Relationship Between School Counselor Multicultural Counseling Competence and Self-Efficacy in Working with Recent Immigrant Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how school counselors' multicultural counseling competence is related to their self-efficacy in working with recent immigrant students. This study investigated the demographic variables of school counselors, as well as three multicultural counseling competencies (multicultural terminology, multicultural knowledge, and multicultural awareness). A random sample of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members received an online questionnaire via email, and a total of 381 professional school counselors participated in the study. The questionnaire combined the Multicultural Counseling and Training Survey-Revised (MCCTS-R), the School Counselor Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSE) and demographic questionnaires. To assess the relationships between demographic variables, three multicultural counseling competencies, and five dimensions of self-efficacy the researcher conducted a series of descriptive analyses and a two-step hierarchical multiple regression. The results of the study suggested that training experiences in a graduate program, school urbanicity, and age were related to the counselors' perceived level of self-efficacy. Years of experience as a school counselor and race/ethnicity also were related to school counselors' self-efficacy, after controlling multicultural counseling competency variables. The study suggests that multicultural knowledge and multicultural awareness were related significantly to school counselors' self-efficacy when working with recent immigrant students.