Deciding How Much to Share in Class: A Study of the Experiences of Students of Color Enrolled in Multicultural Counseling Courses

The Experiences of Students of Color at a Predominantly White Institution: Implications for Counselor Training

“…Unique from other studies that have examined the experiences of students of color in a single course (Pieterse et al, 2016;Seward, 2014;Seward & Guiffrida, 2012), the present study considered students' varied experiences of two required courses taught by instructors with different racial identities. There is a need to improve multicultural instructional tactics at PWIs, from promoting course content that effectively represents the needs of all students and clients to better understanding ways to address and reduce issues of White student and instructor racial bias.…”

“…Therefore, to contribute to the body of literature on this topic, we sought to explore and more deeply understand how students of color experience multicultural counselor training in one program. Unique from other studies that have examined the experiences of students of color in a single course (Pieterse et al, 2016;Seward, 2014;Seward & Guiffrida, 2012), the present study considered students' varied experiences of two required courses taught by instructors with different racial identities. This allowed for a more critical focus on the potential impact of instructor identity, recognizing the very limited commentary in the literature on this specific topic (Neville & Parker, 2017).…”

“…The interviews used a semistructured protocol to allow for an in-depth exploration of participants' experiences of two master's-level counseling diversity courses (Seidman, 1998). Interview questions were developed through an extensive review of the literature regarding the experiences of students of color in counselor training programs in the United States (Coleman, 2006;Curtis-Boles & Bourg 2010;Dickson et al, 2010;Haskins et al, 2013;Henfield et al, 2011;Jackson, 1999;McDowell, 2004;Sammons & Speight, 2008;Seward, 2014;Seward & Guiffrida, 2012). Questions were open-ended and explored the participants' experiences of (a) a general multicultural course, (b) an advanced race-based diversity course, and (c) perceptions of their instructors' differing racial identities and how these perceptions affected their learning experience.…”

“…Palabras clave: estudiantes de color, consejería multicultural, educación de consejeros, análisis fenomenológico interpretativo, identidades raciales de los docentes N umerous scholars have assessed and determined best pedagogical approaches for increasing counseling students' multicultural competencies (Buckley & Foldy, 2010;Seward, 2014;Seward & Guiffrida, 2012). Suggestions for competent training include increasing skills and knowledge with diverse populations and increasing counselor social justice commitment and awareness of personal identities, biases, and privileges (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2016).…”

A Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Master’s Level Students of Color in Counseling Programs

“…Currently, most of the literature on the development of counseling students uses a homogeneous sample of predominantly European American students (e.g., Paladino, Barrio Minton, & Kern, 2011;Prosek & Hurt, 2014) even when looking at experiences within the multicultural counseling course (e.g., Castillo, 2007). Studies conducted on the experiences of students of color in counseling programs often focused exclusively on multicultural counseling courses (e.g., Seward, 2014;Seward & Guiffrida, 2012). Counselors expect discussions surrounding race to occur in this course; however, it is unclear if and how these conversations occur outside this course.…”