ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

UNVIERISTY OF LETHBRIDGE

A Critique of Multicultural Counselling Competencies and Implications for

Counsellor Education

By

Pamela Knelsen Olfert

A Final Project submitted to the

Campus Alberta Applied Psychology: Counselling Initiative

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTERS OF COUNSELLING

Alberta

June 2006

i

ABSTRACT This project is an analysis of multicultural counselling competencies (MCC). This project

explored how MCC can be incorporated effectively into counsellor education and how

multicultural learning can be encouraged across different learning domains. This was done

by exploring the background of the MCC movement and reviewing MCC models, as well as

looking at current literature on MCC and counsellor education and examining studies related

to MCC and counsellor education. It was found that many elements could affect the

development of MCC. It was also found for counsellor training programs to be effective

multicultural curriculum needs to be multi-faceted and infused and supported in all areas of

the program. Recommendations are given for further research.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I – Introduction 1

Chapter II - Theoretical Foundations 5

Chapter III – Procedure 18

Chapter IIII – Studies Reviewed 20

Chapter V - Synthesis and Implications 83

Chapter VI – Conclusion 90

References 91

1

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Diversity is a main element of Canadian culture. With continued immigration,

Canada is continuing to grow as a diverse, multicultural nation. By 2016 it is expected that

20% of the Canadian adult population will be visible minorities (Esses & Gardner, 1996).

This continual growth of diversity highlights the importance of counsellors being able to

provide effective services to clients with different backgrounds and worldviews. To meet this

growing need, the construct of multicultural counselling competencies (MCC) has emerged

as a guide and standard for counsellors in multicultural counselling.

In defining multicultural counselling there are two main positions: the

exclusionary/emic and the inclusive/etic. An exclusionary or narrow definition limits culture

to the variables of ethnicity or nationality (Pedersen, 1991) and proposes that a person is only

cultural diverse “if he/she is of different ethnicity or nationality than the majority group”

(Daya, 2001, p.50). From an exclusionary definition an emic position on multicultural

counselling arises. From this perspective, it is believed that ethnicity and nationality are the

most important dimensions of culture; thus to best serve culturally diverse clients theory and

techniques need to be developed from a culturally specific framework (Daya, 2001).

The broad or inclusive definition defines culture as consisting of demographic

variables, status variables, affiliations, and ethnographic variables, as well as, beliefs, values,

norms, attitudes, and behaviors (Daya, 2001). This definition ties in with the etic or universal

position in multicultural counselling, which argues that “counselling must take into account

the unique needs and circumstances of all clients” (Collins & Arthur, 2005, p.30). With this

belief it is thought that in some scope all counselling is multicultural (Pedersen, 1991).

2

In defining multicultural competence, Constantine and Ladany (2001) emphasize the

counsellor’s awareness and ability to put into practice: “a) multicultural attitudes /beliefs in

relation to working with culturally diverse individuals, b) knowledge about the impact of

various cultural groups membership on clients, and c) appropriate intervention skills in the

delivery of psychological services to culturally diverse clients” (p.490). Thus, multicultural

competence consists of the counsellor being able to appropriately and effectively work with

clients different then him/herself, whether the cultural difference involves aspects such as

nationality and ethnicity, or aspects such as worldview, beliefs and attitudes. Through an

extensive literature review this project will critique MCC and examine incorporation of MCC

into counsellor education. It will also offer recommendations for further development of

MCC and curriculum in counsellor education.

There are several reasons why this project is important. First, competent multicultural

counselling is part of ethical practices. As Casa, Ponterotto and Gutierrez (1986) clearly

pointed out “counseling of persons of culturally diverse backgrounds by persons who are not

trained or competent to work with such groups should be regarded as unethical” (p.347).

Several ethical codes discuss appropriate practices related to cultural competence. For

example, the Canadian Counselling Association (1999) code of ethics reflects values such as

“integrity, competence, responsibility, and an understanding of and respect for cultural

diversity of society” (para.1). These values are outlined further in ethical principle A.9:

“Counsellors strive to understand and respect the diversity of their clients, including

differences related to age, ethnicity, culture, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation

and social economic status” (para.22).

3

In their guidelines for non-discriminatory practice, The College of Alberta

Psychologists (2002) also address ‘respect of the dignity of person’ guideline and points out

that this guideline has an added responsibility and “special significance in a society that is

becoming more diverse” (para.2). Professionals are urged to “continually monitor how they

demonstrate respect when working with diverse populations” (para.2). The Canadian

Psychologist Association (2000) code of ethics also stresses the need for competent practice,

and the limits of such practice. The CPA (2000) also links competence with self-knowledge,

pointing out that ethical psychologists should have an awareness of how their personal

situation (i.e. values, attitudes experiences, and social context) interacts with their

professional behaviour. Ignoring multicultural competence as a vital part of practice would

negate these clearly outlined ethical obligations. As Arthur and Collins (2005) point out,

developing multicultural counselling competence is not an “optional endeavor but is

foundational for effective and ethical professional practice” (p.51).

This project is also worthwhile because it could lead to more effective counsellor

education. Over the years there has been increased awareness for the need of multicultural

counselling education curricula; however, it is argued that there is still a “serious lack and

inadequacy of psychology training programs in dealing with religions, racial, ethnic, sexual,

and economic groups” (Sue & Sue, 2003, p.50). Exploring MCC and the implications and

incorporation of MCC for counsellor education programs could provide an awareness of

areas of strengths and weaknesses in counsellor education and suggest guidelines for how to

improve and best train counsellors to become multiculturally competent. As Constantine and

Ladany (2001) state, competence is most often developed through formal training and

4

supervision, which makes it vital that “these training opportunities accurately reflect the

proposed competencies that are being taught” (p. 494).

Another reason that this project is important is related to effective practice. Several

authors reveal that mental health services are often underutilized by diverse or non-dominant

groups (Arthur & Collins, 2005; Dana, 1998; Daya, 2001) and often fail to meet the mental

health needs of ethnic minorities (Sue & Sue, 2003). This calls into question the relevance of

the services offered to these groups. It also begs the question of how equipped counsellors

are to effectively work with diverse populations. As society continues to diversify is

important that counsellors are able to meet the demand of the changing client base (Arthur &

Collins, 2005). Gaining an understanding of MCC and the effective translation of MCC into

training or education methods would lead to more meaningful and helpful counselling

services for clients.

The remainder of this document will include the theoretical foundation and overview

of MCC literature, an extensive review and analysis of MCC studies specifically in relation

to counsellor training and education, the synthesis and implication of the information

gathered, and recommendations. Also included is a section that outlines the procedures taken

in preparing this project. The paper will conclude with summary and closing remarks.

5

CHAPTER II

Theoretical Foundations

Background to the MCC Movement

The idea of MCC is relatively new. In the 1960s a few professional articles were

published that pointed out that psychologists were poorly prepared to help ethnic minority

clients. This theme was expanded on in articles that appeared in the 1970s (Arkinson &

Isreal, 2003). Discussion on cultural diversity and psychological practice commenced in

earnest during the 1973 Vail Conference. (Ridley & Kleiner, 2003). During this conference

came the decision that it is unethical for counsellors to provide counselling services to

culturally diverse clients, if the counselor is not competent to work with a diverse population;

thus, to address this concern a resolution was made that graduate counselling programs need

to provide training based on suitable cultural subject matter (Ridley & Kleiner, 2003).

Another key development during the 1970s was the formation of a committee through the

American Psychological Association Division of Counseling Psychology (Division 17) with

the objective to develop culturally appropriate counselling competencies (Collins & Arthur,

2005).

Stemming from this committee, in 1982 Sue et al. published a landmark article

outlining and identifying multicultural counselling competencies. Ten years later, Sue,

Arredondo, and McDavis (1992) published an article that revised and expanded on the

original MCC, identifying 31 knowledge, attitude, and skill competencies. These

competencies were further developed by Arredondo et al. (1996) and continue to guide the

field of multicultural counselling.

6

The work by Sue and colleagues provided the cornerstone for most MCC literature

and research. The development of competence framework is a major initiative to address the

need for effective services to clients with different backgrounds and worldviews, and outline

necessary elements for meeting this need. In order to continue to meet this growing need for

competent service, in 1997 the American Association for Counseling and Development

(AACD) supported the guidelines for cultural competence, signifying a major contribution to

MCC (Ridley & Kleiner, 2003). This was followed by Division 17 and 45 of the American

Psychological Association (APA) endorsing the guidelines for cultural competence in 1999,

“[m]arking the association’s commitment to cultural competence services and training”

(Ridley & Kleiner, 2003, p. 4). This continued with the APA Council of Representatives

endorsement and approval of the 2002 ‘Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training,

Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists’ (Collins & Arthur, 2005).

The endorsement by these two organizations helped in solidifying the importance and the

permanence of the MCC concept. The multicultural counselling competence framework

continues to give leadership that affects the way counsellor education is thought about and

developed in North America (Collins & Arthur).

Review of Major MCC Models

The landmark works done by Sue et al. (1982) and Sue et al. (1992) are among the

most cited and discussed in the counselling field (Mollen, Ridley, & Hill, 2003). The MCC

model first began with Sue et al. (1982) proposing 11 cross cultural counselling

competencies, which were organized along three dimensions: beliefs and attitudes;

knowledge; and skills. Sue et al. (1992) describe these dimensions:

7

The first deals with the counselor’s attitudes and beliefs about racial and ethnic

minorities, the need to check biases and stereotypes, development of a positive

orientation toward multiculturalism and the way counselors values and biases may

hinder effective cross-cultural counseling. The second recognizes that the culturally

skilled counselor has good knowledge and understanding of his or her own worldview

has specific knowledge of the cultural groups he or she works with, and understands

sociopolitical influences. The last deals with specific skills (interventions techniques

and strategies) needed in working with minority groups (p.72).

Sue et al. (1992) expanded on the original work and identified 31 competencies. These MCC

are each organized along three characteristics.

The first characteristic is the counsellor’s awareness of his or her own cultural values,

biases, and assumptions. Sue et al. (1992) cite that culturally competent counsellors,

“understand their own worldviews, how they are the product of their cultural conditioning,

and how it may be reflected in their counseling and work with racial and ethnic minorities”

(p.72). The second characteristic is the counsellor’s awareness of the client’s worldview.

Without negative judgment, the counsellor should actively strive to understand a culturally

different client’s worldview (Sue et al.). The last characteristic involves developing and

practicing appropriate and relevant intervention strategies and skills when working with

culturally different clients (Sue et al.). Fuertes, Bartolomeo, and Matthew (2001) describe

this characteristic as the counsellor’s ability to “use intervention strategies that are sensitive

to the cultural and contextual factors of the client, such as client’s spiritual beliefs and

cultural traditions” (p. 4). Each of these core characteristics are further developed along the

three dimensions of beliefs and attitudes, knowledge, and skills.

8

This work was further developed by Arredondo et al. (1996), including explanatory

statements for each of the identified competencies. Arredondo and colleagues also

operationalized these competencies through the Dimension of The Personal Identity Model in

the attempt to “assist counselors in seeing people holistically and to increase their ability to

recognize the complexity of all individuals” (Ridley & Kleiner, 2003, p.7). Arredondo et al.

also acknowledged that the focus of the MCC framework was on individual change, and

recognized the need competencies to address systemic or organizational change (Collins &

Arthur, 2005). Sue et al. (1998) subsequently elaborated on multicultural competencies

directed towards organizational development.

Since the original MCC model proposed and developed by Sue and colleagues, other

versions or models of MCC have emerged. Two such models are the Multidimensional

Model of Cultural Competence (Sue, 2001) and the Revised Framework for Cultural-infused

Counselling Competencies, as proposed by Collins and Arthur (2005).

Multidimensional Model of Cultural Competence proposed by Sue (2001) was an

endeavor to incorporate three primary dimensions connected with effective multicultural

counselling: “(a) specific racial/cultural group perspective, (b) components of cultural

competence, and (c) foci of cultural competence” (p.791). Specific racial/cultural group

attributes of cultural competence related to five racial groups: African American, Asian

American, Latino/Hispanic American, Native American, and European American (Sue,

2001). These groups are further described in regards to universal, group, and individual

levels of personal identity (Mollen, Ridley, & Hill, 2003). Components of cultural

competence referred to awareness, knowledge and skills as had been outlined in the Sue et al.

(1992) MCC model. Foci of cultural competence consisted of individual, professional,

9

organizational, and societal levels of intervention. Sue and Sue (2003) state: “Culturally

competent helping professionals must not confine their perspective to just individual

treatment, but must also be able to intervene effectively at the professional, organizational,

and societal levels as well” (p. 26). Sue (2001) used these three dimensions in a 3 x 4 x 5

factorial combination, which he proposes allows for the organized identification of cultural

competence in various areas.

Collins and Arthur (2005) describe three main competency domains that form the

foundation of their conceptual model: “1) Cultural Awareness –Self: Active awareness of

personal assumptions, values, and biases. 2) Cultural Awareness –Others: Understanding the

worldview of the client. 3) Cultural-Infused Working Alliance: Agreement on goals,

agreement on tasks, in the context of a trusting relationship.” (p.58). With regard to culture,

Collins and Arthur (2005) go beyond race and ethnicity to encompass a broad definition that

includes elements such age, gender, and sexual orientation. This is tied in with the belief that

all of these elements can affect an individual’s feeling of cultural identity; thus all of these

elements need to be considered by the counsellor. Collins and Arthur use the working

alliance construct to replace MCC’s earlier focus on intervention strategies and skills: “This

construct replaces the earlier, narrow focus on appropriate interventions strategies and

techniques as the third core competence domain and provides in our opinion, a more

inclusive and broader framework for linking the competencies to the counselling process”

(p.55).

Stemming from each of the three competency domains outlined, several core

competencies were presented, which are then further broken down into distinct attitudes,

10

knowledge, and skills needed to show competence (Collins & Arthur, 2005). The authors

believed that MCC needed to be developed further:

Advance multicultural competence is conceptualized as the ability to integrate

competencies identified across these various dimensions to establish an effective

working alliance with a particular client, focused on a particular presenting concern,

within a particular context. This is seen as c central focus on the model since the real

test for the counsellor is not in gaining specific competencies but in the ability to

apply those across contexts and with unique clients (p.55).

The core competencies domains also intersect with cultural identities factors (e.g., cultural

heritage, gender, and age…), areas of practice (e.g., applied practice, assessment, and

supervision…), and personal/contextual identity factors (e.g., political beliefs…) (Collins &

Arthur, 2005).

Infusing MCC into Teaching

MCC was developed for counsellors to be able to more effectively work with clients

from diverse cultures and backgrounds. As counsellors need to learn basic counselling skills,

MCC also needs to be learned, and this most often comes in the form of multicultural

training. This should be infused in counsellor education programs, as well as ongoing

professional development. Constantine and Sue (2005) point out that multicultural training

has been connected with the development of multicultural competence, thus for counselling

students to be competent in working with a diverse population is it is important to address

multicultural issues in psychology. Perez, Fukuyama, & Coleman (2005) concur in stating,

“the key to a program’s success in training interns and practicum students in multicultural

competence is the dedication and commitment of the program to issues of diversity” (p.166).

11

This is also in line with the American Psychological Association’s (APA) ‘Guidelines on

Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for

Psychologists’ (2002) in which guideline 3 states: “As educators, psychologists are

encouraged to employ the constructs of multiculturalism and diversity in psychological

education” (para. 3).

In multicultural counselling training, four basic training models have been identified

“(a) separate course (b) area of concentration, (c) interdisciplinary, and (d) integration”

(Yutrzenka, 1995, p.200). Although training models may vary, Yutrzenka (1995) stated that

rooted in almost all of the training models is the assumption that culturally skilled and

competent counsellors are aware of their own biases and culture, are knowledgeable about

the worldview and culture of their clients, and develop and apply appropriate counselling

interventions and techniques.

Within the different multicultural education models there are many different teaching

methods that attempt to enhance the infusion of multicultural competency into teaching and

training counsellors. One such methodology is experiential learning. Experiential training

involves “exercises that provide occasions for trainees to personally experience immersions

in a culture different from their own” (Ridley, Mendoza, & Kanitz, 1994, p.263) (as cited in

Pope-Davis et al., 1997, p.227). Kim and Lyons (2003) point out that experiential activities

such as illustrative games, used in combination with didactic methods can provide students

with the opportunities to observe and practice the skills that they read about or hear in

lectures. Experiential learning can help raise awareness about multicultural issues. It can also

challenges student’s values and beliefs about diversity and enhance a MCC view of attitudes,

beliefs, knowledge, and skills (Arthur & Achenbach, 2002; Kim & Lyons, 2003). A benefit

12

of experiential learning is that it can encourage students to learn through both cognitive and

affective domains (Arthur & Achenbach, 2002). This is important because as Toporek and

Reza (2001) indicate, for substantive change to occur in multicultural understanding and

competence the learning process must take place cognitively, behaviorally, and affectively.

