Multicultural Counselor Training in a Single Course: Review of Research

Abstract

In an effort to provide clarity and future direction in training and research practices, this article consolidates the literature related to outcomes from a single multicultural counseling course (e.g., a course of 15 to 17 weeks). A critique of the literature and implications for future research and training are included.En un esfuerzo para proporcionar claridad y dirección para el futuro de la práctica de formación e investigación, este artículo consolida la literatura relacionada con los resultados derivados de un único curso de consejería multicultural (por ejemplo, un curso de 15 a 17 semanas). Se incluye también una crítica de la literatura y las implicaciones futuras para la investigación y formación.

White Counseling Supervisees’ Experiences Working with Latino Youth: A Phenomenological Study

“…While it is possible that this reflected a beginning counselor's normal anxiety related to selfimposed expectations to be an expert (Stockton, Morran, & Krieger, 2004), the researchers also considered the possibility that current multicultural training is insufficient in fully preparing students for cross-cultural work. For instance, directives in multicultural training have largely promoted training through classroom-based practices such as use of videos, lectures, and guest speakers (Malott, 2010), rather than promoting actual client interaction in a supervised setting. This is in spite of research demonstrating that the more frequent the cross-cultural interactions, the less stressful those interactions become, and the less biased people are toward one another (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006).…”

The Teaching Alliance in Multicultural Counseling Course Education: A Framework for Examining and Strengthening the Student-Instructor Relationship

“…An academic course in multicultural counseling is recognized as an important source of learning for students from all backgrounds (Curtis-Boles and Bourg 2010) and has been shown to be associated with gains in domains like cultural self-reflection, cognitive complexity towards racism and oppression, and overall confidence in working from a multicultural perspective (Malott 2010). The typical syllabus indicates that students go over, some for the very first time, topics like ethnocentric monoculturalism, microaggressions, and social privilege (Pieterse et al 2008;Priester et al 2008).…”

“…Until then, counselor educators who teach such courses are limited in their ability to employ evidence-based strategies in the classroom. This is important to address because (a) the primary method of multicultural counseling training for many academic programs continues to be a single 11-to 16-week course in multiculturalism or diversity (Alvarez and Miville 2003;Malott 2010;Smith et al 2006) and (b) teaching such courses have been described as one of the most difficult challenges in counselor education (Sue et al 2011).…”

Cutting edge practices to teach multicultural competencies in counseling, psychology, and education: teaching abroad or on campus?

“…Efforts to learn more about multicultural counselor training have been fundamentally done using a quantitative approach (Malott 2010). For instance, an assortment of self-report survey instruments have been used to learn more about multicultural counselor training with a quantitative emphasis (Coleman, Morris, and Norton 2006;Murphy, Park, and Lonsdale 2006;Castillo et al 2007).…”