ETHNIC-MINORITY - TRAINING IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY - COMPARISONS WITH CLINICAL-PSYCHOLOGY AND PROPOSED STANDARDS

This study evaluated the status of multicultural training in counselin g programs approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) (n = 41) and compared these programs to (a) clinical psychology programs (n = 104) and (b) existing standards and recommendations proposed in literature, for example, by Bernal and Castro, and Ridley, Mendoza, an d Kanitz. Results suggested that compared to clinical programs counsel ing psychology programs demonstrated significantly higher commitment t o multicultural training. However, the effect size of the differences between these two psychology specialties was small. Moreover, normativ e data from counseling psychology programs indicated that most program s are providing training that leads to, at best, multicultural sensiti vity, but very few appear to be providing training that prepares pract itioners to be multiculturally proficient. Hence it was concluded that , although counseling psychology programs have potential to make signi ficant contributions to the mental health of racial and ethnic minorit y populations, significant changes need to be made before these progra ms yield a critical number of counseling psychologists who can begin t o meet the mental health needs of racial and ethnic minority populatio ns. Suggestions and recommendations are made to guide these changes.