No matter what training model or method is used, it is important for MCC not to be

limited to only the curriculum. Arredondo et al. (1996) point out that if it is only the

individuals that change and not the systems in which they work or the policies and ethical

standards that guide the profession, the status quo will remain the same. This holds true for

counselling agencies as well as educational institutions. With this in mind, Sue et al. (1998)

identified six elements that are essential for an organization to be able to offer a

multiculturally competent system of education or mental health care: “Values diversity;

Possesses a capacity for cultural self-assessment or cultural auditing; Clarifies its visions;

Understands the dynamics of difference; Institutionalizes its cultural knowledge; and adapts

to diversity” (p.107). Sue and Constantine (2005) also concur that multicultural education

systems need to be reflected in the variety of areas including the campus climate, curriculum,

teaching and learning style, and education support systems. As well, to truly become

multicultural requires a review of policies, practices, and organizational structure and a

creation of “new policies, practices, and internal structure that supports diversity” (Sue &

Constantine, 2005, p.222). This is also inline with the APA (2002) guideline #6 which

encourages psychologists to “use organizational change processes to support culturally

informed organizational (policy) development and practices” (para. 6). It is vital that the

support around multicultural issues is obvious among key administrators in the education

system such as Deans, Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Chairpersons (Ponterotto, 1997). This

13

helps to ensure that those often in charge make decisions and changes that will support

multiculturally sensitive policies and practices.

Although multicultural training procedures have been implemented to varying

degrees, it is important that a philosophy of multicultural training is developed, as it is the

training philosophy that serves as the foundation for any educational program. Leach and

Carlton (1997) explained: “To incorporate multicultural training programs without this

foundation is analogous to ‘placing the cart before the horse’” (p.185). Integrating and

openly communicating a multicultural philosophy and mission statement that conveys the

significance of sensitivity, knowledge, and awareness of multicultural issues within the

education program, allows for multicultural teaching strategies and experiences to be

designed and put into practice (Perez, Fukuyama, & Coleman, 2005). When an education

program curriculum is grounded in a multicultural mission statement and philosophy the

training can most accurately reflect the valuing of diversity.

In response to questions about the characteristics of effective training for MCC,

Ponertotto, Alexander, & Grieger (1995) developed a multicultural competency checklist that

was organized along six dimensions: “minority representation, curriculum issues, counseling

practice, and supervision, research consideration, student and faculty competency evaluation,

and physical environment” (p.11). This checklist captured the need for the holistic nature of

MCC training programs. Along these lines, Pope-Davis, Liu, Toporek, and Brittan-Powell

(2001) argue that in order for counselling training programs to demonstrate a commitment to

multicultural issues they must develop a positive learning environment through means of

offering multicultural courses, employing minority faculty members, and encouraging

minority role models. Marsella and Pedersen (2004) provided fifty strategies for teaching

14

counselling psychology that is relevant for the global community and less culturally

encapsulated, they also provided eight recommendations for changes that need to occur:

First, textbooks need to incorporate examples from a variety of societies. Second,

textbooks need to introduce cross-cultural perspectives throughout the text. Third,

psychological theories need to be routinely contextualised in a cross-cultural

framework. Fourth, psychological theories need to be consistently understood in their

historical context. Fifth, US journals need to invite more international Editors, authors

and advisors. Sixth, US journals need to cite more relevant literature outside of the

US. Seventh, textbooks need to be jointly authored by person form different cultures.

Eight, institutional support and funding for collaborative research across cultural and

national boundaries need to become more available (p.421).

These recommendations from different authors show the widespread and encompassing

change that needs to occur in many different areas and facets to accommodate the holistic

approach to MCC education. These recommendations and changes are only as good as one’s

commitment to MCC, as Perez, Fukuyama, & Coleman (2005) state: “Templates of change,

blueprints for organizational development, and steps for building a multicultural foundation

are only as effective as the total commitment of a counseling center and its staff to truly

become multicultural in all aspects” (p.171).

Critique

Since the original proposal of MCC (Sue et al., 1982), there has been both further

development and critiques of the MCC model over the years. It was often through critiques

of the original MCC model that revisions of MCC or new versions of the MCC model

occurred. Thus it is always beneficial to take a critical look at MCC and review and reflect on

15

possible weaknesses of the different models to avoid complacency in the matter of

multicultural counselling competence and to strive for improvements.

The MCC as proposed by Sue et al. (1982) and further developed by Sue et al. (1992)

focused on four racial groups in American society: African American, American Indians,

Asian Americans, and Hispanics and Latinos. Arredondo et al. (1996) added the

Caucasian/European group and address the distinction between multiculturalism, referring to

culture, race, and ethnicity and diversity, which could include, gender, religion, sexual

orientation, or physical ability or disability. However, this provides a limited perspective as

diversity can play a part an individual’s culture or interaction with others. Collins and Arthur

(2005) point out that hardly any endeavors have been made to integrate the other dimension

of culture into the expression of multicultural competencies and that most major models

focus solely on racial and ethnic groups. Sue’s (2001) model also focuses on the five major

racial groups in America. Another limit on this approach of focusing on set groups and not

fully addressing diversity is that the model fails when an individual does not fit into a set

category. This can also be a problem when an “individual, organization, or society of interest

spans more then one of the five race based groups” (Mollen, Ridley, & Hill, 2003, p.27).

There are various definitions of multicultural counselling competence that tie in the

different models of MCC. Although many of the definitions in literature have similar themes,

a universally accepted definition has yet to be developed and accepted. This makes it difficult

for students and practitioners to know what they are striving for and measure it with

confidence. This is in line with Ridley and Kleiner’s (2003) argument regarding MCC that

the inconsistent use of the term can cause incorrect assumptions about its meaning in the

counselling field and that “the lack of universal understanding of MCC stands as a barrier to

16

consistent and system integration of MCC concepts in to counselor training curricula” (p.14).

The meaning of related concepts, such as culturally skilled and cultural competency, and

whether all these terms are interchangeable, are all called into question (Mollen, Ridley, &

Hill, 2003). The variety of uses of these terms in literature in relation to MCC can cause

confusion and dilute the meaning of MCC.

Another important consideration when examining MCC is the place MCC has in the

counselling professional field. Collins and Arthur (2005) point out that most literature views

MCC as a set of recommended guidelines rather then mandatory standards (e.g., APA (2002)

Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational

Change for Psychologists). Collins and Arthur argue “there should be no distinction between

multicultural competence and professional competence since all encounters are, on some

level, multicultural interactions” (p.58). This is an important point, however, more empirical

research needs to be done to ensure that the proposed MCC actually leads to effective

multicultural competence in the real counselling setting before MCC should be translated

into mandatory standards.

Another aspect to consider when examining MCC is the integration of social justice

in MCC. Social justice is a “value that underpins an examination of societal concerns”

(Collins & Arthur, 2005, p.207), and is part of reviewing social structure inequality and

unequal power allocation (Collins & Arthur, 2005). The MCC model started with a narrow

focus of just the individual. Other areas, such as organizational development, were identified

in later revisions and models (e.g., Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue, 1998). Although Collins &

Arthur’s (2005) model provides an opening to address social justice, this is an area that still

needs a wider acceptance and integration into MCC. As Vera and Speight (2003) state: “The

17

multicultural counseling competencies do speak to issues of oppression, but say little

specifically about ways to advocate for social justice” (p.257).

These criticisms of MCC can also translate into criticisms of current counselling

education programs. Although research has occurred on MCC training programs, criticisms

have been waged regarding the limits to the present MCC training research. First,

Constantine and Ladnay (2001) argue that standards of competence are often supported by

conceptual or theoretical writings rather than being based on empirical research;

consequently, it is uncertain the length to which the competencies highlighted in training

programs can be effectively applied to real professional practice situations. Second, it is also

argued that there is uncertainty about the types of training that most effectively translate into

multicultural competency and that more research is needed on which teaching methods best

help students translate theory regarding multicultural counselling to actual practice (Arthur &

Achenback, 2002; D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991). Third, Yutrzenka (1995) also

mentioned that the majority of multicultural training research has not focused on the direct

connection between education and treatment outcomes; rather, most research explores the

indirect link between multicultural training and treatment outcomes through the improved

multicultural competence of the student or trainee. Specific studies and research on MCC

will be explored further in the next section.

18

CHAPTER III

Procedures

Relevant studies for this project were identified several ways. The search for studies

included literature and research available online through InfoPsyc and Academic Search

Premier databases or at the libraries of University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge, and

Athabasca University. When conducted the search, parameters included terms such as:

“multicultural counseling competencies”; “multicultural counselling”; “counsellor

education”; and “counsellor training”. Searches were combined to narrow the studies of

interest to include topics of MCC and counsellor education/training. When searches were

conducted both the American and Canadian spelling of “counsellor” and “counselling” was

used. The search was also limited to articles in English. References lists from articles

gathered were also reviewed for other possible appropriate literature or studies. When

searching database the titles of the literature produced were scanned, if titles appeared

appropriate, abstracts were read to gage if study fit the outlined criteria.

The criteria for the inclusion of studies were studies that seem to address the outlined

questions of this project: 1) What is MCC and how can MCC be effectively incorporated into

counsellor education? 2) What are the characteristics of successful training for the

development of multicultural competencies (Manese, Wu, & Nepomucenom 2001)? 3) What

needs to occur for multicultural learning to take place along all the domains of learning in

cognitive, behavioral, and affective domains (Toporek & Reza, 2001)? As well, studies that

measure the state of multicultural competence in counselling students or practicing

counselling professional were also included. An important criterion was that the studies need

19

to deal with the profession of counselling. In the realm of education the studies were limited

to counsellor training or education in post secondary or higher levels of education.

The searches resulted in 17 studies that were identified as appropriate for the scope of

this project. For all studies the following information was summarized: problem addressed,

design of study, data analysis strategies, results, conclusion, and evaluation of the study

(Mertens, 1998). All the information gathered from the studies will be critically reviewed

and summarized to address the questions outlined previously and to provide a critique and

recommendations of MCC and counsellor education.

20

CHAPTER IIII

Studies Reviewed

Achenbach & Arthur (2002)

Achenbach & Arthur (2002) clearly stated that the purpose of their investigation was

to explore an experiential learning exercise and the effect this exercise would have on

graduate students’ awareness of and sensitivity to cultural diversity. Within the study the

following questions were considered:

First, how is student awareness of diversity issues affected by experiential learning

exercise? Second, what learning processes take place through participation in an

experiential exercise? Third, how does experiential learning transfer to counselling

practice? Fourth, in what ways can experiential learning enhance the counsellor

education curriculum? (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p. 39).

Achenbach and Arthur (2002) used a grounded theory methodology, which allowed them “to

examine the process that takes place during experiential learning, and thus enable us to

clarify what content and method should be part of an education curriculum” (p.39). When

discussing the results of the study, the authors provided examples of the participants’

responses.

Achenbach and Arthur (2002) explained that the investigation was carried out in three

phases: the simulation exercise, where the students participated in a cross-cultural simulation

game during class; individual interviews, where 22 participants had 1 hour semi-structured

interviews that addressed their behaviours, feelings and thoughts around the simulation

game; focus groups nine months after the exercise while the students were enrolled in a

practicum, 19 participants were involved in the focus groups.

21

For the experiential learning exercise the authors used a cross-cultural simulation

game called Barnga, used to “reflect cultural clashes and communication barriers that occur

in real life situations” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p.40). Critical incidents in experiential

learning, which entailed focused questions to help participants reflect on the exercise. As

well, the exercise was videotaped, to facilitate the discovery of major themes.

The participants were Canadian first year students in a counsellor education program

in western Canada. All were enrolled in a multicultural counselling course that addressed

awareness, knowledge, and skills dimensions of multicultural competencies (Achenbach &

Arthur, 2002). The majority of the students were of European descent, with one student being

of Chinese descent and 2 students who did not identify ethnicity. As well, of the participants

3 were male and 23 were female and the average age was 29.5 years.

Achenbach and Arthur (2002) reported that based on the grounded theory four main

categories became apparent that characterized how the students were influenced by the

experiential learning exercise: schematic representation, learning process, learning outcomes,

and debriefing of the experiential learning exercise. First, the schematic representation which

indicates that student experiential learning is processed at three different levels or filters that

work together to create the participant’s schematic representation: cultural self-schema,

cultural other schema, and cultural condition schema. Cultural self- schema relates to the

participant’s own beliefs, values and past experiences (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Cultural

other schema is the way that the individual interprets other individuals’ personal experiences,

values and beliefs, and cultural condition schema relates to environmental setting

(Achenbach & Arthur, 2002).

22

Another core category was the learning process. Achenbach and Arthur (2002) stated

that five key events impacted how students “perceived and interpreted the meaning of the

experiential learning exercise: incongruence, negotiation, adjustment, evaluation, and

validation” (p.42). Achenbach and Arthur (2002) noted: “[t]hese key events were associated

with the emotional reaction that they triggered during the experiential learning

situation…Individuals who were unable to understand their own emotional reactions were

more challenged in interpreting the intended meaning of the overall experience” (p.42).

Achenbach and Arthur (2002) examined the results of the relationship between the

three levels of cultural schemas and the five key learning events. The first key learning event

was incongruence, which relates to the dissonance that occurs for the individual during the

experiential learning exercise. In relation to the cultural self schema, incongruence is

connected to the student’s self-doubt or confidence. With the cultural other schema,

incongruence relates to the “expectations that involve others” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002,

p.43). With the schema of cultural condition, incongruence results from “preconceived

notions about what the activity... represented” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p.43).

The next key event is negotiation, Achenbach and Arthur (2002) defined this as

"action-oriented and relates to the strategies used to manage self, others, and the surrounding

context” (p. 43). Negotiation in relation to the cultural self schema deals with the student’s

awareness about his/her actions and reactions when interacting with others. As part of the

cultural other schema, negotiation “involves the degree of accuracy with which one interprets

others’ actions and reactions” (Achenbach and Arthur, 2002, p.43). Lack of awareness can

cause frustration and communication clashes. Within the cultural condition schema,

negotiation represents the individual’s awareness of what is involved in the situation

23

(Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). The student’s focus will affect the way that negotiation takes

place (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002).

The next key event is adjustment and relates to the individual’s coping strategies

during the exercise. Adjustment through the cultural self schema refers to the rigidity or

flexibility of the student’s coping ability (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Adjustment through

the cultural other schema relates to progress towards individuality or collectivism. Within the

cultural condition schema, adjustment refers to the ability to adapt to a variety of

environmental conditions (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002).

Another key element of the study was evaluation, this relates to the students’ capacity

to evaluate and understand information to be able to create meaning and hypotheses about the

situations (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Evaluation within the cultural self schema involves

asking, “what am I doing?” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p.44). Within the cultural other

schema evaluation is based on the question, “what are others doing?” (p.44). It was noted that

students who “evaluated the situation with fewer preconceived notions were more likely to

understand the meaning of the game” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p.44). The cultural

condition schema dealt with the question of “what is going on here?” (Achenbach & Arthur,

2002, p. 44)

The last key learning event was validation. At the cultural self level validation

addresses the amount of acceptance participants have of their own feelings, thoughts, and

actions (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Achenbach and Arthur (2002) noted that “high

validation that began early, and continued until the end of the game, tended to result in

ethnocentric behaviour” (p.44). Validation at the cultural other schema referred to the level

of congruence that the student experienced with others (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). In

24

terms of the cultural condition schema, validation “reflects the level of acceptance one felt

for the surrounding environment” (p.44).

The third core category was learning outcomes; Achenbach and Arthur (2002) stated

that processing an experience in each layer of cultural schema was connected to the

development of empathy. The authors also pointed out that the learning experiences were

also perceived and interpreted through a sequence of four stages: stage 1 – cultural blindness;

stage 2 – cultural encapsulation; stage 3 – differentiation; stage 4 – integration. Each stage

moves along the continuum of understanding and gaining insight into the exercise and

implication, with integration (stage 4) being the pinnacle, where students understand the

concept “that is central to the exercise, namely that people are ‘playing by different rules,’ is

considered in an abstract manner, and is understood to represent life experiences rather than

specific populations and situations...” (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002, p.45). Achenbach and

Arthur (2002) found that increased exposure and openness to life experience seemed to be

related to how students connected with the exercise; whereas participants who did not have

multicultural counselling experience or did not seem to think about diversity in common life

experience did not seem to gain insight into the significance of the exercise.

The last main category was debriefing of the experiential learning exercise

(Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). Debriefing helped raise self-awareness and helped process the

information at all the levels of the cultural schema (Achenbach & Arthur, 2002). The authors

noted that several participants mentioned that the debriefing of the experiential exercise

helped to establish meaning. Achenbach and Arthur also pointed out two levels of debriefing:

process-oriented questions and outcome–oriented questions.

25

When discussing the results, Achenbach and Arthur (2002) summed up some key

points: the cultural schema functions as construct in the three different dimensions of cultural

self, other, and condition; the way in which cultural schemas are affected may be determined

by the emotional responses of participants; learning seems to be facilitated by the diversity of

life experiences; and debriefing that concentrates on process and outcome can promote

reflection on personal and professional implications. Achenbach and Arthur (2002) also

noted some limitations: only one experiential learning exercise was used, the sample based

on volunteer students, and the investigation cannot explain the learning experiences of

student not participating in the study. Another limitation was the sample size; the

recommended sample size for grounded theory methodology is around 30 to 50 interviews

(Mertens, 1998). However, Achenbach and Arthur (2002) study does provide insight into the

learning process of an experiential learning exercise and the conditions needed to maximize

this learning experience.

Allison, Crawford, Echemendia, Robinson, & Knepp (1994)

Allison et al. (1994) stated that the purpose of their study was to “respond to a

number of the unanswered questions relevant to the broader training of psychologists to

provide germane and competence services to diverse populations” (p.792). The authors stated

that they focused on training experience of psychologists in relation to providing services to a

range of ethnic and cultural groups.

