Perception and Understanding of Counselor Trainees on Multicultural Counseling in Malaysia

• Main Author: Dini Farhana Baharudin
• Other Authors: Faculty of Leadership and Management
• Format: Conference Paper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Multicultural counseling; Counselor; Competency; Perception and understanding
• Online Access: http://ddms.usim.edu.my/handle/123456789/5258

Counselor trainees deal with clients of various cultures while providing counseling services. This study aims to identify the perceptions and understanding of counselor trainees to Multicultural Counseling in Malaysia. Qualitative methods through semi-structured interviews were conducted on twelve counselor trainees from two higher institution of learning in Malaysia for their views on the issues of Multicultural Counseling. Interview results revealed that in general, the twelve counselor trainees have good perception and understanding of Multicultural Counseling. All of them have sufficient attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of Multicultural Counseling. But all counselor trainees agreed that there are deficiencies in the skills that made them not fully prepared to deal with clients of various cultures. This deficiency may be caused by the difference in experience between them. The implications of this study are expected to broaden the understanding and awareness of issues of Multicultural Counseling and counselor trainee/counselor educators in general.