| dc.description.abstract | For decades the counseling profession has emphasized the importance of
multicultural competence when working effectively with diverse populations (Arredondo
et al., 1996; Korman, 1974; Pederson, 1991; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler &
McCullough, 2016; Sue et al., 1982; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992) however,
multicultural competency tends to focus more on people within the United States, as
immigrants and other cultural minorities are underserved by healthcare services and
receive inadequate care as a result (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; David, 2010; Holden et al.,
2012; LaVeist et al., 2000; Shea & Yeh, 2008). One method to prepare counseling
professionals to work with individuals from an ever-growing international population is
to incorporate transformative learning experiences through international travel exposure
in counseling graduate programs (Barden & Cashwell, 2014; Choi et al., 2015;
Shannonhouse et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2014). Currently, there is a paucity of
professional counseling literature pertaining to the utilization of international experiences
in counselor training programs. To aid in counselor preparation, I conducted a qualitative
content analysis to explore literature in the field of counseling from 1991-2016 to
determine how the profession has addressed international experiences for counselors in
the development and facilitation of multicultural counseling competencies through
transformative learning. An exhaustive search of the top twenty-two American
Counseling Association (ACA) and division’s journals resulted in a total of eight publications. Examination of the resulting counseling literature revealed six predominate
themes: (1) disorienting dilemmas, (2) critical reflection, (3) critical consciousness, (4)
cultural interaction, (5) relationships, and (6) cultural sensitivity. These six themes
reflect all ten stages of Jack Mezirow’s (2000) transformative learning process. | en_US |
