The Relationship Between Vocational Rehabilitation Client Outcomes and Rehabilitation Counselor Multicultural Counseling Competencies

Multicultural issues in rehabilitation counseling continue to be a focus of practice and research because of the rapidly changing racial and ethnic profiles of persons with disabilities seeking services in the United States. This study investigated the relationship between vocational rehabilitation client outcomes and the rehabilitation counselor multicultural counseling competencies of 118 rehabilitation counselors working in a large midwestern vocational rehabilitation agency. The results of this study, which used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), suggest that the characteristics the client brings to the counseling relationship are the primary variables in explaining differences in client outcomes. Counselor multicultural competencies were not found to be significant in explaining differences in client outcomes. The findings of this study are discussed in relation to previous studies and implications for future research.

Consumer Concepts of Ideal Characteristics and Minimum Qualifications for Rehabilitation Counselors

Forty former rehabilitation counseling clients returned a mail questionnaire that requested them to write descriptions of "ideal" and minimally qualified rehabilitation counselors. Coders applied content analysis to classify the emergent defining criteria of these counselor prototypes. Relational values and qualities (Consumer-First Advocacy, Nurturing Traits) represented the most frequent categories for the ideal counselor descriptors; demographic characteristics (Disability Experience, Education, Maturity) were mentioned least. Predominent categories for the minimum qualifications were Credentials and Education and subcategories under Work Ethic and Approach, including Commitment to Client, Professional Behavior, and Competence. Broader use of discovery-oriented, qualitative methodologies in rehabilitation research is encouraged to capture consumers' phenomenological perspectives.

Charting a Course for Research in Multicultural Counseling Training

This article presents an integrative reaction to the lead contributions by Kiselica, Lark and Paul, and Rooney, Flores, and Mercier. Following the narrative path set by these contributors, the author begins with some personal reflections regarding his own multicultural development. A theme analysis of the lead contributions, along with the author's own experiences, leads to the delineation of 31 characteristics of effective multicultural training organized in three sections: characteristics of effective trainers and mentors, characteristics of promising trainees, and characteristics of facilitative training environments. The second half of this article presents both a general and specific research agenda for multicultural counseling training in the coming decade. Building from the identified themes, research recommendations are presented in five areas: racial identity development, multicultural competency assessment, mentoring, model programs, and the role of program diversity in training effectiveness. The article closes with a general discussion of the current and evolving status of multicultural counseling research. Embedded in the proposed research agenda is a strong call for qualitative research methods.

Trainee multicultural case conceptualization ability and couples therapy

Previous literature on the assessment of multicultural counseling competence has been concerned only with counselors' abilities when working with individual clients. We expanded this line of research by investigating trainees' multicultural case conceptualization ability in the context of working with couples. Despite the fact that trainees self-reported a high level of multicultural competency, trainees were largely inattentive to racial factors in their case conceptualization responses to vignettes involving both African American and European American clients presenting for couples therapy. On the whole, despite didactic, clinical, and extracurricular training in multiculturalism, marriage and family therapy trainees did not sufficiently incorporate cultural factors into their clinical case conceptualizations. We discuss implications for teaching, practice, and future research.