Counsellors' self-perceived multicultural competencies model

This study aimed to develop a UK instrument measure of counsellors’ multicultural competencies. Also, it intended to analyse to what extent multicultural competencies have an influence in counselling practice in terms of processes and interventions.

The study was an expansion of the American multicultural competencies model, which related cultural competence to a combination of three factors: cultural beliefs, cultural knowledge and cultural skills. Results partially supported the hypothesis, which predicted that counsellors would present high correlation rates between cultural skills, cultural knowledge and cultural beliefs when self-evaluating their levels of multicultural competence.

The study's findings present alternative three-dimensional multicultural models that indicated how counsellors perceived multicultural competence based on both societal (e.g. race, class, patriotism) and functional (e.g. family, social norms and groups). It also discusses the correlations between cultural skills, cultural knowledge and cultural beliefs and how they played a part in helping counsellors to further understand their multicultural competencies and limitations. Finally, it is proposed that future research should investigate the possibility of developing multidimensional or multi-axial models as an alternative way of further developing the counsellors’ multicultural competencies models which emerged from this study.     

Diverse goals for multicultural counselling and therapy

Proponents of multicultural counselling and therapy have emphasized the difficulties of cultural and racial minorities in relation to mainstream cultures. However, multicultural counselling and therapy is an even broader and more complex area than this. Prior to discussing therapeutic goals, this article draws on anthropology, to discuss the terminology of culture, and demography, to present population change statistics for Britain, Australia and the USA. Twelve goals for multicultural counselling and therapy are presented and discussed: reconciliation, support, coping with post-traumatic stress, assisting acculturation and assimilation, avoiding further marginalization, addressing racial and cultural discrimination, assisting clients to manage close cross-cultural relationships, assisting clients to manage intergenerational conflict, assisting long-stay transients and expatriates, assisting with gender role and equality issues, attaining higher levels of development, and the good society. As the world gets more interconnected, addressing each of these areas of multicultural counselling and therapy is going to become increasingly important.     

Racial/ethnic diversity in doctoral programs of psychology: Challenges for the twenty-first century

Changing demographics and accompanying cultural pluralism pose challenges to psychology departments in terms of multicultural curriculum, generation of culturally sensitive research and theory, and representation of racial/ethnic minority students and faculty. The impact of the European-American worldview as the foundation of the dominant culture is explored as it relates to psychology. Implicit and explicit examples of ethnocentrism are offered, which reflect the imposition of the dominant culture on other cultures. Universal psychology is challenged as culture-bound and subsequently viewed as nonexistent. Organizational and individual multicultural development models are advanced, along with specific strategies for how departments can embrace diversity through commitment to structural change and inclusion of paradigms that reflect alternate worldviews.     

Experiences and perceptions of multicultural counselling scholars: a qualitative examination

This study explored the experiences and perceptions of 12 multicultural counselling scholars with regard to the field of multicultural counselling. Based on a qualitative analysis, many of our participants noted that aspects of being a multiculturally competent counsellor included open-mindedness, flexibility, a commitment to the field, active listening, knowledge and awareness of cultural issues, skillfulness in making cultural interventions, commitment to social justice issues, self-awareness, and exposure to broad and diverse life experiences. Most of the participants also stated that a challenge associated with being a multicultural psychologist was colleagues’, institutions’, and others’ resistance toward and lack of support for multicultural counselling issues. Moreover, many participants indicated that the multicultural counselling movement has had good to great impact on the larger field of applied psychology. Future research directions for the area of multicultural counselling are discussed.     

Using Popular Film to Teach Multicultural Counseling: A Constructivist Approach

The use of popular film as an experiential teaching tool in multicultural counselor education has been well documented. However, existing research has been limited. The purpose of this study is to implement a unique pedagogic intervention using popular films and to study how counseling students experience the activity as part of their multicultural counseling training. The researchers utilized the popular films Crash and Precious to stimulate student dialogue and reflection on topics pertaining to race, culture, privilege, and social justice. The findings indicate that popular films, when implemented in conjunction with reflective learning activities, are effective in promoting students’ multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. Participants reported that the pedagogic activity was effective in bringing to life the multicultural course concepts and stimulating difficult but necessary conversations about race, ethnicity, privilege, and power. Finally, implications of this study could further inform the field of multicultural counselor education.     

Psychosocial Adaptation and School Success of Italian,Portuguese and Albanian Students in Switzerland: Disentangling Migration Background,Acculturation and the School Context

The Swiss Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) study (n?=?1,488) examined the impact of migrant students’ acculturation strategies on their psychosocial adaptation and educational success. The study focused on the comparison of students with an Italian, Portuguese and Albanian migration background, because these three groups differ in their socioeconomic living conditions, educational resources and opportunities in Switzerland according to official statistics. With respect to acculturation strategies, the results partially confirm the integration hypothesis: immigrant students who are oriented towards the heritage culture and students who align with both the heritage culture and the majority culture (integration) and who are interested in their multicultural environment have a better psychosocial adaptation than students who align with no culture (marginalisation). In relation to educational success, a multicultural orientation and a combination of a minority and multicultural orientation turned out to be the strategies of the higher-performing students. Unexpectedly, the three groups of migrants examined in this study did not differ in their life satisfaction, an indicator for psychological adaptation or in their educational success in terms of educational aspirations and German reading skills. Rather than the migration background of the students, other demographic variables such as educational resources of the family as well as factors related to school quality (type of school, quality of social relationships, achievement expectancy of teachers, multicultural education at school) turned out to be crucial for psychosocial adaptation and educational success.     