During the spring of 1990 the authors contacted the APA’s Office of Demography,

Education, and Employment Research (ODEER) to obtain a mailing list of APA members

who had finished doctoral programs in clinical, counselling and school psychology. Potential

participants were arbitrarily chosen in numerical proportion to their membership by degree

26

field among the group of people who completed their doctoral degree from 1985 to 1987

(Allison et al., 1994).

The survey instrument was developed by the authors and reviewed by the ODEER

staff before being sent out. Allison et al. (1994) stated that the survey asked demographic

information, including: gender, age, ethnic group membership, sexual orientation, and

physical challenges. As well, participants were asked to provide information on their training

experiences, including classroom, practicum, and internship aspects. The surveys were

mailed with a cover letter explaining the project and ensuring anonymity of participants.

Six hundred surveys were mailed out, 292 were returned, resulting in a response rate

of 48.7%. Of the surveys returned three were not completed. Of the participants 162 were

female, 125 were male and 2 did not indicate. Two hundred and sixty were Caucasian, 10

African American, 1 Native American, 7 Asian American, 5 Hispanic, 4 the authors labeled

as other and 2 did not indicate (Allison et al., 1994). As well, 13 indicated that they were gay,

lesbian, or bisexual, 9 indicated being members of a specific religion as cultural group

designation, and 6 reported having a sensory or motor impairment. One hundred and ninety-

one had a degree in clinical psychology, 68 in counseling psychology, and 22 in school

psychology. However, due to the small number of school psychology respondents and the

study’s main focus on exploring training experience for providing traditional therapeutic

services, for the analyses the authors only used the response of those who received training in

clinical and counselling psychology. The authors also noted that the limited number of ethnic

group participants in the sample prevented the possibility of making a comparison of training

experiences across ethnic groups.

27

Allison et al. (1994) stated that the first area explored was the exposure and access to

faculty and staff belonging to diverse cultural groups. From the results, 78% specified

exposure and access to majority culture faculty. The second highest level of exposure was to

African American faculty, 48.3% of the participants reported having access to at least one

African American faculty member (Allison et al., 1994). Respondents also indicated having

access to an average of 2.75 culturally diverse faculty members, which included diversity

defined by ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical-sensory impairment (Allison et al., 1994).

Regarding multicultural courses, about 34% (n=87) of the participants reported access to a

course in the training program that focused on providing services to diverse populations. Of

respondents with access to such a course, 65 actually took the course (Allison et al., 1994).

On the survey, when the respondents were asked if their general graduate school course work

attended to issues applicable to diverse population, 46.3% stated that such topics were

infrequent, whereas, only 19.7% reported that these topics were usual (Allison et al., 1994).

With regard to practicum and internship experience, 46% reported that their supervision

never or infrequently addressed cultural issues. However, almost 70% of participants

reported that they had received additional training relevant to providing services to diverse

client groups, primarily though seminars or workshops (Allison et al., 1994).

The next section of the questionnaire explored the participants perceived level of

competence for treating various cultural groups. The highest level of competence (96.5%)

was indicated for working with European American clients. The second highest level

(37.5%) of competence was with working with African American clients. The lowest level of

competence was reported in respect to Native American clients, with only 7.7% indicating

feeling very competent working with this cultural group (Allison et al., 1994). Allison et al.

28

(1994) reported that all these numbers were lower then the percentage of respondents that

were seeing cases from the cultural population.

The participants were also asked to indicate their most effective training experience

relevant to providing services to ethnic and diverse groups. The top five responses were as

the follows: “(a) having access to supervision relevant to diverse cases (n=91; 35.1%); (b)

having internships experiences (n=61; 23.6%); (c) attending a seminar, conference, workshop

or other time-limited training experience (n=46; 17.8%); (d) working with minority clients

(n=45; 17.4%; and (e) taking relevant course work (n=34; 13.1%)” (Allison et al., 1994, p.

794)

In discussing the results, Allison and colleagues (1994) stated that it was troublesome

to see the difference between participants serving diverse clients and their perceived

competence level, which implies that counsellors who feel limited in their competence

continue to provide services. As well, Allison et al. (1994) pointed out that over 11% of

participants specified, “their training was less than adequate for their current position”

(p.794). The authors raised the point that this brings in to light the concern of the

accessibility of quality services to clients in diverse groups. Allison et al. (1994) also pointed

out that the results suggest there has been greater success in addressing training regarding

issues of ethnicity compared with training on diverse groups such as sexual orientation or

health impairment. The authors urged that there needs to be a further inclusion of these

groups in training experiences. They also pointed out the need for more integration of

multicultural information throughout the curriculum and an increase in faculty from diverse

population (Allison et al., 1994).

29

The authors noted limitations of the study. First, they recognized their limited

sampling procedure and they missed potential respondents that might not have been

registered with the APA. As well, they stated that future studies in this area should try to get

a more diverse sample of psychologists and seek respondents from other professional

organizations (Allison et al., 1994). Also, Allison et al. (1994) mentioned that there is the

possibility of response bias. They also mentioned that there were limitations because the

survey instrument was based on self-report and recall (Allison et al., 1994).

Some other limitations included that the authors did not provide a sample of the

survey. The survey was something that the authors developed specifically for their study. It

would have been beneficial for the authors to include the survey so that the readers could

compare the actual questions asked with the responses and results. This could also have

provided clarity as to the specific intention of the authors with regard to their stated purpose

of unanswered questions relevant to multicultural training. However, even with these

limitations the study does provide provisional information of areas of concern for counselling

training and areas of further exploration and improvement.

Arthur & Januszkowski (2001)

Arthur & Januszkowski (2001) addressed the issue of the MCC of counsellors across

Canada and addressed the following four questions:

1. What are the client populations that Canadian counsellors define as culturally diverse? 2.

How do Canadian counsellor rate their multicultural competencies on the dimensions

do self-awareness, knowledge, skills, and the multicultural relationship? 3. Which

multicultural client issues do counsellor believe they are managing

30

effectively/ineffectively? 4. What demographic and professional practice factors are

associated with higher levels of multicultural counselling competencies? (p. 37).

Sampling strategy consisted of randomly selecting every third member of the

Canadian Guidance and Counselling Association (CGCA). There was a participation rate of

33% leading to a final sample of 181 participants, 62 males, and 119 females with the mean

age of 46.5 years (Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001). More then half of the subjects had been

practicing as a counsellor for over ten years. 34% had completed one or more courses on

multicultural counselling, however, 64% had attended workshops or seminars addressing

multicultural counselling (Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001). The research questionnaires were

mailed out from the CGCA office. The package included a demographic questionnaire

adapted from the Multicultural Counselling Awareness Scale Form B, a critical incident

questionnaire, and the Multicultural Counselling Inventory. The MCI included separate

skills, knowledge, awareness, and relationship scales.

For data analysis strategy, a constant comparison method of content analysis was

used to review the information from the critical incidents. This is where three raters

developed taxonomy of themes. A relationship between the four scales of the MCI were

examined through determining their correlations, from there the SPSS Quick cluster routine

was used to create two groups of counsellors with high MCC and low MCC based on the

four MCI scales (Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001). Then a multivariate analysis of variance

(MANOVA) was conducted on the four scales to investigate for significant difference across

the two groups of counsellors. A second MANOVA was carried out using several

independent demographic variables associated with high and low MCC. Lastly, a Logistic

31

Regression analysis was performed to assess how well the counsellor characteristic predicted

MCC and to identify the strongest predictor characteristics (Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001).

The results revealed that in defining cultural diversity the categories included:

“gender (female n =72, male n= 42), ethnicity (n=74), First Nations (n= 42), religion (n=9),

disability (n+8), gay/lesbian (n=6), race (n=3), gangs (n=42), and refugees (n=2)” (Arthur &

Januszkowski, 2001, p.40). The raters categories 292 presenting client issues;

intergenerational and family conflict, marital or couple concerns, adjustment issues, abuse,

and career-related issues were the issues that emerged the most often from the data. Many of

the presenting issues that the counsellors reported were concerns expressed by the general

public; however, the counsellors reported “confounding influences of culture for

understanding the nature of client’s issues, the potential for value conflicts, an the need to

design culturally appropriate interventions” (Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001, p.40). For the

overall MCI scale, the means and standard deviations were (M =116.2, SD =10.1), for the

separate scale the means and standard deviations were: Skills M=38.3, SD=4.1; Awareness

M=27, SD = 5.1; Knowledge M=35.2, SD = 4.2; Relationship M=15.7, SD = 3.4 (Arthur &

Januszkowski, 2001). The results of the MANOVA revealed that counsellors with higher

multicultural counselling competence had a significantly higher percentage of culturally

diverse clients in their case load and had taken significantly more course work on

multicultural counselling. There was no significant difference in age, level of education, or

years of professional experience between the groups of high and low MCC (Arthur &

Januszkowski, 2001). With the Logistic Regression it was discovered that the strongest

predictors of MCC among counsellors was having a caseload of culturally diverse clients and

32

having completed professional seminars on multicultural counselling (Arthur &

Januszkowski, 2001). .

The authors indicate that this study highlighted the significance of adequate training

and education for counsellors who work with culturally diverse client. Also, the counsellor’s

experiences after graduation are important for the growth of MCC (Arthur & Januszkowski,

2001). The authors acknowledge the limits of this study: sample size and reliance on self-

reports. The authors also point out that while the study has suggested major features that are

connected to higher or lower levels of multicultural competencies, existing guidelines fail to

offer standards and methods to evaluate counselling progress in increasing MCC. They

suggest that there is a need for research to demonstrate how counsellor education can

“promote the transfer of multicultural counselling competencies on the areas of self-

awareness, knowledge, and skills to effective practice with clients” (p.47).

This study provides some useful information on the development of MCC in regards

to educational experiences. Some information that was lacking in this study was that

information was not provided on how the three raters, who developed taxonomy of themes,

were trained. Individuals who responded to the survey may have had a pre-existing interest in

the topic that led them to respond and this could have affected the results. As well, there were

a disproportionate number of female compared to male participants and ethnicity of the

respondents was never indicated these might have been additional variables to consider.

Constantine (2001a)

The main purpose of this study according to Constantine (2001a) was to examine the

relationship between independent and interdependent self-construal in relation to

33

multicultural case conceptualization ability using a sample of student counsellors, as well as

considering variables such as ethnicity and previous counselling training.

Participants were students in counselling programs at master’s and doctoral levels

located in the northeast region of the United States. The author of the this study used faculty

contacts to identify potential participants, and the survey packets were distributed and

completed during class time, thus, there was a 100% return rate. In total, 120 students

participated. The breakdown of participants’ demographic information was as follows: 94

women and 26 men; age range from 21-47 (M =31.15); 86 held bachelor degree and 34 held

Master’s degrees; 88 White Americans, 14 Black American, 7 Asian Americans, 7 Latino

Americans, and 4 biracial; mean of 12.22 months of counselling experience; and 92% had

taken at least one multicultural related course (Constantine, 2001a).

Data was collected through a survey that included three parts: multicultural case

conceptualization ability exercise, the Self-Construal Scale (SCS, developed by Singelis,

1994), and a demographic questionnaire. The multicultural case conceptualization ability

exercise consisted of a vignette that provided notes from a hypothetical client intake session

and the participants were asked to describe the etiology of the client and effective treatment

strategy for the client. Multicultural case conceptualization ability was measured by

investigating two interrelated cognitive processes: differentiation and integration

(Constantine, 2001a). The exercise responses were coded by two trained raters who were

unaware of the study’s hypothesis. Constantine (2001a) described the SCS as “a 24-item,

seven point (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree) Likert-type scale that assesses

independent and interdependent self-construals” (p.36).

34

The results were displayed in a table. Constantine (2001a) began by conducting a

multivariate analysis of variance on different demographic variables to check whether

respondents differed significantly by SCS subscale scores and multicultural case

conceptualization ability. It was revealed that there was a significant racial and ethnic

difference on the interdependent subscales of the SCS, where Black Americans and Asian

Americans had the highest scores compared to the other ethnicities and White Americans had

the lowest score. Because of this difference ethnicity was entered as an independent variable

in the main analysis (Constantine, 2001a).

Constantine (2001a) stated that “for the main analysis, a hierarchical multiple

regression analysis was conducted using the total multicultural case conceptualization ability

score as the criterion variable” (p.37). For the equation the first step was entering ethnicity,

second step, number of previous multicultural counselling courses, and the third step

consisted of entering the independent and interdependent subscales of the SCS (Constantine,

2001a). In the first step it was found that ethnicity did contribute significant variance to

multicultural case conceptualization ability, with Asian Americans (M=5.86) and Black

Americans (M = 5.93) having significantly higher multicultural case conceptualization skills

than White Americans (M= 4.13) (Constantine, 2001a). It was also found that a higher

number of multicultural counselling courses and training was related to higher multicultural

case conceptualization ability, as well, “higher independent self-construal scores were

correlated with lower multicultural case conceptualization ability, and higher interdependent

self-construal scores were related to greater multicultural case conceptualization

skills”(Constantine, 2001a, p.38). Constantine (2001a) also reported that with “(t)he full

regression model, consisting of race or ethnicity, previous multicultural training and the SCS

35

scores, accounted for 30% of the variance in counsellor trainees’ multicultural case

conceptualization ability” (p.38).

In discussing the results, Constantine (2001a) stated the findings were consistent with

previous studies that revealed “counsellors of colour are generally rated as, and tend to

perceive themselves as, more multiculturally competent than do White American

counsellors.” (p.38). This study’s findings also provide additional support for the role of

formal multicultural training and courses in raising a counsellor’s multicultural competence.

Constantine (2001a) also pointed out that the findings regarding higher interdependent self-

construals equaling higher multicultural case conceptualization skills could indicate the

counsellors who “value connection and harmony in relationship may better understand the

roles of cultural issues in the lives of their clients” (p.40). Stemming from her findings,

Constantine (2001a) encouraged future research to examine how “similarities and differences

in clients and counsellor self-construals may affect various counselling processes and

outcomes.” (p. 40). Constantine also encouraged exploring the “impact of specific cognitive,

affective, and behavioral activities on possible changes in counsellors’ self-construals” (p.

40).

Constantine (2001a) noted several limitations: 1) limited recruitment in only one area

of the country; 2) the use of only one vignette to assess multicultural case conceptualization

ability; 3) the multicultural case conceptualization ability “may not have fully represented

respondents’ true level of multicultural counselling competence” (p.40); 4) small number of

some racial minority groups may have affected the ability of some analysis to identify

statistical significances; and 5) the multicultural case conceptualization ability exercise was

36

given before the SCS, which may have cued in some participants to the intent of the study

and affected their responses.

Additional limits to this study include the sampling procedures, the author stated that

potential participants were identified through faculty contacts; however, this leaves out

details of how the faculty contacts solicited student participation. There was also a

disproportionate number of females to males, as well as the author already mentioned limited

number of participants in certain racial minority groups. It might have been interesting to

look at other diversity factors that could of possibly added to the results (i.e. gender, sexual

orientation, disabilities…). Future research on this topic and related to activities that can

impact self-construals would have benefits for counsellor education development.

Constantine (2001b)

Constantine (2001b) stated that the purpose of her study was to examine “the role of

previous multicultural counseling training, counselor theoretical orientation, and cognitive

and affective empathy in predicting counselors’ multicultural case conceptualization ability”

(p.260).

The study collected data through a survey. The Survey packet included: “(a) a brief

demographic questionnaire, (b) the Perspective –Taking and Empathic Concern subscales of

the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), and (c) the multicultural case

conceptualization ability exercise” (Constantine, 2001b, p.360). The demographic

questionnaire included questions such as ethnicity, sex, age, highest degree, theoretical

counselling orientation, months of counselling experience, and number of academic

multicultural counselling courses. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was developed by

Davis (1980), and is a self-repot measure of empathy that consists of four subscales. For the

37

purpose of this study, Constantine (2001b) only used two of the scales in the survey: The

Perspective-Taking subscale which “assess individuals’ dispositional tendency to consider

others’ point of view” (p.361); and, the Empathic Concern subscale which “assess

respondents’ feelings of concern, warmth, and sympathy towards others” (p.361). For the

multicultural case conceptualization ability exercise the participants were given a vignette

and asked to write a conceptualization of what they thought was the cause of the clients

psychological difficulties and to write a conceptualization of what they would think would be

effective treatment for addressing the clients’ issues (Constantine, 2001b). Constantine

(2001b) also stated that the case conceptualization exercise was placed first in the package in

hopes that the demographic questionnaire and scales would not affect participants’ responses

to the case exercise.

The potential participants were arbitrarily chosen from a mailing list of American

Counseling Association members (Constantine, 2001b). Two hundred survey packets were

mailed out, 132 were returned; however, two were excluded from the study because the

respondent did have professional counselling experience (Constantine, 2001b). The break

down of the participants was as follows: 83 women, 45 men; ages 23-77 years old (M =

42.79); 100 White Americans, 11 African Americans, 8 Asian Americans, 8 Latino

Americans, 2 biracial, and 1 American Indian. Of these, educational level were as follows: 14

doctoral-level, 90 master-level counsellors, and 26 bachelor’s–level. Theoretical orientation

included: 22 humanistic theoretical orientation, 28 eclectic/integrative orientation, 26

psychodynamic, and 21 cognitive-behavioral (Constantine, 2001b). As well, there was a

range of 1 to 40 years of counselling experience creating a mean of 12.49 years.

