Abstract:
This article describes a way of identifying and dealing with the adaptability needs of a pregnant teenager from a life
design perspective. The participant was selected purposively from among a group of undergraduate students at an
institution for unwed mothers. The intervention involved life design counselling and occurred over a period of three
months. Data on participant adaptability needs to facilitate life design counselling were gathered using the Career
Adapt-Abilities Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, as well as qualitative techniques (including the Career
Interest Profile, a genogram, a lifeline, a collage, idioms and role models). Following the intervention, the participant
revealed heightened self-insight with regard to her personal experiences, a ‘changed’ experience in respect of certain
aspects of her context and pro-active behaviour with regard to the challenges she was facing. The process of life design
can have a positive effect on an unwed pregnant teenager.
