Multicultural Counseling Competencies Research Articles

Initial Development and Validation of Multicultural Counseling Competencies Scale for Malaysian School Counselors

Multicultural counseling is an important aspect in counseling. The introduction of the multicultural counseling competencies was a major step to improve counseling services among school counselors. However, there is a lack of valid and reliable instrument to measure multicultural counseling competencies in Malaysian context. This initial study focuses on the development of a local instrument to assess multicultural counseling competencies among Malaysian school counselors. This instrument consists of 42 items and it was administered to 212 secondary school counselors in Negeri Sembilan and Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted in which items within initial dimensions of multicultural counseling competencies were reshuffled and checked for their psychometric properties. After series of principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis from the experts, three dimensions of multicultural counseling competencies with 28 items were formed. This paper also discusses the findings and its implication to the instrument development and the validation process.

Multicultural Therapy Practicum Involving Refugees

Multicultural scholars have long noted the value and the need to incorporate multicultural counseling practica into diversity-social justice training. This article describes an ongoing, systematic model of multicultural therapy practicum in which clinical psychology trainees provide direct psychotherapy to community-referred, culturally and linguistically diverse refugee clients, under culturally grounded supervision. As a university–community collaboration, this practicum embodies the principles of multicultural counseling competencies, social justice, community outreach and service, experiential learning, and trauma therapy. In this article, we describe the target refugee population, the theoretical/conceptual bases, the learning conditions, the organizational structure, and the evaluative research of this practicum. Next, we present a former trainee’s narrative account of working with a male Afghan refugee from an autoethnographic qualitative framework to illustrate the dynamic learning process and the intricate cross-cultural interactions between the client and therapist. Finally, implications of this practicum for future practice and research on experiential multicultural training are discussed.

Critical Factors in Cultural Immersion: A Synthesis of Relevant Literature

This synthesis of the literature on cross-cultural immersion experiences gives emphasis to the need for effective pedagogy for enhancing multicultural counseling competency, with cultural immersion being a potentially valuable training tool. The authors examine the empirical literature towards identifying both helpful and hindering structural and process factors in immersion experiences. Consideration is given to enhancing training experiences and suggestions for future research are provided.

Race/Ethnicity and Multicultural Competence Among School Counselors: Multicultural Training, Racial/Ethnic Identity, and Color‐Blind Racial Attitudes

This study tested a model that links race/ethnicity, multicultural training, racial/ethnic identity (REI), color‐blind racial attitudes (CoBRA), and multicultural counseling competence (MCC) among school counselors. The author examined whether multicultural training significantly moderated the association between race/ethnicity and MCC. School counselors’ REI was found to mediate this moderated association. A 3‐way interaction among race/ethnicity, training, and CoBRA revealed that White and racial/ethnic minority school counselors had the lowest MCC scores when they had limited training and higher CoBRA.

Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills Among American Counselor Trainees: Group Differences in Self-Perceived Competence Based on Dispositional and Programmatic Variables

Multiculturalism has been a topic of scholarly discourse and inquiry for the last three decades. As the philosophical commitment to multiculturalism continues to be endorsed by the counseling field, it is becoming increasingly imperative that we integrate theory, research, and practice in an applied and compelling manner. This article provides the results from a quantitative study exploring the dispositional and programmatic variables that influence the level of self-perceived multicultural competence among a sample of counselor trainees in the United States of America. The research contributes to a foundation for discussing the current status of multicultural counseling competence as well as generating creative strategies for enhancing future competence in counselors.

One School, Many Differences: An Assessment Tool for School Counselors and Multicultural Counseling

Multicultural counseling competencies (MCCs) have typically been measured with instruments designed for and normed on mental health professionals – for example, MCCTS-R; Holcomb-McCoy (Professional School Counseling 4:195–208, 2001); MCI; Sodowsky et al. (Journal of Counseling and Development 41:137–148, 1994); D’Andrea et al. (Journal of Counseling & Development 70:143–150, 1991). One published instrument specifically assesses school counselor MCCs – MCCTS-R; Holcomb-McCoy (Professional School Counseling 4:195–208, 2001) – but it does not conform to ASCA standards (2010, E.2). Following a set of validation procedures, an instrument designed to specifically assess school counselors’ multicultural counseling competencies was created that conforms to American School Counselor Association and Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development standards. Its creation is detailed here and the resulting instrument is presented for examination and consideration.