Multicultural Training Experiences as Predictors of Psychology Students' Cultural Competence

The psychologists in the western world, including Australia, are required to be culturally competent because of the cultural diversity of these societies. Previous studies conducted in North America and Europe have found multicultural teaching, clinical experience with culturally diverse clients, and discussion of multicultural counselling issues in supervision to be related to the practitioner's cultural competency. The present study examined factors contributing to trainee psychologists' perceived level of cultural competence. It was hypothesised that multicultural teaching, clinical experience, and supervision would be related to students' level of cultural competence. One hundred twenty‐seven postgraduate clinical psychology students completed an online survey battery that included demographic information, a social desirability measure, and the Multicultural Mental Health Awareness Scale. This hypothesis was partially supported. Clinical experience and supervision focusing on multicultural issues were found to be related to participants' perceived cultural competence; however, multicultural teaching was not. These results provide insight into how universities around Australia can facilitate future psychologists' competence in working with clients from different cultural backgrounds.     

文化如何影响道德?文化间变异、文化内变异与多元文化的视角

道德判断与行为具有高度的文化敏感性, 来自不同文化背景、具有不同文化经历的个体, 对于同一道德现象的理解与建构存在显著差异。随着20世纪80年代文化心理学的复兴繁荣和全球化进程的不断深化, 文化视角的道德心理学在当代社会心理学语境中备受关注, 并已开展了初步的理论探索, 积累了大量的实证证据。基于文化心理学的视角, 本文将分别从文化间变异、文化内变异和多元文化三个方面梳理和评述不同文化因素(比如地域、生态、社会阶层等)如何影响个体的道德判断与行为, 期望推动未来研究进一步探索快速而剧烈的文化变迁背景下中国人的道德心理和价值体系已经发生了或正在发生着怎样的演变过程。     

Researching learning across cultures

The aim of this paper is to invite readers to share the uncertain beginnings of my PhD in which I am seeking to hold reflexive conversations about learning with a group of international postgraduates studying in the UK. As a higher education lecturer in counselling I want to be able to understand the learning stories of such students, how their stories are affected by the learning experiences they encounter in the UK and how my own story is changing as a result of my involvement with them. My struggle to develop an appropriate conceptual framework within which to conduct cross‐cultural research will be described, paying particular attention to the reflexivity of the research activity and how it relates to the counselling process.     

Foucault's Genealogy and Teaching Multiculturalism as a Subversive Activity

It is being argued, in this article, that multicultural education is subversive because it challenges the assumed inevitability and superiority of the dominant culture by presenting alterna-tives to it. For multicultural education to be subversive, however, culture has to be understood as an order of things mapped across truth and power axis à la Foucault. These order of things are sup-pressed by the dominant culture in order to maintain its hegemony. It is being further argued that with the help of Foucault's genealogy we can understand how multicultural education can liberate subjugated order of things.     

Multicultural competency in research: examining the relationships among multicultural competencies, research training and self-efficacy, and the multicultural environment

Research on multicultural competencies has mainly focused on the practice dimension of psychology training and practice. Little theoretical or empirical research has examined multicultural research training and self-efficacy. In this study, 119 psychology graduate students filled out a Web survey focusing on the research training environment, research self-efficacy, multicultural competency, the multicultural environment, and social desirability. Results showed that multicultural competency, research training, and the multicultural environment were related to multicultural research self-efficacy. Hierarchical regressions showed that multicultural competency predicted students' research anxiety; social desirability predicted multicultural research utility, multicultural competency, and the research training environment; and multicultural competency predicted students' confidence in research and perceptions that their graduate training programs were multicultural. Implications are discussed.     

Infusing Professional Ethics Into Counselor Education Programs: A Multicultural/Social Justice Perspective

Multiculturalism and social justice counseling issues influence counselors' ethical thinking and behavior. Counselor educators are responsible for facilitating students' understanding of the relevance of multicultural/social justice counseling issues and ethical standards for professional practices. Added insights in these areas aid students to work within a culturally diverse society. This article focuses on the importance of addressing these complex issues by outlining strategies to infuse ethics into counselor education programs from a multicultural/social justice counseling perspective.     

Theory and Practice: Ernest Becker: a vital resource for counselling psychology

In this article we highlight the work of Ernest Becker for counselling psychology professionals and provide a brief overview of Becker's contributions. Several important themes from his writings relevant to counselling psychology are reviewed, including: the uniqueness of man, socialization and self-esteem, culture and heroism, the relativity of heroism, the fear of death, and the dynamics of evil. We also discuss some of the implications of Becker's work for counselling psychology and counselling psychology professionals, including: providing an integrative perspective on human behaviour and development, implications for multicultural counselling, understanding the hero system, the centrality of death in life, and helping people make meaning. We consider Ernest Becker's work a vital resource for counselling psychology.     

