A Descriptive “Snapshot” of Cross‐Racial Supervision in University Counseling Center Internships

Abstract

Results of a survey of cross-racial supervision dyads at university counseling centers showed (a) supervisees were more sensitive to culturalhacia1 issues than were supervisors, (b) supervisors reported making more efforts to address cultural issues than supervisees perceived, and (c) satisfaction with supervision was related to supervisees'self-disclosure and dyad members' perceived positive attitudes toward each other.Resultados de una encuesta sobre duos de supervision de diferentes razas en centros de consejeria universitarios demostro lo siguiente (a) 10s supervisados fueron mas sensibles sobre temas culturales o raciales que 10s supervisores, (b) 10s supervisores reportaron haber hecho mas esfuerzo para tratar temas culturales que lo que fue percevido por 10s supervisados, y (c) la satisfaction en la supervision estuvo relacionada con le nivel de auto-revelation de 10s supervisados y la percepcion de actitudes positivas hacia el otro.s cross-racial encounters in supervision become more and more common in the training of professional counselors and psychologists (Fong A & Lease, 1997), supervisors are challenged with the task of training students with diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, addressing cultural issues in supervision is vitally important in the personal and professional development of counseling students in general and counseling students who are racially different, in particular

A Pilot Phase in the Development of the International Student Supervision Scale

“…In addition, the results showed that AIRS-Language Use did not moderate the relationship between geographical region and discussion of cultural issues, although coming from Africa, Asia, and South/Central American and using less English both predicted the amount of cultural discussion. Finally, the results showed that higher scores on the ISSS-MD were associated with a more favorable view of supervision and supervisors, which is consistent with previous findings (Duan & Roehlke, 2001;Gatmon et al, 2001). More discussion of cultural issues was associated not only with greater satisfaction of supervision but also with viewing one's supervisor as more sensitive to diversity issues.…”

Counselor Educators’ Perceptions of and Experiences with International Students

“…That said, it would seem important for counselor educators and supervisors to consider facilitating ICSs' effort to make sense of what they have learned within their worldview and be able to apply the knowledge learned when they return home. In order to address cultural issues in counselor training, supervisors need to initiate discussions on these issues with their trainees (Duan & Roehlke, 2001.) This is especially crucial to students who experience conflict with Western conceptualization and approaches to treating mental health.…”

Supervisor cultural responsiveness and unresponsiveness in cross-cultural supervision.

“…Furthermore, Duan and Roehlke (2001) found that 93% of supervisors in their study had no experience supervising trainees who were racially or culturally different from themselves. With supervisors having had such limited training in multicultural counseling and similarly limited experience with cross-cultural supervision, we wonder about supervisors' comfort, confidence, and competence in addressing cultural issues during supervision.…”

“…One important area of research is the frequency with which cultural or racial issues are discussed in supervision, whether as a topic related to the supervision relationship or to a client concern. With regard to the supervision relationship, supervisees and supervisors generally report disparate frequencies for such discussions, with supervisors reporting more frequent discussions of cultural/racial issues than supervisees (Duan & Roehlke, 2001). In addition, Gatmon et al (2001) found that supervisees and supervisors reported discussions of similarities and differences regarding ethnicity issues in the supervision relationship 32% of the time in cross-cultural supervision relationships, with supervisors initiating this discussion 48% of the time.…”

“…Of interest, Constantine (1997) found that 70% of supervisees had received training in multicultural counseling in graduate school, whereas only 30% of supervisors had received such training in their academic programs. Furthermore, Duan and Roehlke (2001) found that 93% of supervisors in their study had no experience supervising trainees who were racially or culturally different from themselves. With supervisors having had such limited training in multicultural counseling and similarly limited experience with cross-cultural supervision, we wonder about supervisors' comfort, confidence, and competence in addressing cultural issues during supervision.…”