Multicultural Counseling Annotated Bibliography

Multicultural Counseling

cultural bias and/or culturally appropriate interventions.

Burnett, J.A., Hamel, D., & Long, L.L. (2004). Service learning in graduate counselor education: Developing multicultural counseling competency. Journal of Multicultural

Counseling and Development, 32(3), 180-191.

Even the most enthusiastic counseling students are initially limited by their cultural worldview. This article examines ways to enhance the education of graduate students in the field with service-based learning. Service learning integrates classroom learning with community service. The approach merges academic concepts with real-world, hands-on experience early on in the students' career to show the link between theory and practice. Everyone benefits: the student, the persons receiving the service, and the clients of the eventual graduates. The article involves a qualitative study of a single group of students who volunteered at four service agencies serving African-American low-income communities. Although assessing the ultimate effect on the students' practice was not conclusive (the study was not longitudinal in nature) all students reported having a positive experience as reflected in the mandatory journals students kept for the course. Program participants likewise benefited.

Charles, L., L., Thomas, D., & Thornton, M.L. (2005). Overcoming bias towards same-sex couples: A case study from inside an ethics classroom. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 31(3), 239-49.

Cultural tolerance in counseling should not only be conceptualized as a question of ethnic or racial sensitivity: family counselors must also deal with same-sex couples in a manner that suits the unique needs of these individuals. The article notes a paucity of literature on the subject specific to the field of marriage and family therapy. The article's impetus began when the authors' students openly expressed resistance to dealing with LGBT persons in their future practice and wondered if there was a way to 'opt out' of this. To rectify this bias, outside consultants were brought into the classroom specifically to train students in the special needs of the population and to make the students more self-reflective about their own stereotyping. Common issues which arose amongst the students were reconciling their spiritual beliefs with the need to treat clients. As a result of the intervention, students expressed greater willingness and openness to treat same-sex couples.

Goh, M. (2005). Cultural competence and master therapists: An inextricable relationship.

Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 27(1), 71-81.

To be an effective 'master' therapist requires the therapist to be culturally competent. However, few research studies are in existence which study both of these variables, according to the authors' literature review of the subject. Both concepts of mastery and cultural competency can be elusive to define yet clearly there is a need to enhance both, particularly given the mounting evidence that minority patients do not avail themselves of mental health services to the same degree as whites. Overall, this article points to the need for more research on establishing what qualifies as multicultural competence in a counselor. It critiques even the existing cross-cultural research as not "conclusive or useful because of the bias in value-laden assumptions and hypotheses of previous research methodologies and because of viewing results from Western lenses" (Goh 205). The author stressed the need for more research on the subject to develop effective standards of cultural competence.

Hill, J.S., Robbins, R.R., & Pace, T.M. (2012). Cultural validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic

Personality Inventory-2 empirical correlates: Is this the best we can do? Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 40(2), 104-116.

The MMPI-2 remains one of the most commonly-administrated tests in both private industry and counseling. However, serious objections have been raised regarding its validity in a cross-cultural fashion. The article consists of a literature review of previous studies of the test. In some studies, the test has been externally validated with both internal and extra-test correlates using a pool of largely Caucasian and African-Americans. However, there are some problems given inconsistent results with African-American women on certain indicators and the relative smallness of the African-American populations to the Caucasian test populations. Little research exists on Asian-Americans or American Indian populations in such studies. Thus, the researchers conclude that there is not sufficient research evidence to use the MMPI-2 outside of its cultural context to assess "affect, distress, and disorder….it is quite apparent that such measures are actually European-American emics forcefully imposed on persons from cultural, racial, and ethnic minority groups within research contexts" (Hills et al. 2012).

Marbley, A.F., Shen, Y., Bonner, F.A., Rice, C.W., McGonagill, R., Williams, V.A., & Stevens, H. (2007). Real cases with African-American clients: Reports of racially diverse practitioners. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 46(2), 211-227.