Sharing a multicultural course design for a marriage and family therapy programme: one perspective

The marriage and family therapy (MFT) field has made tremendous progress in acknowledging the importance of multicultural training. Nevertheless, multiculturally committed MFT trainers still struggle with issues of multicultural course design and delivery. In a subject so controversial and which requires a great deal of experience and skills to teach, little has been done in terms of sharing different multicultural course designs and working towards their implementation in MFT programmes. This paper presents a prototype curriculum of an introductory course in multiculturism in counselling for marriage and family therapy students with the overall goal of making trainees more multiculturally aware. It includes a few examples of strategies designed to aid the continuing infusion of multiculturalism into MFT programmes.     

Career development and counselling needs of LGBTQ high school students

There is a dearth of research concerning the career development and counselling issues that are relevant for high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ). As such, little is known to understand LGBTQ students when it comes to their career-related struggles and needs. This article attempts to examine the career development needs of LGBTQ high school students, addressing and analysing career problems from the unique circumstances of this student population. To do so, it provides an overview of the various career-related issues afflicting LGBTQ high school students. It then proposes a series of career guidance and counselling intervention considerations that are tailored to address the specific career needs and challenges of the LGBTQ high school students.     

Social justice advocacy among doctoral students in professional psychology programs

This study examined the relationships among multicultural competency, task-oriented coping, spirituality, political involvement, and experiences of discrimination on students’ engagement in social justice advocacy in a sample of 412 clinical, counseling, and school psychology doctoral students. Specifically, this study examined the mediating role of political involvement and task-oriented coping between the predictor variables and social justice advocacy. The results showed that the relationship between experiencing discrimination and social justice advocacy was only present when participants reported more political involvement and more task-oriented coping. The same was true for the relationship between spirituality and social justice advocacy; this relationship was only present when going through task-oriented coping. Further while there was a relationship between students’ multicultural knowledge and social justice advocacy, it was partly accounted for by political involvement. Similarly, the relationship between multicultural awareness and social justice advocacy was partly accounted for by task-oriented coping. Implications and recommendations for future research are addressed.     

Improving Mental Health on College Campuses: Perspectives of Indian College Students

The mental health of college students is increasingly viewed as an important public health priority. However, there has been little attention paid specifically to college students’ perspectives on factors that contribute to mental health challenges or on potential initiatives that could address them. Even less research has focused on students in low- and middle-income countries. In an effort to better understand how to improve mental health and wellness on college campuses, we administered an open-ended survey to 141 Indian college students (M_age = 19.47, 65% female). We asked the students to identify: (a) issues that contribute to mental health problems among college students, (b) potential initiatives or strategies that could be used to improve mental health and wellness, and (c) topics that students would like to learn about in a course about mental health and wellness. Applying thematic analysis, we identified academic stressors (e.g., pressure to succeed, competitiveness) and social stressors (e.g., lack of community, party culture and substance abuse) that students reported as contributors to mental health problems. Students also described mental health promotion strategies that could be implemented by faculty members (e.g., providing academic accommodations for students with mental health concerns), the student body (e.g., establishing peer counseling groups), and individual students (e.g., checking in with others). Finally, they identified topics that they would like to learn about in mental health and wellness courses (e.g., how to identify mental health concerns, how to support friends). By raising several potential targets for mental health and wellness interventions for Indian college students, our study illustrates how open-ended surveys can be a useful and feasible way to solicit input from stakeholders in low- and middle-income countries. Future research will be needed to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of mental health promotion strategies, including those proposed by students.     

An Investigation of Middle School Classroom Libraries

Given that much of the research on classroom libraries focus on elementary school classrooms, this study sought to examine classroom libraries at the middle school level. Access to books is especially important for middle school students given the persistent decline in reading engagement at this level. The research questions guiding this investigation focused on the nature of the libraries, the physical features of the libraries, the contributions made by the libraries to the literacy environment of the classrooms, the contents of the libraries, and teacher perceptions of their own classroom libraries. Findings indicate that teachers value classroom libraries for promoting literacy engagement and understand how these libraries provide students with immediate and easy access to books. The contents of the libraries that were examined varied in terms of genre, multicultural literature, and social justice issues.     

Family therapy ‘lite’? How family counsellors conceptualise their primary care family work

A number of current developments in the field potentially provide opportunities for preventative relationship and family interventions to be integrated into primary care. In this context, it is important to understand what family counselling is and how it might differ from family therapy. Thus, this paper investigates how the service of one low-intensity family counselling provider, Relate, is conceptualised and practised by counsellors on the ground. Questions about practice were posed to five focus groups of family counsellors and these were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that Relate family counselling is seen as ‘family therapy lite’, with a flexible, eclectic and integrative use of concepts and techniques within a systemic framework. Implications of this conceptualisation of family counselling for training, practice and research are discussed.