Malaysian Counsellors' Experiences and Perceptions of Multicultural Counselling: A Qualitative Study (original) (raw)
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Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS)
Background and Purpose: The contemporary status of multicultural counselling field in Malaysia is ambiguous as there is limited research in this field. Even though Malaysia is deemed as a multicultural nation, there are still some issues and concerns with regards to the understanding and practice of multicultural counselling. Hence, the present research aims to: (a) explore the definitions of the term ‘multicultural counselling’ as perceived by professional counsellors; (b) identify the dimensions of multicultural competence as perceived by counsellors’ community sample; (c) identify the characteristics of a multiculturally competent counsellor; and (d) explore the most challenging cases or anecdotes experienced by professional counsellors when counselling culturally different clients in the local context. Methodology: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were employed to gather 22 professional counsellors’ reflections on lived counselling experiences and their perceptions of multi...
Exploring Counsellors’ Understanding and Practice of Multicultural Counselling in Malaysia
Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS)
Background and Purpose: In order to make counselling meaningful and culturally relevant, it is essential for counsellors to have a practical counselling model that is context-specific and matches the needs and values of the population of that specific culture. Hence, the present research aims to explore professional counsellors’ understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Methodology: This study adopted a complementarity mixed-method research design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to gauge the different features of multicultural counselling competency. Findings: Malaysian professional counsellors, as a group, perceived themselves to be multiculturally competent. The most challenging cases encountered by Malaysian counsellors were (a) counselling culturally challenging clients (i.e., culturally different clients), (b) counselling culturally challenging issues/problems (culturally sensitive and complicated issues/problems in Malaysia), a...
2015
A national survey was conducted to investigate the dimension and extent of multicultural counselling competency (MCC) of counsellors who are registered with the Malaysia Board of Counsellors and had practised multicultural counselling in Malaysia. A total of 508 counsellors (response rate of 34%) from various states and work settings completed the surveys using either the pen-and-paper (mailed) or electronic (online) surveys. The survey questionnaire was a 47-item Multicultural Counselling Survey-Malaysian Counsellor Edition (MCS-MCE), which comprised 2 main instruments: Demographic and MCC questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis revealed more than the three proposed dimensions (awareness, knowledge, and skills) in the literature as constituents of MCC. There was no significant difference in perceived MCCs due to completion of multicultural courses, but significant differences were observed due to ethnicity and participation in recent multicultural training. Direct implication...
Journal of education and e-learning research, 2020
The competency of multicultural counselling is an aspect which needs to be mastered by a counsellor in order to provide good counselling services to clients especially when dealing with clients of different culture. The purpose of this research is to examine the validity and reliability of the Multicultural Counselling Competencies Scale which was developed based on the local culture by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A total of 290 final year students participating in the first-degree counselling program from six public universities were selected randomly. The results of the analysis showed that the fit value for the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker Lewis index (TLI), and normed fit index (NFI) respectively had fulfilled the fit value of 0.90 and above as suggested by the literature. The analysis also showed the average variance extracted (AVE) values for all three constructs were 0.669 (awareness), 0.764 (skills) and 0.642 (knowledge) respectively, indicating the validity convergent and discriminant reliability were achieved. CFA analysis has removed 7 out of 26 original items due to low loading factor. Overall, CFA analysis has successfully proven that competencies of multicultural counselling questionnaire as a multidimensional construct as it has been theorized and is appropriate for measuring the competencies of multicultural counselling in Malaysia.
Education, Training and Counseling: Implication on the Post-COVID-19 World Pandemic, 2021
The purpose of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of the translated and adapted Multicultural Counselling Competence and Training Survey-Revised (MCCTS-R) for its use in measuring perceived multicultural counselling competence among counsellor trainees in Malaysia. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 208 counsellor trainees from local universities. They were chosen through cluster random sampling. The drawing procedure was done using a fishbowl method. At the time of data collection, the counsellor trainees were at the end of their counselling internship in various organisations around Klang Valley and East Malaysia during the study. Based on the factor analysis, the three-factor structure, which was the same as the original version, was confirmed with 20 items retained. For reliability, internal consistency and construct reliability were evaluated and confirmed. The finding showed that internal consistency was α = .952 and construct reliability ...
