Multicultural Counseling in South Korea: Exploration and Development of Culture-Specific Competence Indicators

Abstract

Researchers primarily have studied multicultural counseling (MC) in the context of the United States. Research is scarce regarding other countries. This paper presents a twofold exploratory study to examine the multicultural competencies that counselors need to assist the emerging diverse population in South Korea. We first generated seven competency indicators from a thorough literature review. In the second stage of the study, the seven indicators were used to develop a scale to measure MC competence specific to South Korea. Statistical analyses indicated that the seven items are a useful tool to measure counselors’ self-perceived competence to help diverse clients in South Korea. Additionally, our results indicated that counselors who received multicultural training expressed higher competence than those who have not. Implications for future research, practice, and training are discussed.