AN ASSESSMENT OF PRACTITIONER CROSS-RACIAL TREATMENT EXPERIENCES

This study sought to determine differences in the cross-racial practic e experiences of white and minority social services practitioners. Fif ty-three counselors in a Veterans Administration outreach center evalu ated various aspects of their cross-racial practice experiences. Both white and minority counselors perceived themselves to work equally wel l with white clients, but white counselors perceived themselves to be less effective when working with minority clients. The majority of whi te and minority counselors reported identifying the source of white cl ients' problems as being internal and that of minority clients' proble ms as being external. This finding was interpreted as being a possible bias against white clients on the part of both white and minority pra ctitioners. White counselors reported experiencing less client credibi lity, and minority counselors reported more incidents of racism. Impli cations for social work are discussed.