Enhancing social work students’ multicultural counseling competency: Can travel abroad substitute for study abroad?

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between studying abroad, traveling abroad, and social work students’ multicultural counseling competencies. Findings indicated that students’ multicultural counseling competencies were significantly positively related to their experiences studying abroad but not to traveling abroad.

Counselor Demographics, Ageist Attitudes, and Multicultural Counseling Competence Among Counselors and Counselor Trainees

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among counselors' self reported multicultural counseling competence and their attitudes of the geriatric population. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between participants' attitudes of the geriatric population and their self-reported multicultural counseling competence. Implications for training and practice are provided. ********** Approximately 75 million individuals who were born between 1946 and 1964 encompass the Baby Boom population (Goldstein & Damon, 1993). In the year 2011, these individuals began entering the geriatric population. As the Baby Boom population ages, the geriatric population, which includes those 65 years and older, will grow to be the largest cohort in history. By 2000, 35 million individuals composed the geriatric population (Gist & Hetzel, 2004), and researchers expect this cohort to continue to grow to include 21% of the U.S. population--or 76.4 million individuals--by 2030 (Van Gerpen, Johnson, & Winstead, 1999). With the rapid increase of the geriatric population, greater attention to mental illness, elder abuse, and other psychosocial factors (e.g., ageism) within the population is likely, as counselors may be treating more of these individuals. The purpose of this article is to review these salient characteristics for working with this population and to explore the relationship between two constructs indicating counselor competency in multicultural counseling and attitudes toward the geriatric population. MENTAL HEALTH AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Mental Health Considerations There are many mental health considerations counselors must be aware of when counseling individuals of the geriatric population. Dementia, depression, and suicide are prevalent within this population. Dementia such as Alzheimer's disease is extremely prevalent during older adulthood and may be the most prevalent mental illness in older adults (Zank, 1998). Overall, 5% of adults over the age of 65 years are diagnosed with dementia and 10% are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (Spira & Edelstein, 2007; Zank, 1998). In addition, individuals over the age of 80 years are diagnosed with dementia at a rate of 20%, and more than half of individuals over the age of 85 years are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Currently, in the United States, 4 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease (Spira & Edelstein, 2007). These individuals often have progressive memory loss; language disruption; agitation; and personality, emotional, and behavior changes (Abraham, 2005). Depression can lead to impairments in mental, physical, and social functioning for this population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] & National Association of Chronic Disease Directors [NACDD], 2009). Overall, 2.5% of older adults meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) criteria for depression or dysthymic disorder. However, 27% of older adults have symptoms of depression but do not meet the full criteria for the disorder. Older adults must often face the death of friends as well as partners, and, therefore, bereavement becomes a focus of older adulthood. Because of this, elders may experience increased depression. In addition, depression may also be exacerbated by illness and accidents, such as hip fractures or heart disease (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). For instance, 12% of older individuals who are hospitalized for illness and accidents such as these develop depression. In addition, elders in nursing homes are particularly inclined to develop depression because 15% to 25% of these individuals develop symptoms of the mental health illness (USDHHS, 2000). Suicide also greatly affects individuals of the geriatric population. Overall, 13 individuals 65 years and older commit suicide each day in the United States (Walsh, Currier, Shah, Lyness, & Friedman, 2008). …

A Person-Centered Approach to Multicultural Counseling Competence

This article examines current and historical trends in psychotherapy research and practice with racial/ethnic minority populations. Initially, research on Derald Sue’s multicultural counseling competencies is provided as a foundation to further examine the evidence regarding effective cultural adaptations to mainstream treatment approaches, such as cognitive-behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy. Next, a brief outline of Carl Rogers’s psychotherapy research tradition is presented, with a focus on both past and present evidence suggesting that person-centered therapy may be effective across diagnoses, as well as cultures. Using psychotherapy evidence from both the latter half of the 20th century and the initial decades of the 21st century, cultural adaptations to previously hypothesized person-centered therapy mechanisms of change are proposed. In particular, this culturally adapted person-centered approach is suggested to provide a competent and effective treatment system for racial/ethnic minority clients and families.

