Psychosocial costs of racism to white counselors: Predicting various dimensions of multicultural counseling competence.

In 2 interrelated investigations, the authors examined the extent to which affect, as measured by the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites scale (PCRW; L. B. Spanierman & M. J. Heppner, 2004), would predict various dimensions of multicultural counseling competence (MCC). In Study 1, structural equation modeling was used to test a mediating model of PCRW predicting self-reported MCC among a sample of White trainees (n = 311) from 34 states across the country. The overall model was a good fit to the data, with affective variables (e.g., White empathy, White guilt, and White fear) mediating the associations between color-blind racial attitudes and MCC and multicultural training and MCC. In Study 2, self-reported, demonstrated, and observed MCC were assessed among a sample of White trainees (n = 59; 40 of whose clinical supervisors participated) from 20 states. White guilt significantly predicted multicultural case conceptualization, and White empathy significantly predicted supervisor ratings of participants' MCC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-reported multicultural supervision competence of White predoctoral intern supervisors.

This study assessed the self-reported supervision practices, experiences, and multicultural competence of White intern supervisors (n = 211). White training directors and staff psychologists who were currently supervising predoctoral interns completed a 2-page survey regarding their multicultural supervision. Female supervisors reported higher multicultural supervision competence and spent more time processing cultural differences with their supervisees than male supervisors. Training directors also reported higher multicultural supervision competence than staff psychologists. Further, the number of interns supervised currently and over a career significantly predicted multicultural supervision competence. Recommendations for White intern supervisors include ongoing participation in education and professional practice experiences to improve multicultural supervision competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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

Increasing trainees' multicultural counseling competence (MCC) has been a hot topic in counseling. Scholars have identified predictors (e.g., race/ethnicity, color-blindness) of MCC, and educators provide multicultural training for trainees. Using a sample of 370 psychology trainees, this study examined whether multicultural training (a) moderated racial/ethnic differences on MCC and (b) changed the relationship between color-blindness and MCC. Results indicated a significant interaction effect of race/ethnicity (i.e., White vs. ethnic minority) and multicultural training on multicultural awareness, but not on multicultural knowledge. Specifically, at lower levels of training, racial/ethnic minority trainees had significantly higher multicultural awareness than their White counterparts; at higher levels of training, no significant difference was found. Described differently, more training significantly enhanced Whites' multicultural awareness, but did not enhance racial/ethnic minority trainees' awareness. Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect of color-blindness and multicultural training on multicultural knowledge, but not on multicultural awareness. The association between color-blindness and multicultural knowledge was stronger at higher levels of multicultural training than at lower levels of training. Alternatively, the effect of training on enhancing knowledge was stronger for those with lower color-blindness than for those with higher color-blindness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play therapists' self-perceived multicultural competence and adequacy of training.

Explored the self-perceived multicultural competencies and adequacy of multicultural training of play therapists across the United States. Registered play therapists belonging to the Association for Play Therapy (N=134) completed the Multicultural Counseling Survey (MMCTS) (C. C. Holcomb-McCoy & J. E. Myers, 1999). Results indicate that play therapists perceive themselves as competent on Multicultural counseling competence. The results also suggest that play therapists perceived their multicultural training as less than adequate. Although results indicate no difference between play therapists' competence and training based on years of experience, there was a difference in multicultural competence and training based on coursework in multicultural counseling. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist multicultural competency: A study of therapy dyads.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 44(1) of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training (see record 2007-04278-014). The fifth author's name should be spelled as follows: Alexa Mislowack.] This study examined the role of therapist multicultural competence (TMC). Fifty-one therapy dyads completed measures of therapist multicultural competency, working alliance, and their satisfaction with therapy. Clients also completed measures of therapist attractiveness, expertness, trustworthiness, and empathy. Results showed strong associations between clients' ratings of TMC and ratings of the working alliance, therapist empathy, and satisfaction. Clients' combined rating of therapist expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness were not associated with their TMC ratings but were significantly associated with therapists' self-appraised TMC ratings. Therapists' ratings of their TMC were associated with their ratings of the working alliance and satisfaction with their work. Results are discussed in the context of the relevant literature, as are implications for training and research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Strategies for building multicultural competence in mental health and educational settings.

Reviews the book, Stategies for building multicultural competence in mental health and educational settings edited by M. G. Constantine and D. W. Sue (2005). Strategies for Building Multicultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings is an excellent resource designed for mental health professionals who may lack knowledge and expertise in working with diverse clients. It provides hands-on strategies and suggestions in a variety of contexts, using the Multicultural Guidelines as a framework. This book is strongly recommended for clinicians working with culturally diverse populations. The Surgeon General's report Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2001) clearly demonstrates the disparity in the mental health care of racial and ethnic minorities as compared with Whites. This book is useful not only to novices exploring diversity but also to those who are already cross-culturally competent. The authors successfully apply the APA Multicultural Guidelines in clinical practice and educational, training, and organizational settings while providing specific strategies for clinicians. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of observer ratings of multicultural counseling competence in Black, Latino, and White American trainees.

Using transcribed intake sessions of 52 counselor–client dyads, this study explored the relative contributions of (a) counselor and client race or ethnicity, (b) counselor–client racial or ethnic match, (c) previous academic training in multicultural counseling, and (d) self-reported multicultural counseling competence to observer ratings of trainees' multicultural counseling competence. Results revealed that (a) Black American and Latino American counselor trainees were rated as more multiculturally competent than their White American peers, and (b) prior multicultural training was positively predictive of observer-rated multicultural counseling competence. Implications of the findings for counselor training and practice are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward reflective practice: A multicultural competence training model from a community mental health center.

Despite the importance of multicultural competence in clinical practice and training, there is a surprising dearth of innovative training models from fieldwork sites that would be replicable in other practicum settings. The authors illustrate a multicultural competence training model from a community mental health center that highlights the Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organization Change for Psychologists (American Psychological Association, 2003). The model focuses on providing multicultural training through two separate but linked training teams for the dual purposes of internal reflection and reflective practice. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of this training model for practice, research, and organizational change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the perceptions and experiences of faculty who teach multicultural counseling courses: An exploratory study.

Professional psychologists who teach multicultural counseling courses often face significant challenges, and very little information is available on their perceptions and experiences. A survey blending quantitative and qualitative questions was distributed to 169 faculty members who teach multicultural counseling courses. Results indicate that most faculty members surveyed typically incorporated self-disclosure when teaching and viewed their cultural identity as influential in how they teach. They also identified the specific teaching strategies they used and specified common group dynamics in class. Understanding the perceptions and experiences of faculty members who teach multicultural courses is essential to providing support for the important work done by these multicultural educators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence on multicultural training in school psychology: Recommendations for future directions.

School psychology training programs are required to provide multicultural training to preservice school psychologists; however, trainers have had difficulty adequately including multicultural content into the curriculum. Thus, there is a gap between the requirements and the training that many school psychologists receive. Training programs have grappled with multicultural training because of difficulty identifying the structure and content of such training for school psychologists. To advance multicultural training in school psychology, guidance is needed regarding the content and structure necessary to adequately develop multicultural competence. Hence, the purpose of this article is to critically review the evidence on multicultural training in school psychology and provide a synthesis of the best evidence for preparing multiculturally competent school psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Addressing classism, extending multicultural competence, and serving the poor: Reply.

Replies to comments on "Psychotherapy, classism, and the poor: Conspicuous by their absence" (see record 2005-11834-002). In this article, the current author outlined what psychologists over the past four decades have had to say about the field's neglect of the poor in its research, practice, and theory. Characterizing this exclusion of the poor as a form of classist bias, she shared her experiences of confronting the results of this bias within her own work. In her commentary, Aronson (see record 2006-05893-011) offered some of her own experiences in working with poor clients. As Moyer (see record 2006-05893-012) asserted, nonprofit organizations that make mental health services available to the poor do indeed constitute welcome exceptions to the current author's statements regarding the mostly middle-class purview of psychological practice. Liu's (see record 2006-05893-013) comment illustrated the different and often complementary perspectives that emerge when one considers the same topic from different paradigmatic stances. Although much of the divergence between Liu's views and the current author's seems to be a manifestation of our differing emphases, the current author addresses a few points of frank disagreement, including the use of the word "classism." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impracticalities of R. B. Stuart's practical multicultural competencies.

Comment in response to Stuart's recent article (see record 2004-10365-001) on multicultural competence. This comment includes three distinct voices. One voice is of a Brazilian woman, living in the United States, who experienced a visceral reaction to the article. The second voice is from a European American man who appreciates Stuart's efforts but is troubled by a disguised ideology that possibly objectifies culture and ignores sociopolitical realities. The third voice is from an Italian-Catholic-Austrian-Jewish man who can see himself and his clinical psychology training in what he considers Stuart's Western/White-male scientific multicultural metatheory. To the three of us, the practical suggestions Stuart offered seem useful, on the surface. However, we fear that when put into practice, these suggestions could not only be culturally insensitive, but in extreme cases might undermine some of the important progress made in the field of multicultural psychology over the past 2 decades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist multicultural competence, Asian American participants' cultural values, and counseling process.

