| This study sought to improve upon current self-report methods to measure the construct of counselor awareness, as described by Multicultural Counseling Competency theory (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992). 192 participants completed both a behavioral measure of automatic racial attitudes, as well as a survey of their prejudice-prone behaviors when working with Black clients. The behavioral and self-report measures, when combined, were anticipated to render an accurate gauge of participants' MCC awareness. Specifically, greater discrepancies between behavioral and self-report scores suggested mismatches between one's anticipated behavior and one's actual behavior—and therefore, poorer MCC awareness. Also, when summed, the two scores indicated a cumulative index of anti-Black prejudice. These discrepancy and summation scores are termed the Procedural Multicultural Awareness (PMCA) indices.;Additionally, participants completed the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI; Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, & Wise, 1994) and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1984). After reading two case studies, participants also rated their expected therapeutic bond and prognoses for two hypothetical clients, one Black and one White. 106 participants agreed to complete an abbreviated retest after several weeks.;Convergent and discriminant validity results were mixed. Also, the PMCA measure of MCC awareness failed to predict significant differences in bond or prognosis scores for hypothetical Black and White clients. However, a main effect for prejudice was detected for bond scores, such that, as overall prejudice increased, participants' anticipated therapeutic relationships with their Black clients suffered. Also there was a significant interaction between MCC awareness and cumulative prejudice on prognosis scores. Participants high in awareness and low in prejudice had higher expectations for their Black clients relative to White clients; in contrast, participants high in awareness and high in prejudice had negative outcome expectations for Black clients. For participants low in MCC awareness, prognosis ratings for Black and White clients were equivalent, regardless of prejudice levels.;These results suggest that, depending on overall prejudice levels, one's awareness might detract from one's multicultural competence by lowering expectations for client improvement. Rather, only reduced prejudice, in combination with awareness of one's racial attitudes, might be a protective factor in working with minority clients. |