Understanding Unearned Privilege: An Experiential Activity for Counseling Students

The Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development stresses the importance of counselors to develop multicultural competencies that include attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Counselor educators face the challenge of helping their students develop multicultural counseling competence including an awareness of unearned privilege. This includes a description of an experiential activity used to increase self-awareness of privilege among counseling students and includes student responses and insights gained as a result of participating in this activity.

The Effect of Ethnicity on Multicultural Competence

The contribution of ethnicity to counseling students’ multicultural counseling competence (MCC) was revisited and expanded upon by examining differences among and between European American, African American, and Latino counseling students. Results revealed that Latino counseling students self-reported higher multicultural counseling competence than African American and European American counseling students. No difference in multicultural counseling competence was revealed between African American and European American counseling students. Implications for future research and multicultural training are discussed.

A Review of the Literature on Promoting Cultural Competence and Social Justice Agency Among Students and Counselor Trainees: Piecing the Evidence Together to Advance Pedagogy and Research

Go To DigestThere is a call for research on to effectively foster cultural competence and a social justice advocacy orientation among counselor trainees. A multi-disciplinary review of the literature reveals a body of anecdotal and empirical evidence in support of the use of pedagogical strategies grounded in critical theory to this end.The promotion of multicultural competence is an established professional training standard in industry and higher education (Musil, 1996). As a fourth force phenomenon within the counseling profession, multicultural education is intimately tied to advancing social justice (Arredondo & Perez, 2003) for trainees in the context of their studies (Ratts & Wood, 2011), and through populating our profession with culturally competent counselors. Its value in training has been empirically validated, yet much is left to discover about to most effectively deliver multicultural education and ensure that counselors are able to engage in ethical and competent counseling and advocacy with diverse populations (Coleman, 2006; Manese, Wu, & Nepomuceno, 2001; Seto, Young, Becker, & Kiselica, 2006; Smith, Constantine, Dunn, Dinehart, & Montoya, 2006).More recently advocacy competence has been recognized as a distinct professional standard for counselors with the American Counseling Association's (ACA) endorsement of the Advocacy Competencies (Lewis, Arnold, House, & Toporek, 2002), the recognition of Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) as a division of ACA, the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics, and the 2009 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards. As such, there is a growing body of literature with respect to the promotion of advocacy competence among counselor trainees grounded largely in critical theories (Bemak, Chi-Ying Chung, Talleyrand, Jones, & Daquin, 2011; Brubaker, Puig, Reese, & Young, 2010; Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant, 2007; Goodman, Liang, Helms, Latta, Sparks, & Weintraub, 2004; Green, McCollum, & Hays, 2008; Hof, Dinsmore, Barber, Suhr, & Scofield, 2009; Lewis, Arnold, House, & Toporek, 2002; Ratts & Wood, 2011; Steele, 2008; Toporek & Reza, 2001). Naturally, counseling research on the relationship between multicultural counseling competence and advocacy competence (Manis, 2008) and effective training methods for promoting advocacy competence (Hays, Dean, & Chang, 2007; Lewis, Davis, Lenski, Mukhopadhyay, & Taylor Cartwright, 2010; Murray, Pope, & Rowell, 2010; Odegard & Vereen, 2010) is early in its development.Thus, while echoing the synergistic relationship between multicultural counseling competencies and social justice advocacy, Odegard and Vereen (2010) recently concluded how counselor educators teach these constructs to students is a mystery (p. 145). Their conclusion resonated with earlier expressions of this conundrum within and beyond the mental health professions. Palmer (2004) spoke to this challenge, indicating that the question of to teach the constructs had been pondered and studied across disciplines.In fact, a multi-disciplinary review of the literature on multicultural education, social justice advocacy and critical pedagogy revealed not only a paucity of research on effective training practices in counselor education and supervision (Odegard & Vereen, 2010; Toporek, Lewis, & Cremar, 2009), but also a lack of attention and investment in training for social justice advocacy within counselor education programs (Hays et al., 2007; Nilsson & Schmidt, 2005; Ratts, 2006; Ratts & Wood, 2011). It further provided a pragmatic rationale for infusing attention to culture and social justice throughout program curricula (Brubaker, Puig, Reese, & Young, 2010; Dinsmore & England, 1996; Goodman et al., 2004: Green et al., 2008; Hays et al., 2007; Hill, 2003; Paylo, 2007; Ratts & Wood, 2011; Stadler, Sun, Cobia, Middleton, & Carney, 2006; Sue, Bingham, Porche-Burke, & Vasquez, 1999; Watts, 2004), and empirical evidence that suggested theoretically grounded pedagogies could be twice as effective as ungrounded approaches in delivering multicultural education (Smith et al. …

