Training programmes in cross-cultural competencies have focused on the three interrelated areas of knowledge, awareness and skills. Cross-cultural theorists have found that many Third World clients experience the values of counselling to be inconsistent with their life experiences. Owing to the influence of western variables which operate as potential sources of conflict such clients also often view therapy as an unknown, mystifying process. A major implication of the article is that because of the mismatch between western psychology theory and a Third World environment, the theory and practice of psychology in South Africa may be said to reflect the therapist's encapsulation and lack of cross-cultural competencies. Such competencies are of significance for facilitating a meaningful therapeutic encounter and for the subsequent delivery of relevant psychological services.

Research on cross-cultural counselling and psychotherapy began to receive emphasis in the 1970s in the United States. In South Africa the need to devise relevant help for the majority black population and to contextualize psychological services is being increasingly addressed in the literature. In the present study differences in world view between black and white South African adolescent pupils ( n = 200) were investigated. The use of a scale to assess world view across culture indicated significant differences in black and white adolescent pupils’ world view in the areas of Human Nature, Human Relationships, People-Nature, Time Orientation, and Activity. The effect of age and sex on individual variation in scores within groups was also investigated. The implications of the findings of the study for cross-cultural counselling are discussed as well as recommendations for further research using the World View Scale.

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