A Preliminary Instrument to Evaluate Multicultural Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy Supervision

Abstract

Marriage and family therapists have, in recent years, increased their awareness and interest in multicultural issues in clinical practice (Falicov, 1995; McGoldrick, 1998). The Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) field has made great progress in this respect, but, in spite of the increased attention in books on multicultural family therapy, multicultural supervision has been a relatively neglected area in the literature. It follows that inadequate attention has been paid to the development of instruments to evaluate multicultural issues in supervision. Supervision, in itself, is a very complex process that requires a multi-faceted approach. When diversity is added, especially with issues of culture, education, gender, ethnic background, religion, and language, the field requires that more and more supervisors and trainers be prepared to understand and evaluate diverse personnel and clients. This paper describes an instrument that is called “Evaluating Multicultural Issues in Supervision.” It was designed to help supervisors and supervisees reflect and evaluate their own knowledge of multicultural competence.