Racial/Ethnic Identity, Gender‐Role Attitudes, and Multicultural Counseling Competence: The Role of Multicultural Counseling Training

Researchers and practitioners have been pursuing how to enhance counselors' multicultural counseling competencies (MCC). With a sample of 460 counselors, the author examined whether multicultural training changed the relationship between (a) racial/ethnic identity and MCC and (b) gender‐role attitudes and MCC. The author found significant interaction effects of (a) racial/ethnic identity and multicultural training and (b) gender‐role attitudes and multicultural training on multicultural knowledge but not on multicultural awareness.

Investigating various dimensions of play therapists' self-reported multicultural counseling competence.

Investigating various dimensions of play therapists' self-reported multicultural counseling competence.

Trainee Multicultural Case Conceptualization Ability and Couples Therapy

Previous literature on the assessment of multicultural counseling competence has been concerned only with counselors' abilities when working with individual clients. We expanded this line of research by investigating trainees' multicultural case conceptualization ability in the context of working with couples. Despite the fact that trainees self-reported a high level of multicultural competency, trainees were largely inattentive to racial factors in their case conceptualization responses to vignettes involving both African American and European American clients presenting for couples therapy. On the whole, despite didactic, clinical, and extracurricular training in multiculturalism, marriage and family therapy trainees did not sufficiently incorporate cultural factors into their clinical case conceptualizations. We discuss implications for teaching, practice, and future research.

Mortality as a Context for Multicultural Practice: Awareness of Death and Relating With Diverse Clients

The effect of subtle death reminders (mortality salience) on multicultural counseling competence (MCC) was examined using a quasi-experimental design. One hundred forty-one counseling students were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Results of a one-way analysis of variance indicated that counseling students in the experimental group (the group exposed to subtle death reminders prior to rating their MCC), self-rated their MCC lower than did participants in the control group. Implications and limitations of these findings are explored.

The Role of Ethnic Identity, Gender Roles, and Multicultural Training in College Counselors' Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Mediation Model

Structural equation modeling with survey data from 313 college counselors revealed that multicultural training significantly mediated the impact of both ethnic identity and gender roles on multicultural counseling competence (MCC), explaining 24% of MCC variance. Results indicated that college counselors need to be aware of their own gender roles and ethnic identity to be culturally competent and highlighted the mediational role that training plays in achieving MCC.

Multicultural Counselor Competency in College Counseling Centers: Recommendations for Implementation