38

Two raters who were counsellors with master degrees were trained in the coding of

the multicultural case conceptualization ability, neither were aware of the hypothesis for the

study (Constantine, 2001b). The raters coded the degree by which respondents incorporated

relevant cultural issues into two conceptualizations (etiology and treatment) of the client’s

presenting concerns (Constantine, 2001b).

In the present study, multicultural case conceptualization ability was calculated by

investigating two interconnected cognitive processes that produced two separated

conceptualization scores (Constantine, 2001b). Constantine (2001b) describes the process as

follows:

The first process, differentiation, is defined as a counselor’s ability to offer alternative

interpretations of a client’s presenting problem and the nature of the treatment that

could be provided. The greater the number of options presented in relations to the

client’s problem, the greater the degree of differentiation. The second process,

integration, is characterized by a counselor’s ability to develop associations between

and among differentiated interpretations (p.362).

Scores for each case conceptualization exercise ranged from 0 (non differentiation, no

integration) through to 6 (high differentiation, high integration).

Constantine (2001b) stated that through a series of multivariate analyses of variance it

was found that demographic variables did not reveal any significant interactions concerning

etiology and treatment conceptualization indexes, thus these variables were not included in

the main analysis. Constantine (2001b) conducted two hierarchical multiple regression

analyses with etiology and the treatment multicultural case conceptualization index as the

criterion variables. The first step of each equation was entering the number of formal

39

multicultural counselling courses taken (Constantine, 2001b). The second step, dealt with

entering the theoretical orientation information. The third step consisted of entering the

Perspective-Taking and Empathic Concern subscales, which Constantine (2001b) stated

served as measures of cognitive and affective empathy attitudes.

For the first equation, “with etiology conceptualization scores serves as the criterion

variable, greater multicultural training was associated with higher etiology case

conceptualization scores” (p.364). After taking into account the variance by multicultural

training, it was discovered that theoretical orientation also contributed significantly to

etiology multicultural case conceptualization ratings: it was found that eclectic/integrative

orientation counsellors had the significantly highest etiology case conceptualization skills

than did counsellors from other orientations (Constantine, 2001b). Constantine (2001b) also

reported “after accounting for the previous variables, cognitive and affective empathy

attitudes in consort added significant variance to the etiology ratings… with only affective

empathy attitudes making a unique positive contribution” (p.364). As well, “the entire

regression model, consisting of previous multicultural training, theoretical orientation, and

cognitive and affective empathy attitudes, accounted for 37% of the variance in etiology

multicultural case conceptualization scores” (Constantine, 2001b, p.364).

In the second hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the treatment multicultural

case conceptualization ratings served as the criterion variable (Constantine, 2001b). It was

found that multicultural counseling training was “significantly positively predictive of

treatment case conceptualization ratings” (Constantine, 2001b, p.364). After controlling for

prior multicultural counseling training, theoretical orientation also contributed significant

variance to treatment multicultural case conceptualization ratings; specifically, it was found

40

that eclectic/ integrative theoretical orientation counsellors had a significantly higher rating

in treatment multicultural case conceptualization abilities than other orientations

(Constantine, 2001b). After accounting for the previous variables, Constantine (2001b) found

that both cognitive and affective empathy attitudes added “significant positive variance to the

treatment ratings” (p.367). As well, the “full regression model, consisting of previous

multicultural counseling training, theoretical orientation, and cognitive and affective empathy

attitudes, contributed to 29% of the variance in treatment multicultural case conceptualization

ratings” (p. 367). All the scores were summarized in a table.

In discussing the results, Constantine (2001b) pointed out that the results of the study

give additional support to the positive impact of multicultural counselling training in

increasing counsellors perceived multicultural competence. Constantine (2001b) also

suggested that the findings could imply that counselors’ ability to employ perspectives and

techniques from a variety of counselling theories may be advantageous to them in working

with multicultural clients. In regards to the affective empathy results, Constantine stated that

these results could have possible implications for counsellor training programs to take into

account the role of empathy in the development of multiculturally competent students.

Constantine (2001b) noted several limitations of the study: 1) only using two of the

four IRI subscales, could affect their validity and reliability; 2) the self-report nature of

empathy could have allowed the respondents not to reflect the true nature of their attitudes or

behavior; 3) only using one vignette; 4) small number of culturally diverse participants and

educational degree category “may have decreased the power of some analysis to detect

statistical significance” (p.369); 5) there might have been a difference between the

participants’ reported preferred theoretical orientation and their real work with clients; 6)

41

“the study’s analog design does not translate directly to clinical practice” (p.369); and 7)

lastly, there might have been response bias, where only the people with interest in the topic

might have responded.

Despite the limitations already noted, the study does provide some tentative

information that is valuable for further investigation. Looking further at the role empathy and

theoretical orientation on multicultural counselling competency could impact the future of

counsellor training curriculum.

Constantine & Gainor (2001)

The purpose of Constantine & Gainor (2001) study was to more fully understand the

relationship between school counsellors’ previous multicultural education, emotional

intelligence and empathy with the perceived multicultural counselling competencies of

knowledge and awareness. The authors stated that their hypothesis was that those variables

would contribute to significant variance in reported multicultural counselling knowledge and

awareness.

Participants were selected randomly from the American School Counselor

Association mailing list. Two hundred survey packages were mailed out, asking potential

participants to “participate in an anonymous study examining their general attitudes about

working with clients” (p.132). In total 108 counsellors completed the survey, producing a

54% response rate (Constantine & Gainer, 2001). The following is the break down of the

participants’ demographic information: 91 women and 15 men; range of age from 24-76; 97

White Americans, 5 Black Americans, 2 Latino Americans, 1 Native American, and 2

Biracial; 90 held Masters’ degrees, 11 held doctoral degrees, and 5 held bachelor degrees;

42

mean of 10.89 years of counselling experience; and 68.5% indicated taking one or more

multicultural courses (Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

The survey consisted of: a demographic questionnaire, an Emotional Intelligence

Scale (EIS; Schutte et al., 1998), an Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980), and a

Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS; Ponterotto et al.,

2000). The EIS “is a 33-4-item, 5 point (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) self-

report measure of emotional intelligence…” (Constantine & Gainor, 2001, p.133). The IRI is

a self-report scale that measures four different dimensions of empathy: Person Distress,

Empathic Concern, Fantasy and Perspective-Taking (Constantine & Gainor, 2001). The

MCKAS is a scale that is meant to assess self-perceived multicultural counseling competence

in the areas of knowledge and awareness (Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

A multivariate multiple regression analysis was conducted with the EIS scores, the

four IRI subscales scores, and the number of multicultural counselling courses taken as the

predictor variable and the two MCKAS subscales scores as the criterion variables

(Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

Constantine and Gainor (2001) reported that the “[r]esults revealed that the over all

proportion of variance in multicultural counselling knowledge and awareness accounted for

by multicultural education, the EIS scores, and the four IRI subscales was statistically

significant” (p.134). Follow-up univariate analysis was carried out due to the fact that

multivariate significance was obtained at the .05 level (Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

Outcome of these analyses showed that the prior multicultural education, the EIS scores, and

the four IRI subscales revealed significant variance in the MCKAS knowledge subscales;

whereas, those six predictor variables did not show significant variance in the MCKAS

43

Awareness subscales (Constantine & Gainor, 2001). Thus, further analyses were performed

to explore the distinctive contribution of each of those variables on the MCKAS knowledge

subscale. Results of those analyses showed that previous multicultural education, emotional

intelligence, and the Personal Distress subscales of the IRI were all significantly and

distinctively connected to self- reported multicultural counseling knowledge (Constantine &

Gainor, 2001). On the one hand, “more multicultural education and higher levels of

emotional intelligence were related to higher levels of self-perceived multicultural

counselling knowledge in school counselors. Conversely, higher levels of personal distress

empathy were associated with lower levels of self-reported multicultural counselling

knowledge” (Constantine & Gainor, 2001, p.134).

When discussing the results of higher personal distress empathy related to lower

levels of multicultural counselling knowledge, the authors considered that perhaps school

counsellors “who becomes unduly anxious or unsettled when empathizing with the

difficulties of culturally diverse students may be somewhat less proficient in counselling

situations because their anxiety may impede them from effectively applying their

multicultural counseling knowledge” (p.135). This indicates the value of counsellors

knowing how to appropriately empathize with their cross-cultural clients concerns

(Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

Constantine and Gainor (2001) stated that the result of the multicultural counselling

training being positively related to a counsellors self perceived multicultural counselling

knowledge was not unexpected and points to the importance of multicultural courses when

training school counsellors. However, Constantine and Gainor (2001) speculated that the

insignificant findings between previous multicultural counselling courses and multicultural

44

awareness, may be contributed to the content covered in the courses that focuses on “didactic

knowledge about cultural issues” (p.135), rather then students’ own cultural self-awareness.

A similar result was discovered with emotional intelligence and self-perceived multicultural

knowledge and awareness (i.e. higher levels of emotional intelligence equaled higher levels

of multicultural knowledge; higher level of emotional intelligence did not equal higher levels

of multicultural awareness). This is important to the possibility that although counsellors

have high emotional intelligence that may help them comprehend the experiences of a

culturally diverse client, they might not always be aware of important cultural issues in the

counselling relationship (Constantine & Gainor, 2001). Constantine and Gainor (2001) also

pointed out that due to those results and because the four empathy variables were not

predictive of the participant’s multicultural counselling awareness, ways should be identified

to increase multicultural awareness. They suggested, “for example, didactic and experiential

activities that encourage school counselors to explore and process how their own cultural

identities interface with the cultural identities of their students could help these counselors to

develop awareness of issues that may influences cross-cultural interactions” (p.135).

Constantine and Gainor (2001) noted several limitations of their study: 1) some of the

respondents may have figured out the intent of the research, thus effecting their responses; 2)

mainly White American sample; and 3) limited ability to generalize the findings because the

participants that responded may have differed from those who did not respond to the survey.

They suggested that future research should continue to explore the variables in this study, as

well as explore the perspective of school counsellors’ culturally diverse students on the

multicultural competence of the service they received. On that note, it would also be

beneficial if such studies would extend to include the wider counselling profession and

45

clients. However, this study does provide information for counsellor training programs to

consider when developing their programs. It shows the value of adding additional elements

(i.e. empathy and emotional intelligence) to explore in the pursuit of developing

multiculturally competent counsellors.

Constantine & Ladany (1996)

Constantine and Ladany (1996) clearly stated that the primary purpose of their study

was to “assess the extent to which counseling psychology doctoral students perceive their

training programs to met the multicultural competencies on the MCC [Multicultural

Competency Checklist]” (p. 242). This was done by surveying graduates students at an array

of counselling programs.

Survey packages containing a cover letter, the Multicultural Competency Checklist

(MCC), a demographic questionnaire, and a postage paid return envelope were sent out to 67

training directors from APA- accredited counselling psychology training programs

(Constantine & Ladany, 1996). The directors were asked to distribute these packets to

student in their programs that had been in the program for at least one year. In total 536

surveys were mailed out and 178 were returned, resulting in a 33% response rate. Two

surveys were unusable because of missing information and one program sent back all eight

surveys because the program had been discontinued, thus in total 168 surveys were part of

the data analysis (Constantine & Ladany, 1996).

Of the participants, 118 were female and 50 were male students. The ethnicity of the

respondents was as follows: 119 were White; 14 were Hispanic American; 12 were African

American; 10 were Asian American; 6 were American Indian, 4 were biracial; 2 did not

specify; and 1 was an international student (Constantine & Ladany, 1996). The participants

46

represented counselling psychology programs across 26 states and 133 reported to have taken

at least one multicultural counselling course.

The instrument used in this study was The Multicultural Competence Checklist

(MCC) developed by Ponterotto, Alexander, & Grieger (1995) and “consists of 22 self report

items that evaluate a programs multicultural training in six categories: minority

representation, curriculum issues, counseling practice and supervision, research

consideration, student and faculty competency evaluation, and physical environment”

(Constantine & Ladany, 1996, p.245). Participants were asked to rate whether their program

had meet or not met each 22 outlined competencies. The demographic questionnaire included

in the survey package asked for the following information: age, gender, ethnicity, location of

program, year in program, number of formal multicultural courses taken and a rating of the

importance of the inclusion of multicultural issues in training programs (Constantine &

Ladany, 1996).

On the Multicultural Competencies Checklist participants reported a mean of 10.81

(SD=4.06) competencies met out of 22. The Multicultural competencies that were reported to

be met the most frequently were: item (5) “(t)he program has a required multicultural

counseling course”; item (8) “(a) diversity of teaching strategies and procedure are employed

in the classroom”; item (9) “(v)aried Assessment methods are used to evaluate student

performance and learning”; item (13) “(t)he program has faculty members whose primary

research interest is in multicultural issues” (Constantine & Ladany, 1996, p. 250). The

multicultural competencies that were reported by students to be the least frequently met

were: item (2) “(a)t least 30% of faculty are bilingual”; item (12) “(t)he program has an

active ‘Multi-Cultural Affairs committee’ comprised of faculty and students”; item (20)

47

“(t)he program incorporates reliable and valid paper-and-pencil or behavioral assessment of

student multicultural competency at some point in the program”; item (22) “(t)here is a

‘Multicultural Resources Center’ of some form in the Program Area” (Constantine &

Ladany, 1996, p. 250).

Constantine and Ladany (1996) also compared the results of the response of the

students with the response of faculty members in Ponterotto’s study (in press during the

publication of this present study). The authors found that when comparing student and

faculty responses there was a high degree of consistency across the 22 competencies in the

checklist. However, the authors admitted the need to carry out a more controlled research

study exploring the perceptions of faculty and students in matched programs (Constantine &

Ladany, 1996).

Regarding limitations of the study, Constantine and Ladany (1996) pointed out that

“the response rate suggests that the results should be not interpreted as representative of all

counselling psychology students” (p.249). They also mentioned possible response bias due to

the fact that most students who filled out the surveys believed that multicultural issues were

important in training programs. Along that line, the authors did not decide which students

received the surveys. Also, the authors did not identify how the counselling psychology

training programs were chosen to get the packages except that they were APA-accredited.

Constantine and Ladany (1996) also stated “reporting inaccuracies are possible given that

some students may not have been aware of some of their training programs efforts and

accomplishments with regard to multicultural issues” (p. 249). However, if that is the case,

that is still a cause of concern that the training program fails to bring awareness to students

on those issues. Constantine and Ladany (1996) also mentioned that the checklist used

48

conceptualization of multicultural issues and did not address diversity issues such as gender,

age, sexual orientation and physical ability.

Constantine and Ladany (1996) called for future research to continue on this topic

and said it should “attempt to examine the longitudinal effects of multicultural competency

training, or lack thereof, in counseling psychology and counselor education programs” (p.

249). These authors also stated it should look at how multicultural competencies can be best

integrated into the curricula. This study provides a starting point in examining student

perceptions of whether counselling training programs are meeting multicultural

competencies. Although this study does not provide significant data on individual programs

it does provide general information that can be used for programs to evaluate their own

multicultural competence and for further exploration.

D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck (1991)

The main purpose of D’Andrea, Daniels, and Heck (1991) study was to “assess the

impact of a comprehensive multicultural training model among different groups of graduate

students” (p.143). Along with this purpose, they wanted to measure the effect that three

multicultural counselling courses had on students’ level of multicultural counselling

awareness, knowledge, and skills (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991). The proposed Null

Hypothesis was: “(t)here would be no change in students’ level of multicultural awareness,

knowledge, or counseling skills as s result of receiving intensive training in this area”

(p.146).

The first author developed a multicultural training course; the goals of the course

were to “foster students’ awareness and acceptance of cultural diversity, their knowledge of

pertinent multicultural concepts and issues, and the acquisition of counseling skills applicable

49

to multicultural situations” (p.144). The course consisted of a variety of learning strategies to

meet the goals, including, didactic presentations, and experiential and group learning

projects. The course was used in two different counselling programs at two different

universities and was a requirement for graduation.

The participants for this study were drawn from these two different programs. A total

of 96 students took part in this study; participants who were absent when the pre-test and

posttest were given were excluded from the analysis, adjusting the number of participants to

90. All the participants were students. In the first two investigations the participants were

enrolled in a counsellor education program at a large research university in the Western

United States and the student population was culturally diverse. The participants in these

investigations were largely Asian. The third investigation involved students at a similar sized

southeastern United States, also enrolled in a counselling program. The participants in this

investigation were mainly White.

The study was organized so that although the material of each course was the same

and taught by the principal investigator of the study, the format of the course differed in each

group. Students in Investigation 1 participated in a regularly scheduled multicultural

counselling course (or controlled course), in the spring of the 1990 semester. The students

met for three hours, once per week for 15 weeks. Nineteen students were in the treatment

group and 15 students were in the control group. Students in investigation 2 participated in

the multicultural counseling course (or control course) during the summer semester of 1990.

This course consisted of 12 classes that were three hours long and were held twice a week.

For this investigation 18 students were in the treatment group and 11 students in the control

group. The third investigation group involved students who enrolled in a course entitled

50

Counseling Diverse Populations, which consisted of six workshops spread over three

weekends in the spring of 1990, totaling 42 hours of direct training. This investigation did

not include a control course, as the authors stated that no appropriate one was available. A

total of 27 students were in the treatment group of this investigation.

