Foreign-Born Therapists in the United States: Supervisors' Multicultural Competence, Supervision Satisfaction, and Counseling Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Globalization and immigration have affected clinical practice in the United States by changing the demographic profile of both clients and clinical providers. There is a trend toward more foreign-born therapists practicing in the United States, yet little attention has been given to foreign-born therapists who are also immigrants and their needs during clinical supervision. Symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) and ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) were used to develop this cross-sectional Web-based survey study to examine the associations among perceived supervisors' multicultural competence, supervision satisfaction, and counseling self-efficacy in a sample of foreign-born therapists currently practicing in the United States. One hundred fifty-three immigrant therapists completed 4 questionnaires examining perceived supervisors' multicultural competence, supervision satisfaction, and counseling self-efficacy. Results suggest that supervisor's multicultural competence is a moderate predictor of clinical self-efficacy. Unexpectedly, the association between supervisor multicultural competence and counselor clinical self-efficacy was significantly stronger for foreign-born therapists who reported less supervision satisfaction. Supervisors working with foreign-born therapists should openly discuss cross-cultural interactions and power and privilege in all parts of the training triad and attend to the sociopolitical context.