What's missing from multicultural competency research: review, introspection, and recommendations.

Much of the multicultural counseling research has pointed out the need for counselors to become culturally competent to appropriately address the needs of an emerging diverse community. To date, however, this body of research has largely focused on counselor competencies, with little attention being given to the client perspective of multicultural counseling competencies. This article discusses the importance of integrating the client perspective within the historical context of the multicultural literature by examining client preferences and expectations, as well as the adequacy of the current empirical data. The authors also raise the issue of politics inherent in multiculturalism and discuss how this affects the research. A number of recommendations are made as a guide for future research.

The development and initial validation of the Multicultural Environmental Inventory: a preliminary investigation.

This article describes the development and initial validation of the Multicultural Environmental Inventory (MEI). The MEI is an instrument designed to measure an individual's perceptions about the degree to which graduate counseling programs address multicultural issues within curriculum, supervision, climate, and research. This investigation was conducted using the data from 208 students and faculty from counseling psychology graduate programs across the United States approved by the American Psychological Association. By using techniques of exploratory factor analysis, a 4-factor solution was determined to account for the relationships among the items on the MEI. The instrument was modified from 53 to 27 items on the basis of the items' effectiveness in measuring the underlying constructs of interest, and internal consistency information is provided on the final revised instrument (MEI-R). The factors underlying the MEI-R are discussed within the context of a multicultural environment in graduate counseling programs, and directions for future research are considered.