The first two investigations used the nonequivalent control-group design. The third

investigation used a one-group pretest-posttest design. For the first two investigations a

Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used to find equivalence between participating groups before

the beginning of the treatment. The results indicated no significant difference between

control and treatment groups’ pretest scores in the areas of multicultural awareness,

knowledge, and skills in ether investigation 1 or 2. In addition a Kruskal-Wallis test proposed

that even with their cultural and geographical diversity, all five groups were alike in terms of

these three variables at the start of the investigation (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991).

The instrument used to measure the impact of the multicultural course was the

Multicultural Awareness-Knowledge-and Skills Survey (MAKSS). This instrument is a self-

administered written test that consists of 60 4-point Likert-type scale items that are equally

divided into three subscales (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991). The MAKSS was

administered at the beginning of the course and again at the end of the course, which

“allowed to test the null hypothesis for each group participating in the studies (pre-test-

posttest gains) and ascertain possible treatment and control group difference due to treatment

affect” (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991, p.146).

With the subscale scores gained by pretest-posttest administration of the MAKSS, a

Wilcoxon matched pairs test was used to compute the difference in the grouped means of

matched pairs of subscale scores. The authors placed all their result in tables. The results

51

indicted a significant difference existed between the mean ranks of each of the subscales for

all three of the treatment groups selected for the studies (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991).

In all three investigations the participants in the treatment groups indicted significant

improvements in their level of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill. In contrast, the

control groups did not show any significant pre-to posttest gains. With these results the

authors rejected their null hypothesis. D’Andrea, Daniels, and Heck (1991) stated that their

findings revealed, “apparent effectiveness of the training model to stimulate a notable

increase in students’ levels of multicultural counseling development regardless of the length

of time the training was offered (i.e. regular academic semester, summer semester, intensive

weekend training format)” (p.147). The authors also noted that in respect to within group

gains, the lowest z values were consistently associated with the multicultural skills sub

scores. D’Andrea, Daniels, and Heck (1991) stated that “this finding may suggest that it is

more difficult, more time consuming, or both to promote the acquisition o multicultural

counseling skills than it is to improve students’ cross-cultural awareness and knowledge”

(p.148). They also note that given their findings it is a mistake to assume students in

ethnically diverse settings or geographical locations would have multicultural awareness,

knowledge or skills without taking multicultural training.

The authors noted that a major limitation of their study was the nonrandom selection

and relatively small sample size in each group (treatment and control). The authors also

provided no details on the control group, which left the reader wondering what were the

elements that were required for the control group. Providing more detail regarding the

participants would have also been beneficial to this study. Variables such as counselling

experience, year of study, gender and a break down of ethnicity could have provided useful

52

information. However, this study does provide interesting preliminary research on the

effectiveness of a multicultural course and the different formats used.

Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen (2001)

The purpose of Diaz-Lazaro and Cohen (2001) study was to examine the influence of

cross-cultural contact on the development of MCC. The authors explored three hypotheses:

“First, the greater the degree of prior cross cultural contact the student had the greater would

be the student’s multicultural counseling competencies a the beginning of the course. Second,

the students’ multicultural counseling competencies would be higher at the end of the course

than at the beginning of the course. Third, students would indicate that cross-cultural

experiences were instrumental in the development of their multicultural counseling

competencies” (p. 44). Diaz-Lazaro and Cohen (2001) proposed that backing for these

hypotheses would imply that MCC could be improved by cross-cultural contact experiences.

The study investigated the effects of cross cultural contact on MCC by collecting

objective and descriptive data from students before, during and after a multicultural

counseling course with a strong cross-cultural contact component. The participants in this

study were student s enrolled in a graduate multicultural counseling course at a northeastern

state university. In total there were 15 participants: 10 females and 5 males. 12 students were

Caucasian, 1 African American, 1 Asian American, and 1 Native American. The students

came form six different programs: 6 from school counselling, 4 from counselling

psychology, 2 from school psychology, 1 from social work, 1 from early childhood

development and 1 from English as a second language (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001).

The course was taught by the second author and was developed to follow Pope-Davis,

Breaux, and Lin (1997) proposed guidelines of a Multicultural Immersion Experience (MIE).

53

It consisted of three sections. In the first section of the course the students were required to

choose a culturally different group with which they had little previous contact and were

required to meet with a person from the group to discuss diversity issues. In the second

section of the course the students were required to attend at least one cultural event from a

culture different then their own and to become “familiar with organizations, institutions, and

publications created by the group; and to have a meaningful interaction with a liaison for the

other culture” (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001, p. 48). Also included in this section, the class

often hosted guest speakers representing cultural minority groups. In the third section the

students were required to write an essay about their immersion experience.

The study used three different measures. The Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge,

and Skills Survey (MAKSS) (D’Andrea et al., 1991) was given to the student sat the

beginning of the course and at the last class. A Revised Multicultural Experience Inventory

(R-MEI), the authors revised the original MEI (Ramirez, 1991) and added three new scales:

MEI-ethnic, MEI-disabilities, and MEI-gay. This instrument was used to measure the extent

of contact with ethnic and other culturally different minorities (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001).

The R-MEI was given to the students at different times throughout the semester. The last

measure was the Guided Inquiry that was modified by Heppner and O’Brien (1994) to

evaluate student’s perceptions of helpful and hindering events in a multicultural counselling

course. It is a semi-structured questionnaire that is comprised of seven questions. This form

was given to the students each week to be completed and returned by the following week.

Thirteen students completed both the first and second administration of the MAKSS.

The MEI-ethnic was completed by 14 students, the MEI-disabilities completed by 9 students,

and 11 students completed the MEI-gay. Diaz-Lazaro and Cohen (2001) speculated that the

54

poor response rate for the MEI was “probably due to the discomfort with the instrument that

was mentioned by several students during the debriefing” (p. 49). Regarding the Guided

Inquires, 1 student completed all 13, 8 students completed 12, and 7 students completed 11 of

the reflection questionnaires.

To test the first hypothesis, a “Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients

between composite and individual revised MEIs and the Time 1 MAKSS total and subscales

were calculated” (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001, p.49). The results revealed a strong positive

correlation between the composite revised MEI and the total MAKSS, which the authors

stated suggests a strong relation between contact with culturally different individuals and

MCC. For the second hypothesis, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used, the results of this

test revealed that students’ scores were significantly higher on the MAKSS at the second

administration, showing that the course was effective in increasing student’s MCC. However,

the authors noted that the improvement was due to a significant increase in the Knowledge

and Skill subscales, whereas the Awareness subscale increase was small (Diaz-Lazaro &

Cohen, 2001). The third hypothesis was studied by examining the qualitative Guided Inquiry

journal data. There were 1,302 journal entries, which were coded by the first author.

Statements were identified and sorted into meaningful categories or themes. The authors

found that regarding the question from the Guided Inquiry “what was the most important

thing that happened in the class this week?” (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001, p.50) of the 194

response 27% were related to cross-cultural contact, which included guest speaker

presentations and cultural exploration and contact. Regarding the question “what in this

course is helping you achieve your desired change?” (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001, p.51),

55

there was 221 responses, with 16% of those responses were related to direct contact with a

culturally different persons.

The authors noted several limitations of the study. One limitation was the lack of a

control group. Along these lines the authors recommend that future studies should compare

courses that have a clearly structured cross-cultural contact with courses that lack this

component (Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001). Another limitation was the small sample size. The

authors stated that this restricts generalizabilty of the study and that larger, more diverse

sample would be helpful in future studies. Although the researchers examined prior cross-

cultural contact, they did not mention past counselling experience, which may have affected

the results, especially since some students came from non-counselling fields (i.e. English as a

Second Language; Early Childhood development) which would be an important

consideration since they were measuring multicultural counselling competencies. The authors

also mentioned some limitations with the measures that were used. For example, the MEI

was revised for the study and there is no research noting the reliability and validity of the

instrument. As well, both the MAKSS and the MEI are self report measures which can cause

problems such as: responding based anticipated behaviours or attitudes; responding in

socially desirable ways, and reading the items differently than what the authors intended

(Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001). Due to the outlined limitations the results should be reviewed

tentatively, however, it does provided some important information on the influence of cross-

cultural contact on the development of MCC that is worth further investigation.

Fraga, Atkinson, & Wampold (2004)

56

Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) clearly stated that the purpose of their study

was to explore “the relationship between race/ethnicity and preferences for counselors’

multicultural attitudes/beliefs, knowledges, and skills” (p.55).

The method consisted of the use of three paired-comparison questionnaires. The three

separate questionnaires were developed by the authors to measure the respondents’

preference for counsellors’ multicultural competencies in the areas of: attitudes/beliefs,

knowledge, and skills. Each questionnaire measured one of the multicultural dimensions.

This was based on the multicultural counselling competencies identified by Sue et al. (1992);

Sue et al. (1992) identified 9 attitudes/ beliefs competencies, 11 knowledge competencies,

and 11 skills competencies. For the survey, condensed versions of each of the competencies

were developed for each dimension and in each questionnaires the competencies statements

were paired with each other. This created an “attitudes /beliefs questionnaire consisting of 36

items, a knowledge questionnaire consisting of 55 items and a skill questionnaire consisting

of 55 items” (Fraga, Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004, p. 55). In introducing the questionnaire,

the respondents were requested to imagine that they were having a personal problem and

were seeing a counselor for help; a pair of counsellor competencies were present in each item

and they had to choose the characteristic they preferred in the pair (Fraga, Atkinson, &

Wampold, 2004).

In total 507 undergraduate students were part of the study from three ethnic groups:

Asian American, European American, and Hispanic. The participants were from two

community colleges and two universities in southern California. Instructors were identified

who taught ethnically diverse classes and were willing to participate; through their classes

students were solicited (Fraga, Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004). The attitudes/beliefs

57

questionnaire included the following respondents: 22 male and 32 female Asian Americans,

31 male and 42 female European Americans, and 17 male and 34 female Hispanics. The

knowledge questionnaire consisted of: 22 males and 28 female Asian Americans, 33 male

and 29 female European Americans, and 18 male and 33 female Hispanics. For the skills

questionnaire the participants were: 24 male and 27 female Asian Americans, 38 male and 27

female Europeans Americans, and 22 male and 28 female Hispanics (Fraga, Atkinson, &

Wampold, 2004).

To analyze the data, the Bradley-Terry-Luce model was used. The BTL model, “uses

a weighted least square regression to place the competencies on a continuum from least

preferred to most preferred and to test for significant intergroup differences…” (Fraga,

Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004, p. 53). The authors placed all the results, including

competencies rank and beta value in a table. The authors discovered that there was some

general preference for some multicultural competencies over others and that some

preferences can differ depending on the ethnicity of the respondent. In the attitudes/beliefs

questionnaire the top competency listed for the European Americans and Hispanic

respondents and second for Asian American respondents was: “has moved aware from being

culturally unaware to being aware and sensitive to his/her own cultural heritage” (Fraga,

Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004, p.60). For the knowledge survey, all groups ranked the

following as number one: “is aware of institutional barriers which prevent racial/ethnic

minority clients from using mental health services” (Fraga, Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004,

p.60). For the skills competencies there was also similar preference between groups with

“intervenes with institutions on behalf of racial/ ethnic minority clients” (Fraga, Atkinson, &

58

Wampold, 2004, p.60), which was ranked 1, 2, and 3 by European Americans, Hispanic, and

Asian Americans participants, respectively.

Although there was some preference agreement across all three ethnic groups, the

authors also discovered that the preference for some of the competencies differed depending

on the ethnicity of the respondents. In general the results showed a varying preference as

follows: attitudes/beliefs 5 of the 9; knowledge 5 of the 11; and skills 7 of the 11 (Fraga,

Atkinson, & Wampold, 2004). Specifically, Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) reported

that with the attitudes/ beliefs competencies, the greatest discrepancy in the beta weight arose

for “respects indigenous (native) helping practices and minority community help-giving

networks” (p. 60). With this competency European Americans had a stronger preference than

did the Hispanics and Asian Americans. Within the knowledge competencies, the greatest

variation in beta weight among the groups was with the following competencies: “ ‘has

knowledge of the potential cultural bias in assessment instruments and interprets his/her

clients’ scores accordingly’ (for which Hispanics had the least preference) and ‘understands

the sociopolitical factors that may adversely affect racial/ethnic minorities’ (for which

Hispanics had the greatest preference)” (Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold, 2004, p. 60). With

the skills competencies, the competency “constantly seeks to attain a nonracist identity”

(p.60), there was considerable difference with scores and ranking where Asian American

group ranked this as 1st and it was ranked 5th for the Hispanic group and 6th for the European

American group.

In discussing the results, Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) point out that while

having these competencies has not been proven to be connected to counselling process or

outcome, from these results it seems that by portraying these preferred multicultural

59

counselling competencies counsellors can improve their creditability with Asian American

and Hispanic college students. As well, Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) stated that

competencies ranked as least preferred should not be dismissed and viewed as not valuable,

as they pointed out that “the relative narrow range of beta weights between least preferred

and most preferred competencies suggest that all the competencies were viewed as

acceptable” (p.61). However, the information can be used regarding competencies to focus

on. Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) suggested that future research should explore the

strengths of each competency across and within ethnic groups (including more ethnic groups

than the present study). As well, studies need to examine whether clients view counsellors

who possess multicultural competencies more positively and have better outcomes.

Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) noted several limitations of their study: 1) the

participants were from ethnic-specific courses which could have effected response, since the

respondents might have been more sensitive to minority issues; 2) survey was based on

undergraduate students, reducing general ability of the results; 3) limited sample size

preventing testing of within group differences. As well, some other limitations of the study

are that some details seemed to be lacking in the sampling procedures. For example, it was

unclear if any students completed more than one survey, or if different students completed all

three separate surveys. It is also unclear how participation was solicited in the different

classes: did the instructors make it mandatory for their students to participate or was it based

on volunteers? This type of information would be beneficial when examining and

interpreting the results.

This study does start to provide a different perspective on multicultural competencies,

and exploring the views of clients and potential clients should continue in future studies, as

60

this can provide valuable information. However, future studies should also include a broader

range of diverse groups, which extend beyond ethnicity As well, this study also points to the

importance of counsellors being aware of their own cultural heritage, and this should be

considered when developing counsellor education program curriculum.

Heppner and O’Brien (1994)

Heppner and O’Brien (1994) stated that the purpose of their study was to investigate

characteristics that were beneficial as well as those that hindered an introductory-level

multicultural counselling course from the view of the masters and doctoral students enrolled

in the course. To examine how students experienced the impact of a multicultural course

Heppner and O’Brien’s (1994) descriptive study used a qualitative research design. There

was total of participants in this study: 8 men and 12 women, mostly Caucasian with the

exception of one African American student and 2 international students. All the students

were masters and doctoral students registered in an elective introductory-level multicultural

counselling course. The participants were from several different programs within a large

midwestern university: 9 from an APA-approved clinical psychology doctoral program, 6

from a counselling psychology masters program, and 5 from an APA-approved counselling

psychology doctoral program (Heppner & O’Brien, 1994). The participants were told that

involvement in the study would not affect their grade in the class and consent forms were

signed by all participants.

The course involved 3 hours per week instruction for 15 weeks, using a mixture of

didactic and experiential elements. The course was divided into three different sections. The

first section focused on students “developing awareness of their own cultural background, the

socio political nature of racism and oppression, models of racial identity, and criticisms of

61

multicultural research and training” (p.6). The second section of the course involved studying

the experiences of specific racial groups. The last section of the course entailed group

presentations by the students on non-ethnic minority groups. For data collection Heppner and

O’Brien (1994) used the Guided Inquiry Protocol, developed by Heppner, Rosenberg, and

Hedgespeth (1992). This tool was originally developed to “assess how a client perceives and

makes meaning out of various aspects of the counselling experience” (Heppner & O’Brien,

1994, p.7). The tool was modified to serve the purpose of assessing student’s perception of

beneficial and non-beneficial elements in the course. The instrument contained seven open-

ended questions that the students were asked to answer after each class session. The

information gathered resulted in data sets of 1, 907 individual responses (Heppner &

O’Brien, 1994). A process was developed to categorize the student’s responses that consisted

of “examining responses and making decisions regarding conceptually meaningful and

discrete categories in which to place individual statements” (Heppner & O’Brien, 1994, p. 7).

Two raters who were not involved in any other aspect of the study were trained to use the

categories and rate each of the responses. To calculate interater reliability Kappa Coefficients

were used for the initial rating for each category, the Kappa Coefficients ranged from .87 to

.98, demonstrating that a high level of interater reliability was attained: “Any discrepancies

were discussed, and through discussion between the raters consensus was reached for each

discrepant rating” (Heppner & O’Brien, 1994, p.8).

The authors presented their findings in a table, which included the categories of

classification for each of the questions and the number and percentage of students responding

in each category. They also provided examples of statements from students in each of the

categories. One key finding was that experiential elements and guest speakers from a wide

62

range of ethnic and non-ethnic backgrounds were perceived to be the most important

components in the learning process. The participants also noted that the main change in their

thinking or feeling about multicultural issues was in the area of awareness. Although students

indicated that there were perceived changes in both their multicultural awareness and

knowledge, they stated that a key concern was their capability to incorporate this knowledge

into their actual counselling behaviours (Heppner & O’Brien, 1994). The authors noted that

this finding emphasized the need for a multicultural practicum. Assigned reading when

compared to other course elements was given the lowest perceived importance.