Different counsellors engage with differences in culture or diversity using various ways depending on their cultural circumstances. How do Malaysian counsellors successfully engage with culture and diversity issues in a cross-cultural counselling process? Informed by a multicultural counselling perspective and drawing on findings from a national survey on multicultural counselling competency among 508 registered counsellors and semi-structured interviews with 12 licensed-practising counsellors in Malaysia, this paper discusses the mechanisms for and stages of engaging with issues on culture and diversity when counselling clients from different cultural backgrounds. Overall results showed that Malaysian counsellors appears to use a systematic and culture-sensitive counselling framework to successfully engage with culture and diversity factors when counselling culturally different clients in the Malaysian context, but the process relied heavily on some necessary qualities: counsellors’ background knowledge and experience, multicultural awareness, knowledge of culture and diversity, deeper understanding about cultures, and multicultural skills. These qualities are the components of multicultural counselling competence and the successful engagement framework reflects how a multiculturally competent counsellor works. Suggestions for better practices and research implications for the education and training of counsellors in Malaysia are also discussed and this leads to the proposed Malaysian-based model for effective cross-cultural counselling process.
Multicultural counseling is an important aspect in counseling. The introduction of the multicultural counseling competencies was a major step to improve counseling services among school counselors. However, there is a lack of valid and reliable instrument to measure multicultural counseling competencies in Malaysian context. This initial study focuses on the development of a local instrument to assess multicultural counseling competencies among Malaysian school counselors. This instrument consists of 42 items and it was administered to 212 secondary school counselors in Negeri Sembilan and Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted in which items within initial dimensions of multicultural counseling competencies were reshuffled and checked for their psychometric properties. After series of principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis from the experts, three dimensions of multicultural counseling competencies with 28 items were formed. This paper also discusses the findings and its implication to the instrument development and the validation process.
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2021
Multicultural experiences can be conceptually connected to counsellor trainees' perception of the multicultural exposure and interaction that they experienced during the multicultural counselling course. The degree of counsellor trainees multicultural experience may reflect the status and focus of the multicultural counselling course. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Malay version of the MCREI. There are 205 counsellor trainees from local universities who completed the questionnaire. Based on factor analysis, the four-factor structure, the same as the original version was confirmed with 12 items were retained. For reliability, internal consistency and construct reliability were evaluated and confirmed. The finding showed that the internal consistency was α = .842 and construct reliability of .837. The convergent validity value obtained from the confirmatory factor analysis was .574. In addition, an external validity value is also provided. Overall, the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Malay version of the MCREI were all confirmed in this study. The high reliability and proven validity imply that MCREI can successfully be used by counsellor trainees across gender and ethnicity.
Challenges and transformations: Counselling in a multicultural context
International Journal for the Advancement of …, 1999
During the last two decades counselling in a multicultural context has been on the increase with more and more training programmes now including issues of race, culture and ethnicity. This has led to numerous approaches, for example transcultural, inter-cultural, crosscultural, multicultural, Afro-centric, anti-racist and black feminist, which define counselling with minority groups. Although many of these approaches have a sound theoretical base, they nevertheless remain marginal in terms of convincing the minority communities of their value and effectiveness. This is clearly seen in the premature termination and lack of participation by minorities in counselling and therapy. The chief criticism against counselling throughout this period is that, it has remained essentially Eurocentric, ethnocentric, and individualistic. Culture-sensitive counsellors and counselling within a 'culture fit' model have been suggested as a way of making the process more appropriate to a diversity of cultures. Furthermore, this has led to some practitioners strongly advocating the inclusion of socioeconomic and political constructs as part of a broader definition of multicultural counselling. For example, the issues of power and influence, cultural hegemony, racism and masculinities are becoming key schemas in cross cultural counselling practices. The challenge for multicultural counselling, in the next decade, would be to include traditional healing practices as part of its discourse, if it is to encourage the active participation of ethnicminorities. This paper is an attempt to explore some of these challenges and highlight some of the transformations that are taking place within multicultural counselling. Finally, through a discussion of a case vignette, the paper illustrates the need to accommodate traditional healing methods in counselling the culturally diverse client.
Konselor, 2019
This study investigated the influence of the phases of identity development as identified by the Optimal Theory Applied to Identity Development (OTAID) framework on multicultural counselling competencies among the counsellor trainees in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. This proposed research utilized correlational research design. 93 counsellor trainees were recruited for data collection by using purposive sampling. Three instruments were implemented in this study, which are Self-Identity Inventory (SII), Multicultural Awareness/ Knowledge/ Skills Survey (MAKSS), and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale- Short (MCSDS-S). SII was used to measure the phases of identity development, which are Individuation, Dissonance, Immersion, Internalization, Integration, and Transformation. MAKSS was utilized to measure self-perceived multicultural counselling competencies from 3 dimensions, which are Multicultural Awareness, Multicultural Knowledge, and Multicultural Skills. While MCSDS-S was use...