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Multicultural counselling self-efficacy among school counsellors in British Columbia

University of British Columbia

Across Canada, schools are serving an increasingly multicultural student population, one with diverse and sometimes unfamiliar experiences and worldviews. Despite this fact, very little research has been conducted on school counsellor multicultural self-efficacy in Canada. To address this gap, a survey research design was used to assess the level of multicultural self-efficacy among a sample of school counsellors (N = 226) in British Columbia. This study also sought to identify the demographic and workplace variables that contribute to higher levels of multicultural counselling self-efficacy among school counsellors in British Columbia. In addition, the study examined the relative contribution of years of experience versus caseload diversity, and the impact of high levels of multicultural training on the relationship between self-efficacy and years of experience. The School Counselor Multicultural Self-Efficacy Scale (SCMES; Holcomb-McCoy, Harris, Hines, & Johnston, 2008) measured self-efficacy across six factors. Results suggest that BC school counsellors have moderate to high levels of multicultural counselling self-efficacy across all six factors of the SCMES. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to identify the unique contributions of specific predictor variables to specific SCMES factors. Three distinct patterns emerged. In Pattern #1, graduate-level multicultural training courses, and frequency of cross-cultural sessions were the most influential predictors. In Pattern #2, multicultural training alone exerted the greatest influence. However, in Pattern #3, teaching experience and community setting combined with graduate-level multicultural training as significant contributors to a single factor: Factor 3 (Developing Cross-Cultural Relationships). Factor 3 plays an important and unique role in subsequent analyses. The implications of these findings for counsellor training and practice, and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Text

2015-08-04

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54272

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/