Heppner and O’Brien (1994) noted some limitations of their study. They recognized

there was very little diversity in the sample. Small sample size also limited the possibility of

providing separate analyses of masters and doctoral students, or level of previous counselling

experience. A larger more diverse sample would have been desirable. They also recognized

that the “nature of the data collection process being repeated each week may have also

shaped and influenced the students responses” (p. 13).

An additional critique of the study is that Heppner and O’Brien (1994) did not

indicate how participants were selected other than they were enrolled in an elective

beginning-level course in multicultural counselling. This begs the question: what were the

criteria for acceptance into the class? As well, since the course was an elective it is possible

that all the students in the course had a pre-existing interest in the subject material, which

could influence their attitudes about the different learning activities. Different results might

have been obtained from a group of students that enrolled in the course because it was

mandatory. However, this study does provide initial information on some key elements

perceived as helpful or not in student’s learning process during a multicultural course. These

63

tentative results and the study limitations are definitely worth further investigation and

consideration when planning a multicultural course.

Manese, Wu, and Nepomucceno (2001)

The primary purpose of Manese, Wu, and Nepomucceno’s (2001) study was to

evaluate the effectiveness of predoctoral internship training on developing multicultural

counselling competencies. The training parallels the criteria in the checklist developed by

Ponterotto et al. (1995). The authors examined whether the intern’s multicultural

competencies increase after internship training; and hypothesized that there would be an

increase. They also explore the relationship between demographic and educational variables

on multicultural competencies, hypothesizing that counselling psychology interns and interns

of colour will assess themselves as more multicultural competent than clinical psychology

interns and white interns. They also looked at level of training or previous training in

multicultural course work and hypothesized previous training will positively correlate with

multicultural competencies

In regard to sampling, participants were chosen from large west coast university

counselling centre from 1990 to 1999 who were completing their predoctoral internships at

the site. All interns were given a letter outlining the informed consent and the questionnaire

during their first week of the training program. Whoever, chose to participate was also given

a follow-up questionnaire near the end of the internship, approximately 10 months later. The

questionnaire included a Multicultural Counselling Awareness scale (MCAS: B), which

consisted of a 45-item counsellor self-rating scale using a 7-point Likert-type format to

measure multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill. Thirty-nine interns were given

MCAS: B, of the 39, 35 completed the pretest, and 28 completed the posttest. Seven tests

64

were lost due to attrition or unusable forms (Manese et al. 2001); 24 interns completed both

the pre and post questionnaire. Participants ranged in age from 25 to 50; 66.7% women;

30.8% men; two thirds Caucasian; one third were either African American, Asian American,

Latino, or other. Sixty-seven per cent of those questioned received masters degrees; 12.8%

bachelor degrees; 5.1% doctorates; and 15 % did not indicate degree status. In terms of

multicultural training, the study ranged from 33.3% who indicated they had taken two or

more courses in multicultural counselling to 2.6 % who indicated never taking a multicultural

counselling course. The internship training consists of 11 multicultural competence-training

seminars, participation in outreach programs to diverse clientele, participation in research

related to multicultural issues, and interactions with culturally diverse staff and clients.

Data analysis strategy consisted of conducting t-tests on matched pretest and posttest

multicultural competency scores. Independent t-tests were conducted for multicultural

competence scores comparing counselling psychology interns to clinical psychology interns,

as well as comparing Caucasian interns to interns of colour. There were also pretest

correlations of multicultural counselling scores and level of training educational variables

The results indicated that intern’s multicultural competency scores after the training

internship, were significantly increased in the knowledge and skills area. There was not a

significant difference in the awareness aspect. Also, there was no significant difference based

on program status or the participant’s ethnicity. Manese et al. (2001) in conclusion stated,

“this study suggests that multicultural competency can be increased by internship training

that provides an integrative multicultural approach” (p.37). Manese et al. (2001) did

recognize the limitations of this study; the sample population was selective and small, thus

limiting generaliblity. As well, they indicated possible bias in that some of the researchers

65

were also participants in the training and supervision; this could have of led to selective

coaching to increase scores.

In reviewing Manese et al. (2001) study it is clear that the study would have provided

valuable information for the internship-training site; however, the study lacked details in the

internship program. Because of this, it would be difficult to reproduce the program or the

study.

Middleton et al. (2005)

Middleton et al. (2005) stated that the purpose of their study was to look at the

connection between White racial identity development and self-reported multicultural

counselling competencies of counsellors and psychologists and to increase the knowledge of

the competence that these professionals bring to clinical practice with diverse clients.

Four research questions were posed for the study:

1. Is there a difference in the self-perceived multicultural competence of counselors,

counseling psychologists, and clinical psychologists? 2. Is there a difference in

statuses of racial identity attitude development between counselors, counseling

psychologists, and clinical psychologists? 3. Do the self-perceived multicultural

competence and racial identity attitude development of mental health practitioners

working in the field differ from those of graduate students who have been examined

in previous studies (Burkard et al., 1999; Ottavi et al., 1994)? 4. Is there a relationship

among statuses of racial identity attitude development, selected demographic

variables, and self-perceived components of multicultural competency... for

professional mental health practitioners? (p.445-446).

66

Potential participants were gathered from the APA and ACA professional association mailing

lists; 3000 geographically, randomly selected names and addresses were gathered from each

of the databases (Middleton et al., 2005). From the survey packages mailed, 412 European

American mental health professionals responded to the survey, yielding an 11% response

rate. The participants consisted of 412 European American mental health practitioners: 265

were women and 146 men, and one did not indicate gender; range of age was from 23 to 81

years with the mean being 47.99 years; 179 were clinical psychologists, 70 were counselling

psychologists, and 163 indicated themselves as counsellors (Middleton et al., 2005).

The survey package included three instruments: the White Racial Identity Attitude

Scale (WRIAS; Helms & Carter, 1990), the Multicultural Counselling Inventory (MCI:

Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, & Wise, 1994), and the Survey of Demographic/Training Data

(DTD) (Middleton et al., 2005). The WRIAS is a 50 item self-report survey that uses a 5-

point Likert scale to assess the five racial identity attitude statuses: contact, disintegration,

reintegration, pseudo-independence, and autonomy (Middleton et al., 2005). The MCI is a 40

item self-report survey that uses a 4-point Likert scale to assess behaviours and attitudes

regarding the multicultural competencies of awareness, knowledge, skills, and relationship.

The authors of the study developed the DTD that was a 16 item survey that collected the

following information: “age, gender, highest degree earned, year hugest degree was earned,

professional identity, and historic/geographical origin” (Middleton et al., 2005, p.448).

The results from the first three questions the authors posed at the beginning of their

study were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. A multivariate analysis of variance

was used to compare differences between the three groups of mental health professionals

(counsellors, clinical psychologists, and counselling psychologists) (Middleton et al., 2005).

67

The authors stated that the dependent variables were the four subscales of the MCI and the

independent variables the stated professional identity. For both question 1 and question 2 no

significant difference was found between he three professional groups. For question 3 the

authors reported that their data was generally consistent with other previously mentioned

studies. For question 4 the authors noted that “correlation among the variables studied for all

professional groups combined revealed that each of the MCI subscales was significantly

correlated with all four WRIAS subscales with stable reliabilities” (p.448). The authors

presented all the scores of the inter correlation of the demographic variables and the WRIAS

subscales and MCI subscales in three separate tables for all the professional groups.

In discussing the results, the authors noted that the study indicted that the “more

sophisticated statuses of racial identity attitude development (Pseudo-Independence and

Autonomy) generally were correlated with higher levels of self-perceived multicultural

counseling competency” (p.450). It was also found that all three professional groups

perceived themselves to be at comparable levels of multicultural counseling competency

(Middleton et al., 2005). As well, “when all three professional groups were compared with

each other, there were no significant differences observed with respect to statuses of racial

identity attitude development” (p.451).

Middleton et al. (2005) clearly stated several limitations of the study: 1) limits of self-

repot measure, the possibility of respondents’ selecting socially desirable responses; 2) low

response rate of only 11%; and 3) criticism of the WRIAS measure regarding its construct

and discriminant validity. With the problem of participants giving socially desirable

responses the authors suggested that future research include a socially desirable responding

scale in the analysis. Middleton et al. (2005) also stated that future research is needed to

68

“develop methods of assessing multicultural counseling competency that will supplement

self-report measures that tend to be subjective” (p.454). As well, they suggested that future

research should look at how counsellors acquire their multicultural counselling competency.

Along these lines, because a link has been discovered between racial identity attitude

development and multicultural counselling competence, it was suggested that it is important

for counsellor education programs to consider including applicable curriculum pertaining to

racial identity attitude development into training programs (Middleton et al., 2005).

Despite the flaws that the authors mentioned, this study does provide tentative

information relating to the relationship between racial identity attitudes and multicultural

counselling competencies. Further exploration on this topic could have a positive impact on

counsellors and counsellor education programs in providing insight on another element or

factor in the development of multicultural counselling competency. Although the purpose of

this study was to focus on White racial identity attitudes, it would be interesting to consider

and compare the racial identity attitudes of other ethnic groups and the development of

multicultural competencies.

Ponterotto (1997)

Ponterotto (1997) stated that the purpose of the study was to review the “current

status of multicultural training in doctoral programs in counseling psychology and counselor

education” (p.128). This was done by a national American survey of doctoral programs in

counselling and using the Multicultural Competency Checklist as the surveying instrument.

The sampling procedure consisted of sending a survey to faculty members known to

the author or training/program directors from 63 APA accredited and 27 non-APA accredited

doctoral programs in counselling psychology across the United States. For the APA

69

accredited programs 49 out of 63 surveys were returned and for the non-APA accredited

programs 17 out of 27 surveys were returned, resulting in an overall response rate of 73%

(Ponterotto, 1997).

The survey included an individualized cover letter requesting participation in the

study, the 22-item Multicultural Competency Checklist, a questionnaire asking the precise

name of the doctoral program, and “whether the survey was filled out by a single faculty

member or by more than one faculty member working together, and whether the regular

instructor of the multicultural counselling course was a core or adjunct faculty member”

(Ponterotto, 1997, p.118). Of the returned surveys, 14% were done by two or more faculty

working collectively. Ponterotto (1997) also gave opportunity for participants to recommend

their program as a ‘Model Multicultural Training Program’ in one or more of the competence

areas in the checklist.

Ponterotto (1997) used Chi-square rests to examine whether the occurrence with

which competencies were met or unmet differed by APA position of programs. The results

were insignificant signifying “no differential pattern in meeting the competencies across

APA status” (Ponterotto, 1997, p.119). Thus, Ponterotto (1997) presented the collective

results of APA and non-APA programs.

The five competencies that were most often met by the counselling doctoral programs

were: item 9, “(v)aried assessment methods are used to evaluate students performance and

learning”; item 5, “(t)he program has a required multicultural counseling course”; item 8,

“(a) diversity of teaching strategies and procedures are employed in the classroom”; item 16,

“(d)iverse research methodologies are apparent in faculty and student research”; item 13,

70

“(t)he program has faculty members whose primary research interest is in multicultural

issues” (Ponterotto, 1997, p.119).

The five competencies that were reported to be the least often met were: item 2, “(a)t

least 30% of the faculty are bilingual”; item 22, “(t)here is a Multicultural Resources Center

of some form in the Program area”; item 18, “(o)ne component of faculty teaching

evaluations is the ability to integrate multicultural issues into the course. Faculty are also

assessed on their ability to make all students, regardless of cultural background, feel equally

comfortable in class. The program has mechanism to assess this competency”; item 12, “(t)he

program has an active Multicultural Affairs Committee composed of faculty and students”;

and item 20, “(t)he program incorporates a reliable and valid paper-and-pencil or behavioral

assessment of students multicultural competency at some point of the program” (Ponterotto,

1997, p.119). Ponterotto (1997) also presented the over all ranking of the six competencies

regarding the frequency of being met with mean percentages: research consideration, 84.3%;

curriculum issues, 78.4%; counselling practice and supervision, 42.7%; student and faculty

competency evaluation, 36.8%; physical environment, 31.5%; and minority representation,

27%.

Ponterotto (1997) also compared the results of the survey to earlier surveys (Hills &

Strozier, 1992 and Quintana & Bernal, 1995). In making the comparison, Ponterotto (1997)

noted that there was a jump in the number of programs that have a required multicultural

course, which can be a positive sign of progress in the increase of multicultural training.

In discussing the results of the survey, Ponterotto (1997) made some noteworthy

observations. He pointed out that although the checklist survey provides information of

competencies being met, the “results say nothing about the quality or utility of the growing

71

research base in multicultural counseling” (Ponterotto, 1997, p.121). Although Ponterotto’s

(1997) comments were directed to the quality of research, this comment could also be true

for the other competencies. Although competencies might be reported to be met, the survey

does not provide information on the quality of how those competencies are be met, for

example the quality of the multicultural courses. Another limitation of the study that

Ponterotto (1997) pointed out was that the survey relied on a simple checklist methodology,

which has some threat to accuracy because the faculty may want the program to look good,

and the faculty might not be aware of what other faculty members do in class or in

supervision. As well, the survey was based on a limited definition of multiracialism and the

author noted that future survey research should include a more open definition of

multiculturalism, including gender, disability and sexual orientation. Ponterotto also noted

that the survey did not leave room for gauging programs’ “current receptivity to the

competencies and efforts underway to meet them” (p.126). As is seen in the result minority,

representation received the lowest percentage of competencies being met. Ponterotto urges

that recruiting minority students and faculty needs to be a priority for counselling programs.

Although this is an important aspect of a multiculturally competent program, it needs to be

continued to been seen as only one piece of multicultural competence, and should not be

assumed that students and faculty from culturally diverse backgrounds will equal

multicultural counselling competence.

Ponterotto (1997) in concluding his study provided an outline of what a model

multicultural counseling program would look like. He stated that the checklist items provide

a base for a model multicultural counselling program. A model program would have a critical

mass (> 30%) of minority faculty and students, students and faculty would be shown multiple

72

worldviews and a variety of ways to learn, faculty would have opportunity for continuing

education regarding multicultural issues, support for multicultural issues would be clear

among key administrators, the curriculum would infuse multicultural issues through the

course and the issues would be integrated in to coursework, internships and research

(Ponterotto, 1997).

This research does provide information on the state of multicultural counselling

training across different programs in the United States. The results show areas that need

improvement and areas of continued growth. Ponterotto (1997) does provide a helpful guide

for model multicultural training programs, which could be an outline for counselling

programs and further research.

Pope-Davis, Reynolds, Dings, & Nielson (1995)

Pope-Davis, Reynolds, Dings, & Nielson (1995) stated that the purpose of their study was

to examine the MCC of graduate students in counselling and clinical psychology. Sampling

strategy consisted of mailing packages containing Multicultural Counselling Inventory

(MCI), which included the subscales of Awareness, Knowledge, Skills, and Relationship; as

well as, personal data sheets and consent forms. 520 of these packages were mailed to

training directors of 130 randomly selected APA- approved clinical and counselling

psychology programs in the United States. The directors were requested to hand out the

packages to students in the program. Of the 520 instruments sent out, 374 were returned,

however, 30 had to be disregarded because of incomplete information; thus 344 graduate

students were included in the study (Pope-Davis et al., 1995).

Characteristics of participants included 244 females and 100 males between the ages of

21 to 55 years old; 46% of the participants were enrolled in counselling psychology programs

73

and 54% were enrolled in clinical psychology programs. Of the participants 87% had

completed at least one practicum, and there was a mean of 67.8 contact hours with clients of

colour; as well as an average of 7.1 practicum supervision hours spent discussing

multicultural counselling issues (Pope-Davis et al., 1995).

Data analysis strategy consisted of using the four MCI subscales as dependent variables.

A multivariate analysis variance (MANOVA) was conducted to find out whether

participant’s self-reported MCC varied with respect to the psychology programs. Follow up

t-tests for the individual subscales were also used, as well as hierarchical regression analyses.

The authors discovered that of the two programs in psychology, counselling psychology

participants identified themselves as being more multiculturally competent. The counselling

psychology students scored significantly higher than the clinical psychology students on the

awareness, skills, and knowledge subscales; however, no significant differences were found

on the relationship subscale. For the counselling psychology students, on the awareness and

relationship subscales only, ethnicity was the only uniquely significant predictor of

responses. Adding to the predictive validity of the awareness subscale was educational and

clinical experiences, such as participation in multicultural workshops, practicum, and contact

hours with racially or ethnically diverse clients. Whereas, no other subscale were

significantly predicted by these variables for counselling psychology students. For clinical

psychology students, ethnicity was a significant predictor of responses for knowledge and

awareness subscales. However, with the regression, it was found that multicultural

coursework and multicultural discussion in supervision were predictive of knowledge and

awareness subscales, and participation in multicultural workshops added a significant

contribution to the variance accounted for in the awareness subscale.

74

In the discussion the authors point out the different reported competency within the

program may have been due to the different exposure to multicultural counselling issues, as

the counselling psychology students on an average complete 1.6 multicultural counselling

course, and the clinical psychology students complete an average of 0.9 courses in this

subject. The authors recognize that the results are descriptive and not generaliable, however,

the study does provide some initial information regarding how these psychology programs

are doing comparatively regarding multicultural training. The authors also discussed the

limitations of their study, such as it being based solely on a self-report measure the

participants “may have reported anticipated rather then actual behaviors or attitudes, and they

may have selected socially desirable responses” (Pope-Davis et al.,1995, p.27). Also, with

the sampling procedure, the researchers do not have control over who receives the packages

from the training directors and cannot be assured that they were given out at random. The

authors also pointed out the limitations that some of the variables lacked definition, for

example the definition of what accounts for a practicum.