Multicultural Counseling Competency in College Counseling Centers: Recommendations for Implementation By necessity, counseling professionals are challenged with meeting the service needs of individuals from diverse groups. To answer the challenge, counselor education programs along with their accrediting bodies are increasingly more aware of the importance of cultural differences in counseling practices. The standards of practice outlined by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) include updated information on social and cultural diversity that parallel current research (CACREP, 2009). The International Association of Counseling Services (IACS, 2010) also recognized the importance of multicultural counseling competence in the role of counselors/counselors-in-training working within college and university settings. Thus, solidified counselor-in-training multicultural counseling awareness and knowledge of self and others, and skills when working cross-culturally are of the utmost importance. The purpose of this article is to recommend ways to implement evidence-based multicultural counseling competency standards for counselors-intraining working as interns or practicum students in university counseling centers. To do so, the article describes a current college counseling center Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) program's procedures and methods for training and measuring counselor-in-training multicultural counseling competency. Beforehand, a brief review of the multicultural counseling competency research is provided that includes a review of common instruments of self-reported multicultural counselor competence (MCC). Self-reported MCC instruments can be utilized by counseling center programs to measure counselor-in-training multicultural counseling learning outcomes. Recommendations are outlined for the implementation of MCC standards into college counseling centers that can be utilized with on-site counselors-in-training. The article concludes with a discussion on meeting college counseling center standards of practice, future research, and new directions in multicultural counseling. Multicultural Counseling and Counselors-in-Training Sue et al.'s (1982) work provided the basis for MCC through the use of a three factor model (i.e. self-assessed attitudes/beliefs, knowledge of populations diverse from self, and the skills necessary to work with people diverse from our selves). First, counselor awareness of attitudes/beliefs toward their own race, ethnicity, and/or cultural heritage and their beliefs/attitudes toward the race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage of others is one factor in MCC. Second, counselor multicultural knowledge is generally defined as an understanding of the world-views of communities and the individuals within diverse communities. Third, multicultural counselor competence in terms of skills involves counselors' ability to use culturally sensitive interventions and strategies when working with clients from diverse backgrounds. The three factor model was embraced in whole or in part by counseling fields and has become a guide to the counseling education standardization bodies (e.g. CACREP, 2009). Thus, the definitions that guide counselor competence also guide how counselors-in-training are educated. Multicultural Counseling Competency The three factor model helped to define multicultural counseling competency (MCC). Pope-Davis, Liu, Toporek, and Brittan-Powell (2001) stated that MCC is guided by the three-factor model (awareness of attitudes/beliefs, knowledge, and skills) introduced by Sue et al. (1982). As suggested by Middleton et al. (2000) counselor-in-training MCC should include: (a) examination of their cultural values to see how they impact their cultural biases, (b) recognition of the impact of the counselor's own cultural values on diverse populations, and (c) acknowledgment of the differences that occur between diverse populations. …

White Privilege and Multicultural Counseling Competence: The Influence of Field of Study, Sex, and Racial/Ethnic Exposure

This study explores the association between white privilege attitudes and multicultural counseling competencies among white European-American graduate students (N = 298) in clinical psychology and social work. Results revealed a significant positive association between white privilege attitudes and multicultural counseling competencies. Social work students reported significantly greater levels of white privilege awareness in comparison to clinical psychology students. Female participants reported greater levels of multicultural awareness. The results of this study confirm the assertion that white privilege attitudes are associated with multicultural counseling competencies. Implications of these results for theory, clinical practice, and training were reviewed.

Race/ethnicity, color-blind racial attitudes, and multicultural counseling competence: The moderating effects of multicultural counseling training.

Increasing trainees' multicultural counseling competence (MCC) has been a hot topic in counseling. Scholars have identified predictors (e.g., race/ethnicity, color-blindness) of MCC, and educators provide multicultural training for trainees. Using a sample of 370 psychology trainees, this study examined whether multicultural training (a) moderated racial/ethnic differences on MCC and (b) changed the relationship between color-blindness and MCC. Results indicated a significant interaction effect of race/ethnicity (i.e., White vs. ethnic minority) and multicultural training on multicultural awareness, but not on multicultural knowledge. Specifically, at lower levels of training, racial/ethnic minority trainees had significantly higher multicultural awareness than their White counterparts; at higher levels of training, no significant difference was found. Described differently, more training significantly enhanced Whites' multicultural awareness, but did not enhance racial/ethnic minority trainees' awareness. Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect of color-blindness and multicultural training on multicultural knowledge, but not on multicultural awareness. The association between color-blindness and multicultural knowledge was stronger at higher levels of multicultural training than at lower levels of training. Alternatively, the effect of training on enhancing knowledge was stronger for those with lower color-blindness than for those with higher color-blindness.