Using Personal Growth Groups in Multicultural Counseling Courses to Foster Students' Ethnic Identity Development

This study was designed to examine the relationship between personal growth group (PGG) experiences in multicultural counseling courses and counseling students' ethnic identity development. Differences in ethnic identity development were compared between counseling students who participated in a PGG experience as part of a multicultural counseling course and those who did not. Group session impacts were also examined. Results indicated that counseling students who participated in PGGs as part of a multicultural counseling course experienced significantly greater ethnic identity development than did counseling students not participating in such groups. Recommendations for further research are provided.     

Multicultural Education for Counseling: A Reply to Lloyd

In this article the authors respond to three important issues raised by Arthur Lloyd in his lead article on multicultural counseling in the March 1987 issue of Counselor Education and Supervision. We examine these issues from various perspectives. Suggestions are offered for resolving these issues.     

Food and Culture: A Pedagogical Approach to Contextualizing Food‐Based Activities in Multicultural Counseling Courses

Pedagogic approaches that draw on reflective practices and experiential activities are valued for their perceived ability to enhance multicultural understanding. The use of food‐based assignments is not uncommon in multicultural counseling courses; however, the authors contend that although these activities may be experiential in nature, they are often devoid of any meaningful in‐depth discussion about related contextual elements, such as power dynamics, economic systems, familial structures, cultural values, and religious meaning. This article describes a food‐based assignment used in a multicultural counseling course incorporating firsthand experience with members of various cultures. Anecdotal evidence, as well as suggestions for practice, is included.     

Taking a Universal Approach to Multicultural Counseling

This article takes a universal approach to multicultural counseling by exploring the commonalities of the “minority” experience and proposing transcultural models for multicultural counseling training.     

Flexibility: A Primer for Multicultural Counseling

The place of multicultural counseling in counselor education programs should be studied for the continuous growth of the profession. A flexible approach affirming both the similarity and differences of people is important.     

Multicultural Personality and Multicultural Counseling Competency in Counselor Trainees

The authors hypothesized that multicultural personality and ethnic identity would significantly predict variance in multicultural counseling competencies in counselor trainees, beyond the variance predicted by demographics, multicultural training, openness, and cognitive racial attitudes. Results showed multicultural personality predicted multicultural counseling competency, but ethnic identity did not. Results and implications are discussed.     

Multicultural Career Counseling: Ten Essentials for Training

In the past 20 years, several changes have taken place within the field of counseling and psychology with regard to practice and research with individuals from racial/ethnic groups. At the same time, the United States population has experienced a dramatic shift in its composition. Both have contributed to transformations in graduate training. This article will highlight salient aspects from the multicultural literature regarding culturally competent practice and apply it to the training of vocational counselors.     

Developing Counseling Students' Multicultural Competence Through the Multicultural Action Project

The Multicultural Action Project (MAP) is a cultural immersion project that requires counseling students to engage with diverse cultural communities on 3 levels: observation, information seeking, and action. To ascertain if participating in MAP improved the multicultural competence of graduate counseling students, the authors conducted an evaluation in which narrative analysis was used to examine the experiences of 3 graduate counseling students who participated in MAP. Through their narratives, the participants reported increased knowledge, awareness, and skills. The importance of sustained contact and interpersonal relationships in improving student learning outcomes is discussed and recommendations are provided.     

Deciding How Much to Share in Class: A Study of the Experiences of Students of Color Enrolled in Multicultural Counseling Courses

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of Students of Color in multicultural counseling courses in relation to classroom participation. Results suggest several complex tensions that Students of Color experience when deciding whether and how much to participate in class. Implications for multicultural training are provided.     

Developing Multicultural Counseling Competencies Through Experiential Learning

Counselor educators are challenged to prepare students for working with culturally diverse clients. The recent attention paid to multicultural counseling competencies has defined domains of learning; however, training methods to support the development of multicultural counseling competencies have received less emphasis. This article focuses on experiential learning as a teaching and learning methodology to increase students' multicultural counseling competencies. The authors outline ethical and practical suggestions for using experiential learning in multicultural counseling curriculum.     

Critical Incidents in Multicultural Counseling Supervision: A Phenomenological Approach to Supervision Research

This article focuses on the potential usefulness of eliciting “critical incidents” that occur in multicultural supervision. Survey results from a pilot study of visible ethnic minority psychology interns are discussed.     

Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale: Re-Exploration and Refinement

This study refined the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS; Ponterotto et al. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 30, 153–180, 2002) in response to concerns in the literature (e.g., Constantine et al. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(4), 334–345, 2002) focusing on original sample representation, factor structure, and constructs of interest within this scale. For this refinement study, a total of 176 participants from various counseling fields in the United States completed an online survey. The results of an exploratory factor analysis presented a 28-item 2-factor refined version of the MCKAS (MCKAS-R). The preliminary MANOVA analysis indicated that this refined scale differentiated multicultural counseling competencies of participants who were counselors, counseling students, and counselor educators. Implications of this scale for counselor training, practice, and future research are provided.     

Teaching Interpreted Counseling Practice: A Step Toward Multicultural Competence

We conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis of five counseling students' experiences collaborating with American Sign Language–interpreting students during counseling practice sessions. Themes were identified in developmental domains of counselor self-awareness, counseling relationship, and advocacy interventions. Interdisciplinary collaboration led students to address cultural deficiency models and increase multicultural competency and efforts in social justice.     

Secrets-Within-Secrets: A Simulation for Counseling Courses

This brief report describes a variation on role plays that leads to an engaging and lively class with several important lessons about the counseling process.     

Critical Issues in Teaching a Multicultural Counseling Course

A Multicultural Counseling course (MCC) brings unique challenges and rewards to both instructors and students. Given its unique challenges, the process of teaching a MCC is as important as, or even more important than, the content. Drawing from extant literature and the authors’ experiences, this paper discusses such topics as what to teach, how to teach, classroom dynamics, instructors’ issues, and students’ issues to provide a concise, practical, and comprehensive framework for teaching such difficult but essential courses.     

Transforming Selves,Transforming Courses: Faculty and Staff Development and the Construction of Interdisciplinary Diversity Courses

Faculty/staff workshops provide a way of enhancing teaching and learning strategies and pedagogical techniques. We include faculty/staff development workshops designed to create team that taught interdisciplinary courses which address issues of diversity and democracy for first year students. Strategic planning of the workshop and responsiveness to participants' needs and interests engender collegiality, collaboration, and curricular change. Dr. Janet Moore Lindman is an Associate Professor in the History Department and Coordinator of the Women's Studies Program. Dr. Maria Tahamont is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Coordinator of Rowan Seminar at Rowan University. The authors are co-principal investigators of the New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative funded by the Bildner Family Foundation.     

Racial Group Membership and Multicultural Training: Examining the Experiences of Counseling and Counseling Psychology Students

This study documents various process elements of multicultural training from the perspective of counseling and counseling psychology students within the United States (US). Using a mixed-methods approach, findings indicate that racial group membership is an important variable that differentially impacts White students and students of Color while undertaking a multicultural counseling course. Results of a principal components analysis revealed four components associated with racial group membership, including negative racial experiences and salience of racial diversity. Findings from a grounded theory analysis identified five overarching themes including intense emotional experiences, representing one’s racial group, and issues of safety impacting course experience. Implications for training and future research are offered.