Although spiritual/religious identity development is included within multicultural training on the theoretical level, significant gaps exist in counseling trainees' practical preparation for spiritual/religious competence. This grounded theory study explores counseling trainees' multicultural counseling competence within the…

Social justice is considered the 5th force in counseling and has largely been aimed toward advocating for oppressed individuals and groups by creating change in the societal structures that maintain oppression. However, there is a lack of information for counselors who work with clients who oppress others. This article addresses assessment,…

Social psychological research suggests that because of concerns about being perceived in stereotypical ways, people may experience negative affect and diminished attention and cognitive capacity during interracial interactions. The authors discuss this research in relation to therapy and assessment and also offer practical suggestions for ensuring…

The authors evaluated a health careers program in a U.S. urban public high school. After small subgroups of the original sample were removed, participants included 162 Asian American and Pacific Islander students. Analyses of covariance indicated that, compared with the comparison group, the treatment group reported significantly higher levels of…

The development of multicultural and advocacy competencies evolved out of the multicultural and social justice movements. To help readers more fully understand the complementary nature between these 2 sets of competencies and to connect both movements, this article introduces the Multicultural and Advocacy Dimensions model. Implications are also…

Self-awareness is conceptualized as an important component of multicultural competence among counselors. Scholars have suggested that the promotion of self-awareness and, relatedly, cultural empathy can be most effectively facilitated through the use of experiential learning. The use of analogies is presented as another method to promote…

Arguably, the defining feature of the counseling profession is an appreciation for human diversity. Early counseling movements emphasized individual diversity, while multiculturalism and social justice highlighted cultural diversity. The author maintains that contemporary psychoanalytic thought can supply a needed intraindividual diversity…

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. (Contains 1 table.)

This article provides a descriptive review of an antiracism course taught within a counseling and development program. adopting a reflective stance, the article presents the rationale for antiracism training, describes the course structure and content, and includes personal reflections from students and the instructor.

Bias is a central concept in multicultural competency, but counseling research has largely ignored implicit bias. A review of bias research in counseling indicates that increased focus on implicit bias is warranted because counselors tend not to report explicit bias and have implicit bias that diverges from their self-reported attitudes. (Contains…

The author discusses the adherence of culturally sensitive treatment (CST) to evidence-based practice. CST is distinguished from empirically supported treatment. Therapists are advancing CST by designing and evaluating interventions and evolving their understanding of what makes CST work. (Contains 2 tables.)

The authors investigated the experiences of counseling students on a 1-week cultural immersion trip to New Mexico. Students' journals were analyzed, using the open coding procedure from grounded theory. Five major categories emerged that reflected students' internal reactions to the experience. The findings and their instructional implications are…

In this qualitative study, the authors explored definitions of multicultural competence given by 99 frontline human service providers. The providers had no formal training in counseling but served in a helping role. Seven thematic definitions emerged: color blindness, client focused, acknowledgment of cultural differences, textbook consistent,…

The authors present a content analysis of syllabi from introductory multicultural counseling training (MCT) courses. Results suggest that these courses focus on knowledge of other cultural groups, emphasize the cultural identity exploration of the student at a lower level of training, and almost completely ignore the development of skills. The…

This study investigated the cross-cultural differences on state, trait, and social anxiety between Chinese and Caucasian American university students. Chinese students reported higher levels of social anxiety than did Caucasian American students. Correlations between trait and state anxiety were compared in light of the trait model of…