Date of Award

8-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

Counseling

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Dana Levitt

Committee Member

Amanda Baden

Committee Member

Harriet Glosoff

Committee Member

Pablo Tinio

Abstract

The counseling field constitutes a choice of study for many international students pursuing graduate studies in the United States. A critical training aspect of the counseling field is clinical supervision. It is documented in the literature that international counseling supervisees encounter many challenges in the context of supervision. The field of mental health and, in particular, the counseling field often emphasize the concept of cultural competence as a critical component in providing effective cross-cultural supervision. However, scholars have pointed out some negative aspects of cultural competence. The present study stipulated that the emphasis of supervisors on cultural competence could be problematic and responsible for the negative experiences that international counseling supervisees often report during cross-cultural supervision, such as weak supervisory working alliances. The present exploratory research examines the effect of a supervisor’s cultural humility on the supervisory working alliance with international counseling students. The multicultural orientation framework and its pillars guided this study. The findings of this study revealed a significant relationship between the supervisor’s multicultural orientation, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, and the supervisory working alliance. Moreover, the findings indicated that the supervisor’s cultural humility is the most predictive factor of a strong supervisory working alliance compared to the supervisor’s cultural missed opportunities and cultural comfort. Therefore, according to the study’s findings, supervisors of international counseling supervisees may benefit from incorporating a supervisory approach grounded in cultural humility.

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