Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of counselor training interventions in improving multicultural competence of counseling professionals.Methods: A systematic review of studies published between 2010 and 2016 was conducted and the Scopus electronic database was searched.Results: 245 articles were identified in the initial search and twelve articles met the inclusion / exclusion criteria which are then extracted for analysis. There were four main categories of interventions found: service learning, cultural immersion, culturally tailored program and traditional counseling graduate program. All of the studies except traditional training programs showed positive effects on the multicultural competence of the participants.Conclusions: The findings of this review indicate that experiential learning and culturally tailored programs resulted to improvement on the multicultural competence of the participants. Due to heterogeneity in the reviewed studies, it is difficult to compare the studies and evaluate for the most feasible and effective intervention. Future research should focus on developing a standardize framework for multicultural competence and measure for both counsellor and client outcomes.
American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Beach, M. C., Price, E. G., Gary, T. L., Robinson, K. A., Gozu, A., Palacio, A., … Cooper, L. A. (2005).
Cultural competence: A systematic review of health care provider educational interventions. Medical Care, 43(4), 356–373. doi: 10.1097/01.mlr.0000156861.58905.96
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (9th ed.). Canada: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (2013). CASP Checklists. Retrieved October 19, 2016, from http://www.casp-uk.net/casp-tools-checklists
Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2009). Current Population Estimates, Malaysia, 2014 - 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from https://www.statistics.gov.my/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=155&bul_id=OWlxdEVoYlJC S0hUZzJyRUcvZEYxZz09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09
Hill, N. R., Vereen, L. G., McNeal, D., & Stotesbury, R. (2013). Multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills among American counselor trainees: Group differences in self-perceived competence based on dispositional and programmatic variables. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 35(4), 261–272. doi:10.1007/s10447-012-9181-5
Hipolito-delgado, C. P., Cook, J. M., Avrus, E. M., & Bonham, E. J. (2011). Developing counseling students ’ multicultural project. Counselor Education and Supervision, 50, 402–422.
Jones, J. M., Begay, K. K., Nakagawa, Y., Cevasco, M., & Sit, J. (2016). Multicultural counseling competence training: Adding value with multicultural consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 26 (3), 241-265. doi: 10.1080/10474412.2015.1012671
Koch, J. M., Ross, J. B., Wendell, J., & Aleksandrova-Howell, M. (2014). Results of immersion service learning activism with peers: Anticipated and surprising. The Counseling Psychologist, 42(8), 1215– 1246. doi:10.1177/0011000014535955
Kozina, K., Grabovari, N., Stefano, J. De, & Drapeau, M. (2010). Measuring changes in counselor self- efficacy: Further validation and implications for training and supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 29(2), 117–127. doi:10.1080/07325223.2010.517483
Lee, D. L., Rosen, A. D., & McWhirter, J. J. (2014). Assessing changes in counselor trainees’ multicultural competence related to service learning. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 42(1), 31–41. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2014.00042.x
McDowell, T., Goessling, K., & Melendez, T. (2012). Transformative learning through international immersion: Building multicultural competence in family therapy and counseling. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38(2), 365–379. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.2010.00209.x
Midgett, A., & Doumas, D. M. (2016). Evaluation of service-learning-infused courses with refugee families. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44(2), 118–134. doi: 10.1002/jmcd.12041 Midgett, A., Hausheer, R., & Doumas, D. M. (2016). Training counseling students to develop group leadership self-efficacy and multicultural competence through service learning. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 41(3), 262–282. doi: 10.1080/01933922.2016.1186765
Moleiro, C., Marques, S., & Pacheco, P. (2011) Cultural diversity competencies in child and youth care services in Portugal: Development of two measures and a brief training program. Children and Youth Services Review. 33 (5), 767–773. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.11.022
Nagakura, H., Schneider, G., Morris, J., Lafferty, K. A., & Palmer, C. G. S. (2015). Assessing deaf awareness training: Knowledge and attitudes of recent genetic counseling graduates. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 24(1), 104–116. doi: 10.1007/s10897-014-9742-3
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2014). Study Quality Assessment Tools. Retrieved October 19, 2016, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-pro/guidelines/in-develop/cardiovascular-risk- reduction/tools
Ping, V. S., & Jaladin, R. A. M. (2013). The relationship between Malaysian counselors ’ multicultural counseling competence and client satisfaction. Malaysian Online Journal of Counseling, 1 (1), 1–25.
Smith-Augustine, S., Dowden, A., Wiggins, A., & Hall, L. C. (2014). International immersion in Belize: Fostering counseling students’ cultural self-awareness. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 36(4), 468–484. doi: 10.1007/s10447-014-9219-y
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (5th ed.). New York: Wiley.
Sue, D. W., Arredondo, P., & McDavis, R. J. (1992). Multicultural counselling competencies and standards: A call to the profession. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70(4), 477 – 486.
Swan, K. L., Schottelkorb, A. A., & Lancaster, S. (2015). Relationship conditions and multicultural competence for counselors of children and adolescents. Journal of Counseling & Development, 93(4), 481–490. doi: 10.1002/jcad.12046
Tomlinson-Clarke, S. M., & Clarke, D. (2010). Culturally focused community-centered service learning: An international cultural immersion experience. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 38, 166–175.
Truong, M., Paradies, Y., & Priest, N. (2014). Interventions to improve cultural competency in healthcare: A systematic review of reviews. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 99-116. doi: 10.1186/1472- 6963-14-99
In-Text Citation: (Xian & Hassan, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Xian, C. K., & Hassan, S. A. (2022). Interventions to Improve Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(11), 2211– 2227.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode