Counseling and Psychological Services has traditionally contributed to the psychology literature on topics related to Training Program.  Over the past 7 years, the Training Program has published and empirically examined various components of the internship program to measure its effectiveness in preparing its trainees in the practice, teaching, and research in psychology, particularly in terms of multicultural competence.

Our most recent publication is currently in press, and describes our training philosophy and our application of multicultural comptency training within our internship program:

Park, S., & Manese, J.E. (In press). Training for multicultural competence: A different way of knowing. Best Practices in Multicultural Competency Training.

Two recent studies have been conducted examining these issues.  Their abstracts are listed below:

Manese, J. E., Wu, J.T., & Nepomuceno, C.A.  (2001).  The effect of training on multicultural counseling competencies: An exploratory study over a ten year period.  Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 29(1), 31-40.

Abstract:  The impact of integrated multicultural internship training on multicultural competencies were evaluated.  Multicultural Counseling Awareness Scale (MCAS:B; J. G. Ponterotto, C. M. Sanchez, & D. M. Magids, 1991) scores were obtained at the beginning and end of internship.  Knowledge/Skills scores significantly increased at the end of training.  Implications for training, measurement, and research with multicultural counseling competencies are discussed.

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Park, S. (2001).  The effectiveness of multicultural training:  A follow-up study.  Paper presented at the 25th meeting of the Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies. Santa Fe, NM.

Abstract:  This study examined interns' assessments of the effectiveness of the UCSD integrative multicultural training program across various training areas, including multicultural competence.  The twenty-three (n=23) subjects in this study were former interns, from 1990-2001, at UC San Diego's Counseling and Psychological Services.  Results indicated high satisfaction with the training program in preparing them for the practice of psychology.  All content areas of training were rated above average to very high.  Training on multicultural competence and ethics were rated highest in trainees' assessments.  The following table illustrates ratings of interns on their overall impression of the Training Program: