| As the diversity within the U.S. Population continues to increase, multicultural counseling competency (MCC) remains a central focus in counselor education and research. More specifically, assessment of MCC---including awareness of privilege and oppression---is critical to ensure that counselors are providing culturally sensitive and appropriate interventions. This study involved the development and validation of the Privilege and Oppression Inventory (POI), an instrument to assess counselors' awareness of privilege and oppression issues. Further, the study involved item development and statistical procedures (i.e., exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, tests of validity) to provide evidence of the POI'S utility in counselor education and research. For this study, 428 counselor trainees completed a survey packet containing the POI, a demographic sheet, the Quick Discrimination Index (QDI; Ponterotto et al., 1995, 2002), the Miville-Guzman Universality Diversity Scale - Short Form (MGUDS-S; Fuertes et al., 2000), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS; Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). A principle axis extraction followed by a promax oblique rotation yielded 9 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Of the 9 extractions, a 7-factor solution appeared the most interpretable factor structure---accounting for 44.00% of the total variance. Cronbach's alphas were satisfactory for the 7 factors and total scale: .92 (White Privilege Awareness), .89 (Heterosexism Awareness), .86 (Christian Privilege Awareness), .79 (Sexism Awareness), .76 (Differential Treatment, .84 (Socioeconomic Privilege Awareness), .78 (Comfort), and .96 (Total). Additionally, the POI demonstrated evidence of convergent validity, with significant positive relationships with QDI subscales and the MGUDS-S total score. Further, there was a negative relationship between POI subscales and social desirability, as measured by the M-C SDS. Thus, the POI is a 55-item self-report measure of one's awareness of privilege and oppression across race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion/spirituality. Initial results support its use in assessing MCC levels of counselor trainees. |
