Promoting moral reasoning and multicultural competence during internship

Abstract

This paper reports a study designed to increase the moral reasoning and multicultural competence of White students in a counselling internship. An intervention was conducted to determine the effectiveness of using a deliberate psychological education (DPE) approach that incorporated issues of cultural competence, oppression and diversity. This study attempted to discern if the DPE model could make a difference in the promotion of moral reasoning and multicultural competence of counsellor interns. The Intervention Group showed significant gains compared to Comparison Group 1 and 2 in moral reasoning as measured by the Defining Issues Test‐2, as well as significant gains on the Knowledge subscale of the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale.