ts felt competent in working with minority populations.
A report from the National Science Foundation (1988) stated that the percentage of ethnic minority psychologists in this country was around 5 percent from 1975 to 1985; the figure has increased to 8 percent in the last 5 years. Since there are so few minority psychologists, there is a presumed need for multicultural training.
This study developed a survey, based on a literature review of the topic, and telephone interviews with directors of social agencies, regarding multicultural training attitudes. Graduate community psychology programs responded to the survey. Half of the programs did not have any full-time ethnic minority faculty and most had few students of color. Seventy-two percent indicated that their programs were doing something regarding training for multicultural issues. Most programs reported that relevant research projects or field-work experiences with ethnic populations, were conducted (70%; 87%). However, the content of these projects was not revealed. Some programs never exposed their students to minority scholars (16%) and did not sponsor workshops on diversity (34%). Less than one quarter of the directors rated their program as successful, demonstrating the need for continued efforts to improve current multicultural training.
This study surveyed directors of community psychology programs to obtain information regarding multicultural training practices. Previous studies were researched and cited to determine both the need for this information as well as the development of survey questions.
Opening statements regarding community psychologists and their interest in cultural diversity, appear to be well referenced. However, general statements, that programs are not successfully preparing graduate students to work with minority populations, are not clearly substantiated; references are cited without a methodology critique.
As the study...