Asian Americans drop out of mental health treatment at a high rate. This problem could be addressed by enhancing therapists' multicultural competence and by examining clients' cultural attitudes that may affect the counseling process. In the present study, we used a video analogue design with a sample of 113 Asian American college students to examine these possibilities. The result from a t test showed that the session containing therapist multicultural competencies received higher ratings than the session without therapist multicultural competence. In addition, correlational analyses showed that participant values acculturation was positively associated with participant ratings of counseling process, while the value of emotional self-control was negatively correlated. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis did not support any interaction effects among the independent variables on counseling process. All of these findings could contribute to the field of multicultural competence research and have implications for therapist practices and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervising international students: Relationship between acculturation, supervisor multicultural competence, cultural discussions, and supervision satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to explore the relationship between international trainees' acculturation level and cultural discussion on supervision satisfaction and (b) to examine the mediating effect of cultural discussions on the relationship between perceived supervisor multicultural competence and trainee satisfaction with supervision. One hundred and four international students from several clinical programs who have received clinical supervision participated in the study. Results revealed that students who had lower acculturation levels but greater cultural discussion showed more satisfaction with supervision. Furthermore, cultural discussion partially mediated the relationship between the perceived supervisor cultural competence and satisfaction with supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analogue study of the effects of asian cultural values and counselor multicultural competence on counseling process.

One-hundred-and-sixteen Asian American college students viewed analogue videotapes in which an actress portraying a European American female "counselor" expressed cultural values that were either consistent or inconsistent with Asian culture to an actress portraying an Asian American female "client." In addition, the counselor either acknowledged racial differences or did not acknowledge racial differences with the client. The results showed that when the counselor expressed values that were inconsistent with Asian culture, the counselor who acknowledged racial differences was perceived to be more cross-culturally competent than the counselor who did not acknowledge racial differences. Also, the results showed that observer-participants' adherence to the value of conformity to norms was positively associated with their ratings of counselor credibility and crosscultural counseling competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial costs of racism to Whites: Understanding patterns among university students.

This investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (PCRW), which refer to consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. Extending research that identified 5 distinct constellations of costs of racism (L. B. Spanierman, V. P. Poteat, A. M. Beer, & P. I. Armstrong, 2006), the authors used multinomial logistic regression in the current study to examine what factors related to membership in 1 of the 5 PCRW types during the course of an academic year. Among a sample of White university freshmen (n = 287), the authors found that (a) diversity attitudes (i.e., universal diverse orientation and unawareness of privilege) explained PCRW type at entrance, (b) PCRW type at entrance explained participation in interracial friendships at the end of the year, (c) 45% of participants changed PCRW type during the course of the year, and (d) among those who changed type, particular PCRW types at entrance resulted in greater likelihood of membership in particular PCRW types at the end of the year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General and multicultural case conceptualization skills: A cross-sectional analysis of psychotherapy trainees.

The general and multicultural case conceptualization skills of 91 psychotherapy trainees were evaluated for complexity and expertness across 3 case scenarios. The cases varied in the extent to which culture was presented in the demographic information and presenting concerns. Whereas general case conceptualization skills were found to relate to clinical training, multicultural case conceptualization skills were found to relate to multicultural training. Across cases, advanced trainees demonstrated significantly greater complexity and expertness than beginners. Trainees consistently included more culturally relevant ideas when culture was explicitly stated in the case as a presenting problem, versus when culture was implied. Last, consistently significant differences in the case conceptualizations of White trainees and trainees of color were not found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anti-Black racism, self-esteem, and the adjustment of White students in higher education.

The present study examined the negative consequences of racism to White university students. It was hypothesized that anti-Black racism would impact students' self-esteem, college social adjustment, and college personal-emotional adjustment above and beyond academic adjustment. It was further expected that self-esteem would mediate the relationship between racism and college adjustment. In a White university student sample, students reporting attitudes reflecting a combination of overtly racist and egalitarian attitudes toward Blacks also reported lower levels of self-esteem and college social adjustment. Furthermore, self-esteem mediated the relationship between anti-Black racism and college social adjustment. Findings inform the multidimensional nature of negative consequences of racism to Whites in higher education. A discussion of implications from this research with regard to the creation of diverse and culturally sensitive university environments is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuing education in cultural competence for community mental health practitioners.

Continuing education in cultural competence is a key strategy for enhancing provider effectiveness in working with culturally diverse clients. In the mental health field, a majority of published works address training issues related to students in graduate programs. Few articles, however, discuss specific models or methods of continuing education for practitioners working in community-based settings. The authors present a case example of an interactive workshop in cultural competence for community mental health practitioners. They discuss key modules of this workshop, including (a) cultural competence and outreach principles, (b) cultural identity and worldview, (c) stereotyping and automatic thinking, (d) dynamics of difference, and (e) application exercises. Recommendations are offered for administrators, direct care staff, trainers, and researchers who may be interested in undertaking or participating in cultural competence continuing education efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)