Understanding students of color in multicultural counselor training courses: A qualitative investigation of student perspectives

Abstract

Multicultural training courses are a primary preparation method employed by counselor education programs to prepare counselors for work with diverse populations (Abreu, Chung, Atkinson, 2000; American Counseling Association, 2005; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2001). However, the effectiveness of multicultural training in preparing students of color has been questioned. In particular, it has been argued that multicultural training courses both ignore the cultural development needs of students of color and have limited effectiveness with students of color (Negy, 1999; Pope-Davis, Breaux, & Liu, 1997; Atkinson, 1994). Yet, there is scant empirical research to support these critiques of counseling multicultural training courses. The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of the perspectives of students of color in multicultural training. In this study a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) is used to explore the perspectives of students of color in beginning level multicultural counselor training courses at different counselor education programs in the northeastern United States. This study comprehends from a student orientation what students of color perceive as important to their training in multicultural training courses and to what extent students perceive their multicultural training courses are addressing their educational needs. This research has implications for addressing criticisms of training ineffectiveness with students of color, improving multicultural course curriculum, and informing efforts within the larger mental health community to address racial disparities through diversity training within graduate programs