This research provides some tentative, preliminary information on training programs.

However, along with the already noted limitations of the study there are some additional

concerns. First, the authors did not clearly indicate any potential bias (i.e. did any of the

researcher go to any of the training programs in the study?). Another limitation is that the

researchers did not provide details about the programs, thus there may be additional variables

at play that are not accounted for.

Steward, Morales, Bartell, & Miller (1998)

75

The purpose of Steward, Morales, Bartell, & Miller’s (1998) study was to explore the

influence multicultural training had on the degree to which students readily accepted

multiculturalism, as well as student perception of fellow students’ reaction to diversity issues.

The participants were White American masters and doctoral students from an APA-

approved counselling psychology program in a large public university located in the

Midwest. All the students received at least a B grade in four courses that had varying degrees

of multicultural counselling content. All of these were required courses, except one which

was not required at the masters level, however, was a popular elective course among masters

students. Forty-eight survey packages were sent out and 39 were completed and returned. Of

the 39 participants: 26 were female, 13 were male; 10 were doctoral students, 29 were

masters students; and the mean cumulative GPA was 3.34 on a 4 point scale (Steward et al.,

1998). Steward et al. (1998) indicated that 26 of the surveys received showed a generally

positive reaction to the presentation and discussion of multicultural issues, which the authors

labeled, multiculturally responsive students; 13 indicated an overall negative reaction, which

the authors labeled as multiculturally reactive students.

The survey was developed by the researchers and consisted of three sections. The first

section requested demographic information. The second section asked for general

information and description about the students’ reaction to “classroom sessions committed to

multicultural literature presentation and discussion” (Steward et al., 1998, p.18). As well, the

participants were asked whether their reaction to diversity-related content was positive or

negative. The last section included questions that explored the participants’ thoughts of the

reactions of classmates to diversity issues, their thoughts about people who shared different

76

reactions than their own, and their thoughts of the competency of the classmates with

different reactions than their own.

From the survey, 26 multiculturally responsive and 13 multiculturally reactive

students were identified. Three separate t test resulted in no significant (p< .05) difference

between the multiculturally responsive and reactive student groups on the two survey items

(i.e. rating overall competency of classmates and rating how many classmates shared their

reaction) or in GPA. Both groups “(a) perceived that approximately half of their peers agreed

with their perspective of the course content, and (b) perceived their peers as

adequately…competent” (Steward et al., 1998, p.19). The authors placed the summary of the

students’ responses to survey questions in tables. Regarding the question “what was your

personal reaction to members of this group who experienced the presentation and discussion

of multicultural literature differently?” (Steward et al., 1998, p.19), the most common answer

(42.3%) in the responsive group was related to ascribing their peers’ dissatisfaction with the

subject matter to their fear of difference and an unwillingness to reflect about diversity or

multicultural issues (Steward et al., 1998). Within the reactive group, five students did not

respond to that question; however, among those who did respond, the most frequent answer

referred to those peers as having a “knowledge deficit that was in need of correction”

(Steward et al., 1998, p.19).

Steward et al. (1998) stated that since one-third of the students in this study felt that

exposure to multicultural literature was insignificant and needless, it could suggest that

“training programs that include the infusion of multicultural content in all courses, as well, as

coursework specifically addressing diversity, may not always result in the same degree of

expected sensitivity for all trainees” (p. 19). The authors also noted that both groups of

77

students (responsive and reactive) generally viewed each other as equally competent. In

addition, Steward et al. (1998) pointed out that course grades showed that faculty gave

passing grades to insensitive students, which in turn can reinforce those attitudes and

behaviours. Steward et al. (1998) stated this provided one possible explanation for why

insensitivity to diversity remains among students and graduates from APA-approved

counselling programs even though there is multicultural counselling content because “there

remains no implicit or explicit penalty for disrespectful, unempathic, acting out tendencies of

the multiculturally reactive” (p.21).

Steward et al. (1998) noted several limitations of their study: 1) small sample size,

limited to only one training program; 2) the questionnaire was not standardized and did not

have established reliability or validity; and 3) collecting the data at different times (i.e. after

course enrollment and at graduation) could have provided information on the influence of

multicultural training over a period of time. Steward et al. (1998) recommends that future

research use a larger sample size from a variety of counselling training programs, and

including racial and ethnic minority students. Additional limitations that are important to

point out include the possible response bias where the respondents might have had a

preexisting interest in the topic, whether positive or negative. The study also brings into

question whether what the authors labeled multiculturally responsive and multiculturally

reactive is actually as black and white as it sounds or if the terms multiculturally responsive

and reactive could be placed on a continuum.

Although the results have limited generaliblity due to the limited sample, the study

does provide some tentative information that is valuable for further exploration. It begs the

question of to change the thinking of multiculturally reactive student. As it seems that just

78

because something is being taught does not mean that it is being accepted, it would be

worthwhile for counselling training programs to consider ways to increase positive outlook

on diversity issues in training among students.

Steward, Wright, Jackson, & Han (1998)

Steward, Wright, Jackson, & Han (1998) stated the purpose of their study was to

explore how the multicultural competence elements of awareness, knowledge, and skills

affected the assessment of multicultural counselling competence. For the study they

hypothesized that:

Multicultural counseling training will significantly influence the evaluation of White

counselor’s multicultural counseling competence by White counselor trainees, and

that the difference between ratings of multiculturally sensitive and insensitive

counselor will be greater for counselor trainees who have had more extensive

multicultural counseling training or experiences (Steward, Wright et al., 1998, p.

206).

The participants in this study were 54 White graduate level students enrolled in an APA

approved counselling psychology program at a large state university in southern United

States. Further break down of demographic information showed: 44 women and 10 men; age

range 22 to 50 years old (M = 31.46); annual income range $10,000 to $100,000; and

ethnicity groups included Russian, Jewish, Italian, Irish, German, English, and American

(Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

For an independent variable, Steward, Wright, & Jackson (1998) used the

Multicultural Awareness-Knowledge-Skills Survey (MAKSS), which is a 60 item written

survey that is divided into three equal subscales (Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills), and

79

each item is rated as a 4-point Likert-type scale. As the dependent variable the Cross-Cultural

Counseling Inventory-Revised (CCCI-R; LaFromboise et al., 1991) was used. The CCCI-R is

a 20-item survey that evaluates participants’ perceptions of a counsellor’s cultural

competence (Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

Two 20 minute videotaped counselling sessions that were part of the study were

identified as the most and least effective among a pool of 14 sessions. The ‘counsellors’ in

the pool of 14 sessions were volunteer, female, White counselling students. The ‘client’ was

a 24-year-old student volunteer, who presented the problem related to racial discrimination

and harassment at work, to all 14 counselling students. Then the counsellors in the 14

videotaped sessions were rated from least to most empathic by four raters: the ‘client’; a

White male doctoral level counselling student with multicultural training; a White female

doctoral counselling student with no multicultural training; and African American woman

faculty member whose specialty was in multicultural counselling (Steward, Wright et al.,

1998). As well, five doctoral students and two faculty members reviewed the videotapes and

completed a CCI-R for each (Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

Consent forms were given to each participant and measures were taken to ensure

confidentiality. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups, Steward, Wright et al.

(1998) stated that this was done to explore the risk of an order-effect. Group 1 was shown the

culturally sensitive counselling session first and then the culturally insensitive counselling

session; whereas, group 2 was shown the sessions in reverse. For the data collection,

participants completed a MAKSS, then viewed session 1, completed a CCI-R #1, then

viewed session 2 and completed the second CCCI-R (Stewards, Wright et al., 1998). All

participants were debriefed the following week in class.

80

In analyzing the data, complete scores on the CCI-R were calculated for each

individual. Three multiple regression analyses were carried out: 1) explored the input of

MAKAA subscales scores to the difference between CCCI-R #1 and CCCI-R #2; 2) explored

the contribution of MAKSS subscales scores to the CCCI-R of the culturally sensitive

counsellor; and 3) explored the input of MAKSS subscales scores to the CCCI-R of the

culturally insensitive counsellor (Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

A significant order effect was found when an analysis was conducted comparing

mean group CCCI-R differences. A significant difference was found between CCCI-R scores

in Group 1 who had viewed the most skilled counsellor first; whereas, no significant

difference was discovered between CCCI-R scores in Group 2, who had viewed the least

skilled counsellor first (Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

The results from the first multiple regression analysis showed that with MAKSS

subscales scores, there was a 24.8% of variance that significantly contributed in difference

among the raters of the culturally sensitive and culturally insensitive counsellors; it was

found that the Awareness subscales scores was the main element to this variance (Steward,

Wright et al., 1998).

The second multiple regression analysis discovered that the MAKSS subscale scores

significantly contributed to 23.7% of the variance in the rating of the culturally sensitive

counsellor; the Awareness subscale score was the main source to this variance (Steward,

Wright et al., 1998). The last multiple regression analysis found that MAKSS subscales

scores did not “significantly contribute to the ratings of the culturally insensitive counsellor”

(Steward, Wright et al., 1998, p. 211). All the results were organized and presented in tables.

81

In discussing the results, Steward, Wright et al. (1998) pointed out that the results

indicated multicultural counselling training does significantly affect the ratings of

counselling competence from White counsellors. The authors also noted several trends from

the results. First, the difference among ratings of a culturally sensitive and culturally

insensitive counsellor was larger with White raters who reported more multicultural

counselling training (Steward, Wright et al., 1998). Another trend was that White raters with

more multicultural training were more likely to assess a White culturally sensitive counselor

more positively than raters with less multicultural training (Steward, Wright et al., 1998).

Third, the authors commented that due to order effect found in the study, this highlights the

importance of exploring the relationship between the evaluation of counseling competence

and raters’ level of multicultural counselling training. Lastly, it was found that multicultural

counseling training had no effect on the assessment of the culturally insensitive counselor On

this point Steward, Wright et al. pointed out that “[r]ater with little or no multicultural

training might know what is wrong or incompetence, but with multicultural counselling

training, rater may be better able to identify what is right and who is most competent in

working with racial and ethnic minority clients” (p.212)

Steward, Wright et al. (1998) stated that these results support the need for

multicultural counselling training as a way of helpful preparation for the responsibility of a

counsellor, as well as that of supervisor. The authors also stated that the results suggest that

counsellor educators need to particularly address “strategies to attend the challenges

associated with counsellor trainees’ varying levels of multicultural awareness, knowledge,

and skill within supervision course work.” (p.213).

82

Steward, Wright et al. (1998) noted several limitations of their study: 1) the scales

used are open to criticism and could use more psychometric examination; 2) self report

measures used could reflect expected instead of authentic attitudes or behaviours; 3)

sampling concerns, including under representation of males, and students from only one

program and geographical region; 4) the limits of the use of an analogue design, assuming

that the “videotaped session would be similar to that in their role of supervisor” (p.); and 5)

“only approximately 24% of the variance in the CCI-R could be explained by the MAKSS

score. There is no way to tell from these results the degree to which the contribution of

counselor trainees; general counseling competence or other variables influenced these

findings” (p.214).

Despite these limitations this study does provide information that is important for

counselling programs, supervisors, and counsellors to consider. It seems that it can be

suggested that supervisors with multicultural training and competence especially in the area

of awareness are more able to provide insight to counsellors’ sensitivity and insensitivity in

the counselling session.

83

CHAPTER V

Synthesis and Implications

With increasing cultural diversity in Canada, counsellors need to be trained to provide

competent and relevant services to meet the needs of future clients. As can be seen through

the review of literature and studies, multicultural counselling competency is a popular topic

that has gained much attention over the years. With this awareness and knowledge of the

importance of providing relevant services to diverse clientele, counsellor training programs

are trying to understand and incorporate multicultural issues into the curriculum. Throughout

the studies reviewed there was a common theme of the importance of training for students

and counsellors working across cultures. Although there seems to be cumulative evidence for

the value of multicultural counselling training (e.g. Arthur & Januszkowski, 2001; D’Andrea,

Daniels, & Heck, 1991; Manese, Wu, & Nepomuceno, 2001; Steward, Wright, et al., 1998),

there is still uncertainty as to what kind of training is effective. In synthesizing the

information gathered through the review of the studies, the previously outlined questions will

be addressed: what are the elements of successful development of MCC?; what needs to

happen for this learning to occur along cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains?; and,

how can this learning be incorporated into counsellor training?

Effective Multicultural Counsellor Training

Several studies focused on specific elements (self-construals, empathy, emotional

intelligence, theoretical orientation, racial identity) that are proposed to support the

development of MCC. Although all of these elements need further research, the studies all

contributed to a better understanding of factors that might encourage or impede multicultural

counselling competency development in students. Generally, it was found that empathy was

84

related to certain aspects of multicultural competency (Constantine, 2001b; Constantine &

Gainor, 2001). Despite limited results, it does provide something to consider in the

development of counsellor training programs. Educators can consider ways to incorporate

empathy development for students working with multicultural clients (Constantine, 2001b). It

was also tentatively found that integrative or eclectic theoretical orientation was related to

higher case conceptualization skills with a multicultural related case (Constantine, 2001b).

More than actual evidence of which theoretical orientation is better, this result could point to

the ability of counsellors to be flexible in using different perspectives and techniques that

may be beneficial in counselling culturally diverse clients (Constantine, 2001b). Therefore, it

might be beneficial to help or encourage students to use creativity or to be open to trying

different methods or techniques when working with a variety of clients. Interdependent self-

construals were found to be related to higher multicultural case conceptualization skills

(Constantine, 2001a). This also points to the importance of encouraging flexibility in students

or counsellors when working with clients. Having the ability to shift between interdependent

and independent self-construals to match the client could be beneficial (Constantine, 2001a).

This is something that needs to be further researched, but raising awareness of the possible

interaction of self-construals could help in the development of MCC among counselling

students. Although the studies reviewed (Middleton, et al., 2005) only focused on White

racial identity, it was found that a higher level of racial identity development was related to

higher levels of self-perceived MCC. This tentative finding is worthy of further exploration

and consideration for counsellor education training programs when considering incorporating

racial identity attitudes/development into the curriculum. Emotional Intelligence seemed to

85

have a limited connection with MCC; it was related to higher levels of self-perceived

knowledge, but not awareness (Constantine & Gainor, 2001).

One general observation that emerged is that counsellor training programs need to be

multi-faceted. This conclusion can also be drawn by reviewing the studies and considering

how training programs can be effective in developing MCC across the domains of cognitive,

affective, and behavioral elements. Both the program and curriculum need to be

comprehensive. Multicultural issues need to be infused into all aspects of training programs,

including domains such as classes, supervision, and internships. Regarding class work,

material needs to be engaging and interactive for learning to take place through all learning

domains (affective, cognitive, and behavioral), as well as across the MCC dimensions of

awareness, knowledge, and skill. Arthur and Januszkowski (2001) stated that their results

“suggest that theory alone may not be the best way to prepare counsellors for working with

culturally diverse clients” (p.45). This is also in line with the findings from Heppner and

O’Brien (1994) where assigned reading was found by students to be the least important

aspect in multicultural training. Instead, the most important components in the learning

process were identified as experiential elements as well as guest speakers from a wide range

of ethnic and non-ethnic backgrounds (Heppner & O’Brien, 1994). Experiential activities in

class can help bring multicultural issues to life. If done with the appropriate debriefing, it can

help students explore and gain awareness of personal culture and multicultural issues

(Achenbach & Arthur, 2002; Constantine & Gainor, 2001). Cross-cultural contact, whether

through guest speakers or internship experience, appears to be vital in developing MCC

(Allison et al., 1994; Arthur and Januszkowski, 2001; Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001). Guest

speakers could increase students’ awareness and knowledge, whereas, exposure to diverse

86

clients in internship placements and supervision related to diverse cases could help students

develop MCC skills.

Along with the different elements of the curriculum (cultural guest speakers,

experiential activities, cultural supervision, and internships), it has also been suggested that

programs need to increase minority representation in faculty and students within these

programs (Allison et al., 1994: Ponterotto, Alexander, & Grieger, 1995; Pope-Davis, Liu,

Toporek, & Brittan-Powell, 2001). Although it can not be assumed that “simple exposure to

faculty serves to provide students with resources pertinent to providing relevant clinical

services to diverse population” (Allison et al., 1994, p. 795), it can create a more diverse

learning atmosphere. However, all faculty members should shoulder the responsibility of

providing information and exposure to diverse groups. For MCC to be successfully

incorporated into training programs it needs the support of policy, administration, and

faculty. This support on all levels of the system would help to reinforce the importance of

MCC and appreciation of diversity in counselling. As Steward et al. (1998) pointed out in

their study, it appeared that faculty gave passing grades to culturally insensitive students.

This can provide one possible explanation for why insensitivity to diversity remains among

students even if there is multicultural counselling content because “there remains no implicit

or explicit penalty for disrespectful, unempathic, acting out tendencies of the multiculturally

reactive” (Steward et al., 1998, p.21). This shows that MCC needs to be given more than just

‘lip service’ but instead needs to be supported and infused throughout the different levels and

aspects of the program.

Critique and Further Research

87

Extending from the limitations noted for each individual study previously, one

limitation that stands out is that most of the studies relied heavily on self-report measures of

MCC. A weakness of self-report measures is that participants might try to select socially

desirable responses, or report anticipated rather than actual attitudes or behaviors (Arthur &

Januskowki, 2001; Diaz-Lazaro & Cohen, 2001; Middleton et al., 2005). On this topic,

Middleton et al. (2005) stated that a “practitioner’s perception of multicultural counseling

competence may not necessarily reflect actual competence” (p. 454). Self-report measures

tend to be subjective while more objective methods of assessing MCC need to be developed

to supplement these self-report measures (Middleton et al., 2005).

The critique of research using solely counsellor self-report measures also ties in with

the lack of perspective from clients. The study by Fraga et al. (2004) was the only study

reviewed that examined potential clients’ views on MCC. Realizing that it is clients who are

ultimately affected by the counsellor’s competency or lack of, it is important to ensure that

the competencies that counsellors are striving for are actually relevant and beneficial for the

clients they intend to serve. This is also related to the need for outcome research. There is a

call for more research to explore counselling outcomes of MCC counsellors (Fraga et al.,

2004; Manese, Wu, & Nepomuceno, 2001).

Another critique is that many of the studies had a narrow focus on multicultural

counselling focusing solely on ethnicity (e.g. Constantine & Ladnay, 1996; Ponterotto,

1997). Multicultural counselling is not limited to counselling clients with a different skin

colour then the counsellor, but diversity and multicultural counselling can appear in many

different ways. Cultural elements such as gender, sexual orientation, religion, or physical

88

disability can all play a role in the counselling interaction and researchers need to include

these aspects in their studies.

Often the studies focused on European American or Caucasian participants for self-

perceived MCC (e.g. Middleton et al., 2005; Steward et al., 1998; Steward, Wright, et al.,

1998). Although this is at times understandable since often the sample contains

predominately Caucasian participants, it would be interesting to explore the MCC of

counsellors from ethnic and culturally diverse groups. The Pope-Davis et al. (1995) study

provided some tentative information that students of colour seemed to “having a higher level

of self-perceived multicultural competence” (p. 327). It is beneficial to increase minority

representation in faculty and student population in counsellor training programs, however it

would be presumptuous to assume that culturally diverse students would automatically be

multiculturally competent. On this topic D’Andrea, Daniel, & Heck (1991) stated: “it would

be a mistake for educators to assume that students in ethnically diverse settings or

geographical locations possess multicultural counseling awareness, knowledge, or skills

without participating in carefully planned training” (p. 148). Thus, including a more diverse

representation in studies could add some valuable information.

While reflecting on the critiques of the reviewed studies, it seems clear that in order

to move the concept of MCC forward, future research needs continue to explore questions

outlined in these studies. At the same time, new research needs to consider expanding to

include: a broader definition of culture, the development of more objective MCC measures, a

focus on clients’ perspectives and outcome research, and to include exploring the MCC of

counsellors from diverse/non-dominant groups.

89

Implications

This project can have a positive impact on future MCC research and counsellor

training curriculum development. By completing an in-depth review of MCC and research

related to MCC, it provides researchers with a foundation for future research. Also, by

examining what has been done and what is lacking in this area, this project can provide

direction for future research. A document that not only examines MCC, but also specific

studies can provide information for counselling programs wanting to update or improve their

existing counselling training programs. This will ultimately benefit clients as a greater

understanding of effective education methods will lead to effective and relevant services to

clients. A weakness of this project is that although a thorough search was done on this topic,

it is presumptuous to claim that it is an exhaustive and completely comprehensive

examination of all studies done on this subject matter. It is possible that studies were missed

or unavailable. Yet with that said this project does provide a valuable analysis of a body of

research from which to base recommendations.

90

CHAPTER VI

Conclusion

Multicultural issues are an undeniable part of counselling. To help counsellors meet

the need of providing relevant services to diverse populations, Multicultural Counselling

Competencies encompassing attitude, knowledge, and skills competencies were developed

(Sue et al., 1982; Sue et al. 1992). This project examined literature and research on MCC and

the incorporation of MCC into counsellor education. In reviewing studies on MCC and

counsellor training it was found that there are several elements that can affect the

development of MCC; as well, it became apparent that for counsellor training programs to be

effective, MCC needs to be supported at all levels of the program including policy and

administration. Also, multicultural curriculum needs to be multi-faceted and infused into all

areas of the program. Cultural guest speakers, experiential activities, cultural supervision,

and internships can all help students in their development of MCC. More research is needed

on MCC and counsellor education to continue to ensure MCC development that is relevant

for clients and effectively increased in training programs.

91

References

Achenbach, K., & Arthur, N. (2002). Experimental learning: Bridging theory to practice in

multicultural counselling. Guidance & Counseling, 17, 39-46. Retrieved August 26,

2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Allison, K. W., Crawford, I., Echemendia, R., Robinson, L., & Knepp, D. (1994). Human

Diversity and Professional Competence: Training in Clinical and Counseling

Psychology Revisited. American Psychologist, 49, 792-796. Retrived January 13,

2006, from PsycINFO database.

American Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on multicultural education,

training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists. Retrieved

January 13, 2006, from www.apa.org/pi/multiculutralguidelines/homepage.html.

Arredondo, P., & Arciniega, G. M. (2001). Strategies and techniques for counselor training

based on the multicultural counseling competencies. Journal of Multicultural

Counseling & Development, 29, 263-273. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic

Search Premier.

Arredondo, P., Toporek, R., Brown, S. P., Jones, J., Locke, D., Sanchez, J., & Stadler, H.

(1996). Operationalization of the multicultural counseling competencies. Journal of

Multicultural Counselling & Development, 24, 42-78.

Arthur, N., & Achenabch, K. (2002). Counselor Preparation: Developing multicultural

counseling competencies through experiential learning. Counselor Education &

Supervision, 42, 2-14. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Arthur, N., & Collins, S. (Eds.). (2005). Culture-infused counselling: Celebrating the

Canadian mosaic. Calgary, AB: Counselling Concepts.

92

Arthur, N., & Januszkowski, T. (2001). The multicultural counselling competencies of

Canadian counsellors. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 35, 36-48.

Atkinson, D. R., & Isreal, T. (2003). The future of multicultural counseling competence. In

D. B. Pope-Davis, H. L. K. Coleman, L. W. Ming, & R. L. Toporek (Eds.), Handbook

of multicultural competencies in counseling and Psychology (pp.591-604). Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Canadian Counselling Association (1999). Code of ethics. Ottawa. Retrieved May 10, 2004,

from www.ccacc.ca/coe.htm.

Canadian Psychological Association. (2000). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (3rd

ed.). Retrieved July 8, 2004, from http://www.cpa.ca/ethics2000.html.

Casas, J. M., Ponterotto, J. G., & Gutierrez, J.M. (1986). An ethical indictment of counseling

research and training: The cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Counseling and

Development, 64, 347-349. Retrieved January 13, 2006, from PsycINFO database.

College of Alberta Psychologists (2002). Professional guidelines for psychologists: Non-

discriminatory practice. Retrieved December 13, 2005, from http://www.cap.ab.ca.

Constantine, M. G. (2001a). Independent and interdependent self-construals as predictors of

multicultural case conceptualization ability in counsellor trainees. Counselling

Psychology Quarterly, 14, 33-42. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search

Premier.

Constantine, M. G. (2001b). Multicultural training, theoretical orientation, empathy, and

multicultural case conceptualization ability in counselors. Journal of Mental Health

Counseling, 23, 357-372. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search

Premier.

93

Constantine, M. G., & Gainor, K. A. (2001). Emotional intelligence and empathy: Their

relation to multi-cultural counseling knowledge and awareness. Professional School

Counseling, 5, 131-137. Retrieved February 28, 2005, from Academic Search

Premier

Constantine, M. G., & Ladany, N. (1996). Students’ perceptions of multicultural training in

counseling psychology programs. Journal of Multicultural Counseling &

Development, 24, 241-253. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search

Premier.

Constantine, M. G., & Ladany, N. (2001). New vision for defining and assessing

multicultural counseling competence. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L A. Suzuki, &

C. M. Alexender (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 482-498).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Constantine, M. G., & Sue, D. W. (2005). The American psychological association’s

guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational

psychology: Initial development and summary. In M.G. Constantine, & D. W. Sue

(Eds.), Strategies for building multicultural competence in mental health and

education settings (pp.3-15). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Dana, R. A. (1998). Understanding cultural identity in intervention and assessment.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

D’Andrea, M., Daniels, J., & Heck, R. (1991). Evaluating the impact of multicultural

counseling training. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 143-150. Retrieved

August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

94

D'Andrea, M. & Daniels, J. (1991). Exploring the different levels of multicultural counseling

training in counselor education. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 78-85.

Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy.

JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.

Daya, R. (2001). Changing the face of multicultural counselling with principles of change.

Canadian Journal of Counselling, 35, 49-62.

Diaz-Lazaro, C. M. & Cohen, B. B. (2001). Cross-cultural contact in counseling training.

Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 29, 41-57. Retrieved February

28, 2005, from PsycINFO.

Esses, V., & Gardner, R. C. (1996). Multiculturalism in Canada: Context and current status.

Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 28, 145-152.

Fraga, E. D., Atkinson, D. R., & Wampold, B. (2004). Ethnic group preference for

multicultural counseling competencies. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority

Psychology, 10, 53-65. Retrieved February 28, 2005, from PsycINFO.

Fuertes, J. N., Bartolomeo, M., & Matthew, N. C. (2001). Future research direction on the

study of counselor multicultural competency. Journal of Multicultural counseling &

Development, 29, 3-13.

Hartung, P. J. (1996). Transforming counseling course: From monocultural to multicultural.

Counselor Education & Supervision, 36, 6-14. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from

Academic Search Premier.

95

Helms, J. E., & Carter, R. (1990). Development of the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale.

In J. E. Helms (Ed.), Black and white racial identity attitudes: Theory, research, and

practice (pp.67-80). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Heppner, M. J., & O’Brien, K. M. (1994). Multicultural counsellor training: Students’

perceptions of helpful and hindering events. Counselor Education & Supervision, 34,

4-19. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Heppner, P. P., Rosenberg, J. I., & Hedgespeth, J. (1992). Three methods in measuring the

therapeutic process: Clients' and counselors' constructions of the therapeutic process

versus actual therapeutic events. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 39, 20-31.

Ho, D. Y. (1995). Internalized culture, culturocentrism, and transcendence. The Counseling

Psychologist, 23, 4-23.

Kerl, S. B. (2002). Using narrative approaches to teach multicultural counseling. Journal of

Multicultural Counseling & Development, 30, 135-143. Retrieved August 26, 2005,

from Academic Search Premier.

Kim, B. S., & Lyons, H. Z. (2003). Experiential activities and multicultural counseling

competence training. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81, 400-408. Retrieved

August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

LaFromboise, T. D., Coleman, H. L. K., & Hernandez, A. (1991). Development and factor

structure of the cross-cultural counseling inventory-revised. Professional Psychology:

Research and Practice, 22, 380-388.

Leach, M. M., & Carlton, M. A. (1997). Toward defining a multicultural training philosophy.

In D. B. Pop-Davis & H. L. K. Coleman (Eds.), Multicultural counseling

96

competencies: Assessment, education, and training, and supervision (pp.184-208).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Manese, J. E., Wu, J. T., & Nepomuceno, C. A. (2001). The effect of training on

multicultural counseling competencies: An exploratory study over ten-year period.

Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 29, 31-41.

Marsella, A. J., & Pedersen, P. (2004). Internationalizing the counseling psychology

curriculum: toward new values, competencies, and directions. Counseling Psychology

Quarterly, 17, 413-423. Retrieved December 13, 2005, from PsycINFO database.

McRae, M. B., & Johnson Jr., S. D. (1991). Toward training for competence in multicultural

counselor education. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 131-135. Retrieved

August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Mertens, D. M. (1998). Research methods in education and psychology: Integrating diversity

with quantitative & qualitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Middleton, R. A., Stadler, H. A., Simpson, C., Guo, Y., Brown, M. J., Crow, G., Schuck, K.,

Alemu,Y., & Lazarte, A. A. (2005). Mental health practitioners: The relationship

between white racial identity attitudes and self-reported multicultural counseling

competencies. Journal of Counseling & Development, 83, 444-456. Retrieved

February 28, 2005, from PsycINFO.

Mollen, D., Ridley, C. R., & Hill, C. L. (2003). Models of multicultural counseling

competence. In D. B. Pope-Davis, H. L. K. Coleman, L. W. Ming, & R. L. Toporek

(Eds.), Handbook of multicultural competencies in counseling and Psychology

(pp.21-36). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

97

Pedersen, P. (1991). Multiculturalism as a generic approach to counseling. Journal of

Counseling & Development, 70, 6-12.

Perez, R. M., Fukuyama, M. A., & Coleman, N. C. (2005). Using multicultural guidelines in

college counseling centers. In M.G. Constantine, & D. W. Sue (Eds.), Strategies for

building multicultural competence in mental health and education settings (pp.3-15).

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Ponterotto, J. G. (1997). Multicultural counseling training: A competency model and national

survey. In D. B. Pop-Davis & H. L. K. Coleman (Eds.), Multicultural counseling

competencies: Assessment, education, and training, and supervision (pp.111-130).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ponterotto, J. G., Alexander, C. M., & Grieger, I. (1995). A multicultural competency

checklist for counseling training programs. Journal of Multicultural Counseling &

Development, 23, 11-20. Retrieved March 1, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Ponterotto, J. G., Casas, J. M., Suzuki, L. A., & Alexander, C. M. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook

of multicultural counseling (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ponterotto, J. G., Gretchen, D., Utsey, S. O., Rieger, B. P., & Austin, R. (2000). A construct

validity study of the Multicultural Counseling Awareness Scale (MCAS).

Unpublished manuscript.

Pope-Davis, D. P., Breaux, C., & Liu, W. M. (1997). A multicultural immersion experience:

Filling a void in multicultural training. In D. B. Pope-Davis & H. L. K. Coleman

(Eds.), Multicultural counseling competencies: Assessment, education and training,

and supervision (pp. 227-241). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

98

Pope-Davis, D. B., Liu, W. M., Toporek, R. L., & Brittan-Powell, C. S. (2001). What’s

missing form multicultural competency research: Review, introspection, and

recommendations. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 7, 121-138.

Pope-Davis, D. B., Reyonds, A. L., Ding, J. G., & Nielson, D. (1995). Examining

multicultural counseling competencies of graduate students in psychology.

Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 26, 322-329. Retrieved March 1,

2005, from PsycINFO database.

Ramirez, M. (1991). Psychotherapy and counseling with minorities: A cognitive approach to

individual and cultural differences. New York: Pergamon.

Ridley, C. R., & Kleiner, A. J. (2003). Multicultural counseling competence: History,

themes, and issues. In D. B. Pope-Davis, H. L. K. Coleman, L. W. Ming, & R. L.

Toporek (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural competencies in counseling and

Psychology (pp.3-20). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., &

Dornheim, L. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of emotional

intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 167–177.

Sodowsky, G. R., Taffe, R. C., Gutkin, T. B., & Wise, S. (1994). Development of the

Multicultural Counseling Inventory: A self-report measure of multicultural

competencies. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41, 137-148.

Steward, R. J., Morales, P. C., Bartell, P. A., Miller, M., & Weeks, D. (1998). The

multiculturally responsive versus the multiculturally reactive: A study of perceptions

of counselor trainees. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 26, 13-27.

Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

99

Steward, R. J., Wright, D. J., Jackson, J. D., & Han, I. J. (1998). The relationship between

multicultural counseling training and evaluation of cultural sensitive and cultural

insensitive counselors. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 26, 205-

217. Retrieved August 26, 2005, from Academic Search Premier.

Sue, D. W. (2001). Multidimensional facets of cultural competence. The Counselling

Psychologist, 29, 790-819. Retrieved January 12, 2005, from PsycINFO database.

Sue, D. W., Arredondo, P., & McDavis, R. J. (1992). Multicultural counseling competencies

and standards: A call to the profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling &

Development, 20, 64-90. Retrieved February 27, 2005 from Academic Search

Premier.

Sue, D. W., Bernier, J. B., Durran, M., Feinberg, L., Pedersen, P., Smith, E., & Vasquez-

Nuttall, E. (1982). Position paper: Cross-cultural counseling competencies. The

Counseling Psychologist, 10, 45-52.

Sue, D. W., Carter, R. T., Casas, M. T., Fouad, N. A., Ivey, A. E., Jensen, M., LaFromboise,

T., Manese, J. E., Ponterotto, J. G., & Vasquez-Nuttall, E. (1998). Multicultural

counseling competencies: Individual and organizational development. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2003). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (4th

ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Toporek, R. L., & Reza, J. V. (2001). Context as a critical dimension of multicultural

counseling: Articulating personal, profession, and institutional competence. Journal

of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 29, 13-31. Retrieved January 21, 2004,

from Academic Search Premier.

100

Vera, E. M., & Speight, S. L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and

counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31.

Retrieved February 28, 2006, from PsycINFO database.

Weinrach, S. G., & Thomas, K. R. (2002). A critical analysis of the multicultural counseling

competencies: Implications for the practice of mental health. Journal of Mental

Health Counseling, 24, 20-36. Retrieved March 1, 2005, from Academic Search

Premier.

Yutrzenka, B. A. (1995). Making a case for training in ethnic and cultural diversity in

increasing treatment efficacy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63,

197-206. Retrieved February 27, 2005, from PsycINFO database.