Development of the Multicultural Counseling Inventory: A self-report measure of multicultural competencies.

Abstract

This article presents the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI), a self-report instrument that measures multicultural counseling competencies. Study 1 comprised 604 psychology students, psychologists, and counselors in a midwestern state. In Study 2, respondents were a national random sample of 320 university counselors. Instrument analysis included exploratory principalaxis factor analysis with oblique rotation, assessment of factor congruence between the factor structures of the 2 samples, LISREL confirmatory factor analysis to test the relative goodness of fit of 6 competing factor models of the MCI, and tests of internal consistency reliabilities. Results indicated that the MCI has 4 factors: Multicultural Counseling Skills, Multicultural Awareness, Multicultural Counseling Relationship, and Multicultural Counseling Knowledge. A higher order, more general multicultural counseling factor is also discussed.

Development and initial validation of the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale--Racial Diversity Form.

“…The content validity of the MCI was established by raters' classification of items into correct subscale categories and expert evaluation of item clarity. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence supporting the oblique four-factor model underlying the MCI (Sodowsky et al, 1994;Sodowsky, 1996). To evaluate the use of the MCI in multicultural counseling training, the full scale and subscale posttest scores were found to be significantly higher than pretest scores after a multicultural counseling course.…”

“…Bandura (1997) (Constantine & Ladany, 2001;Sue, 2001;Sue et al, 1982;Sue et al, 1992); (b) models of multicultural counseling (D'Andrea & Daniels, 2001;Fuertes & Gretchen, 2001;Ponterotto et al, 2000); (c) assessment of multicultural counseling competence (Coleman, 1996;D'Andrea et al, 1991;LaFromboise et al, 1991;Ponterotto et al, 2002;Sodowsky et al, 1994;Worthington, Mobley, Franks, & Tan, 2000); and (d) training of multicultural competencies (Abreu et al, 2000;Constantine, 2001a;Constantine & Ladany, 2000;Constantine, Ladany, Inman, & Ponterotto, 1996;Ponterotto & Casas, 1987;Quintana & Bernal, 1995). In addition to the progress made in theory and assessment, a recent survey indicated that 73% of APA-accredited counseling psychology programs offered one or more multicultural courses, and 42% of them required a multicultural course (Quintana & Bernal, 1995).…”

“…Developed by Sodowsky et al (1994), the MCI consists of 40 self-report items designed to assess multicultural counseling skills (11 items), multicultural counseling awareness (10 items), multicultural counseling relationship (8 items), and multicultural counseling knowledge (11 items). Using a 4-point Likert-type response mode (1 = very inaccurate; 4 = very accurate), scores on the MCI range from 40 to 160.…”

“…Having existed for two decades, the multicultural counseling competency literature has increased our awareness of the importance of training culturally competent professionals. However, existing measurement tools, such as the MCI (Sodowsky et al, 1994) and the MCAS (Ponterotto et al, 2002), have focused primarily on multicultural knowledge and awareness while attending minimally to what a counselor actually does with racially diverse clients to bring about positive outcomes.…”

Reviewing Diversity Training: Where We Have Been and Where We Should Go

“…For instance, the knowledge subscale of the MCI has been used in studies examining the impact of training on multicultural counseling competencies of school psychologists and clinical students (e.g., Castillo, 2007;Williams, 2005). This scale assesses a counselor's breadth and grasp of the knowledge base of multicultural counseling research, cultural information, and treatment strategies (Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, & Wise, 1994). Another measure that has been frequently used to measure participants' learning is the Multicultural Awareness Questionnaire (Law, 1998).…”