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Assessing and Promoting Cultural Relativism in Students of Counseling

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Abstract

Multicultural counseling is often promoted as a core element in counselor development. As such, educational efforts aim to increase counselors’ cultural relativism, or their ability to recognize their own enculturation and to appreciate the value of other cultural norms. This mixed qualitative-quantitative study explored the relationship between counselor and human service professional trainees’ moral development levels and their cultural assumptions after they had experienced a course in cultural diversity. Four themes were noted: (i) reflexivity about culture, (ii) orientation toward activism and advocacy, (iii) differences in attitudes toward sexual orientation and religion, and (iv) increased alertness to culture. Implications for culturally alert practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Garrett John Mcauliffe, Tim Grothaus, Margaret Jensen & Rebecca Michel

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  1. Garrett John Mcauliffe
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  2. Tim Grothaus
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  3. Margaret Jensen
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Correspondence to Garrett John Mcauliffe.

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Mcauliffe, G.J., Grothaus, T., Jensen, M. et al. Assessing and Promoting Cultural Relativism in Students of Counseling. Int J Adv Counselling 34, 118–135 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-011-9142-4

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