A dyadic study of multicultural counseling competence.

Frank R Dillon, Lilian Odera, Alia Fons-Scheyd, Hung-Bin Sheu, Ryan C Ebersole, Lisa B Spanierman
Author Information
  1. Frank R Dillon: Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
  2. Lilian Odera: Counseling and Psychological Services, Florida International University.
  3. Alia Fons-Scheyd: Counseling and Psychological Services, Florida International University.
  4. Hung-Bin Sheu: Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
  5. Ryan C Ebersole: Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
  6. Lisa B Spanierman: Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Arizona State University.

Abstract

Using the Kenny, Kashy, and Cook (2006) one-with-many method, we investigated client and counselor reports of counselors' level of multicultural counseling competence (MCC) across 4 therapy sessions at a university counseling center. Specifically, we analyzed the association between counselor MCC and client psychological well-being among 133 clients of color receiving psychotherapy from 24 counselors. We found that both client and counselor perspectives suggested that some counselors possessed generally higher MCC than others. Counselors' self-assessments of MCC, however, did not relate with their clients' assessments of counselor MCC-replicating findings from past studies of MCC. On average, counselors whose clients generally perceived them as more multiculturally competent did not report improved psychological well-being at the fourth session. Likewise, counselors who generally reported more MCC did not have clients who improved more in psychological well-being than would be expected over 4 sessions. Notably, at the dyad-level, clients who rated their counselor more highly on MCC than their counselors' other clients tended to report greater improvement in well-being. Suggestions for future MCC research involving dyadic analytic designs are described. (PsycINFO Database Record

MeSH Term

Clinical Competence
Counseling
Cultural Diversity
Female
Humans
Male
Professional-Patient Relations
Self-Assessment
Student Health Services
Students
Young Adult

Word Cloud

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