National Survey Assessing Perceived Multicultural Competence in Art Therapy Graduate Students

Abstract

Multicultural competence is essential to contemporary art therapy practice. Current education standards require that culturally sound theories and practices be taught along with self-awareness, but there is little research on the effects of such training in art therapy. The current study examined data from the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills Survey–Counselor Edition–Revised distributed to students enrolled in a multicultural course in 23 participating graduate art therapy programs in the United States and eastern Canada. The pre- and post-survey scores were compared on three subscales: Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills. Results indicated that student self-perceptions of their multicultural knowledge and skills significantly increased upon the completion of a course, but self-perceptions of their multicultural awareness did not significantly increase. However, limitations in the survey instrument suggest that study results may not demonstrate a true measure of competence; recommendations for addressing multicultural competency in the graduate curriculum are suggested.