employment interview session, each member (candidate) prepare 1–2 min of self-introduction, after the self-introduction, the counselor (examiner) ask “talk about the advantages and disadvantages of your application for nursing positions” and ask the candidate to answer on the spot

③Summary and sharing (15 min): The members share their feelings and gains of this activity, discuss the importance of self-awareness and career planning, and finally the group representatives make a summary speech. The counselor summarizes the situation of this theme activity

④ Homework assignment (5 min): Fill out the “Great Value Auction Checklist”

Week 4

Building concepts and emotions

①To enable team members to understand professional values, establish correct professional values, and thus reposition themselves

②To understand the team members' views on the nursing profession, to arouse their professional emotions, to cultivate professional pride, and to improve their professional identity and professional satisfaction

①Warm-up activity (40 min): “Professional values auction”

②Theme activity (60 min): Firstly, organize to watch the video of Nightingale's life and the glorious deeds of Chinese Tibetan male nurse Basang Dengzhu, the winner of Nightingale Medal, and then the team members express their views on nursing profession, guide the team members to establish correct professional values, cultivate professional pride, improve professional identity and enhance professional satisfaction

③Summary and sharing (15 min): Members first share their feelings and gains of this activity in the group, discuss the importance of values, and finally the group representatives make a summary speech. The counselor summarizes the situation of this theme activity

④Homework assignment (5 min): Make a career planning

Week 5

Helping with selection and planning

①To re-help the team members to understand their profession, improve their professional confidence, and stimulate their work enthusiasm and hard work spirit

②To help group members clarify their future direction through career interviews

③Introduce to the team members about career planning by combining the employment situation and employment characteristics of the nursing profession, to raise the members' awareness of career planning and help them formulate a career plan suitable for themselves

①Warm-up activity (30 min): “My career planning”

②Theme activity (70 min): Male nurses in clinical specialties, male nursing managers, male nursing postgraduates and research professionals (male) are invited to participate in career interviews, mainly to help group members answer their doubts about career planning in order to assist them in formulating a career plan suitable for themselves

③Summary and sharing (15 min): The group members share their feelings and inspirations of this activity: whether they saw their own shortcomings or their own shining points by listening to others' planning; whether they had a clearer career direction; whether they would try hard to implement the plan in the future. Finally, the group representatives make a summary speech. The counselor summarizes the situation of this theme activity

④ Homework assignment (5 min): summarize the harvest of the activity

Week 6

Summarize and enjoy the harvest

①Assist team members to share the gains of self-growth in the process, and to give appreciation and expectation to others, and to look forward to future development and progress together

②Summarize the group counseling activity

①Warm-up activity: “True Confessions” (50 min)

②Theme activity (60 min): Each member writes down their most memorable activity theme by reviewing the first five units, first communicating in small groups and finally sharing in large groups

③Fill in the questionnaire and take a group photo (10 min)