Examining the Relationship Between Mindfulness and Multicultural Counseling Competencies in Counselor Trainees

This exploratory study examined the relationship between mindfulness and multicultural counseling competencies (MCC) in counselor trainees. One hundred fifty-seven masters and doctoral students in counseling and therapy-related fields completed a survey containing the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI), Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II). Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated between scales and subscales of the MCC, mindfulness, and acceptance. A hierarchical regression was used to examine the association of mindfulness and mindfulness practices (the total length of mindfulness practice and the duration of weekly mindfulness practice) on MCC along with multicultural training (number of multicultural counseling courses and practica completed) and demographic factors. The results of the study showed that mindfulness and MCC were positively and strongly correlated (r = .48, p < .01). Moreover, all mindfulness facets were positively and significantly correlated with MCC and majority of its subscales. The results suggested that individuals who believed themselves to be more mindful in their daily lives (especially those who reported observing and describing their experiences without automatically reacting) also tended to think of themselves as more multiculturally competent. In addition, mindfulness and mindfulness practices contributed a significant amount of additional variance on MCC and its subscales above and beyond the multicultural training and demographic variables. Study limitations and directions for future research were discussed.


Introduction
The demand for counselors who understand the multicultural factors and issues in counseling grows with the increasingly diverse population in the USA (U.S. Census Bureau 2014). To meet the ever-increasing demand, training programs have put forth great effort to develop and evaluate the methods used to educate counselor trainees on multicultural counseling competencies (MCC). Since the inception of the Multicultural Competency Tripartite Model (Sue et al. 1992), many of the strategies utilized in counseling trainings aim to address at least one of the three critical characteristics for multicultural counselors: awareness, skills, and knowledge.
According to Sue et al. (1992), multicultural counselors should demonstrate an awareness of their own culture, values, and biases and be comfortable with potential cultural differences between a counselor and a client. Additionally, multicultural counselors should exhibit the skills that allow them to effectively communicate empathically and effectively with their clients. Multicultural counselors should also maintain specific knowledge of the cultural groups they serve, the institutional barriers to access counseling services, and systemic discrimination of minority groups (Sue et al. 1992). Sodowsky et al. (1994) identified a fourth MCC component based on the multicultural relationship. Specifically, they posit that multicultural counselors would also demonstrate comfort working in a therapeutic relationship with clients from culturally diverse backgrounds. Norcross and Lambert (2005) corroborated this position, highlighting the counseling relationship between clients and helping professionals as paramount in influencing therapeutic outcomes.
Pedagogical instruction such as multicultural courses and supervised practicum and/or internship has emerged as a primary tool for teaching multicultural competence (Coleman et al. 2006). Research has demonstrated results of varying consistency in terms of the relationship between multicultural training and MCC (Ivers et al. 2016;Tourek 2014). Despite having a strong theoretical framework and established pedagogical interventions, the current multicultural counseling training approaches typically emphasize increasing multicultural knowledge but neglect to provide adequate training regarding the skills and awareness necessary to serve a diverse clientele (Hayes et al. 2004;Priester et al. 2008). Approaches relying on solely didactic instruction on diversity and multiculturalism may be limited and superficial (Weaver 2000). This is especially true with the single-course approach, which is still the most commonly used method in multicultural counseling training (Prieterse et al. 2009).
Furthermore, White counselor trainees generally do not seem to accomplish the same degree of multicultural competence development as compared with their ethnically diverse counterparts (Berger et al. 2014). The White counselor trainees tend to approach multicultural didactic training with a level of defensiveness or experiential avoidance (i.e., an urge to eliminate or manipulate unpleasant thoughts or feelings), as addressing their prejudices may threaten their self-perception of being counselors that are free from bias (Ivers 2012;Juby 2005;Mio and Barker-Hackett 2003). While typical didactic training helps trainees gain knowledge about specific cultural groups, the didactic training may not have trainees sufficiently address their cultural biases, as the trainees may not have the tools, particularly acceptance and the capacity for nonjudgment, to acknowledge their biases. The inability to resolve defensiveness prompts a reaction wherein individuals actively control or eliminate distressing or uncomfortable internal thoughts or feelings, inadvertently hindering the ability to obtain self-awareness (Hayes et al. 2003) and impeding the development of MCC (Masuda 2014).
The counseling field has been making an effort to identify diverse approaches to enhance MCC. Research by Ivers et al. (2016) has found that mindfulness contributes to the MCC factors of knowledge and awareness within a predominately Hispanic counselor trainee sample. In addition, mindfulness training was suggested for helping professionals in developing cultural competency (Napoli and Bonifas 2013). Theoretical underpinnings presented by Berila (2014) suggest that mindfulness may have a broader function in the facilitation of multicultural competence.
Practitioners and researchers alike have tried to develop a clear and cohesive definition of mindfulness. Bishop et al. (2004) defined mindfulness as Ba process of regulating attention in order to bring a quality of relating to one's experience within an orientation of curiosity, experiential openness, and acceptance^(p. 234). The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire  identifies and captures mindfulness constructs including Describing, Observing, Acting with Awareness, Nonjudging, and Nonreacting. In relating the FFMQ constructs to the operational definition provided by Bishop et al. (2004), observing and describing one's internal experience and external stimuli are subsumed under the process of regulated attention. To attain experiential openness and acceptance, one must be able to suspend automatic reactions and behave in a way that demonstrates an internal and external awareness. Mindfulness advocates for individuals to nonjudgmentally examine his or her thoughts through mindful reflection and then decide to engage in elaborative and metacognitive thinking. This ability to exercise the nonjudgmental observation of internal experiences allows an individual to be open to the present moment and accept oneself and others while suspending judgment (Hayes et al. 2003).
Recent research has shown that mindfulness strategies have been successful in fostering self-awareness and acceptance of one's cultural biases and prejudices (Hayes et al. 2004;Lillis and Hayes 2007;Masuda et al. 2007). For example, Hayes et al. (2004) found a decrease in stigmatizing thoughts among drug abuse counselors with the aid of the acceptance and commitment-based training (ACT) intervention. Although the above-mentioned ACT intervention studies demonstrate effectiveness in reducing stigmatizing beliefs and bolstering MCC (Hayes et al. 2004;Lillis and Hayes 2007;Masuda et al. 2007), it is unclear how mindfulness is related to MCC and its sub-constructs, as mindfulness is only a component within ACT.
Two recent studies (Ivers et al. 2016;Tourek 2014) offered preliminary and important findings related to associations of mindfulness and its facets with MCC and/or its subscales. Tourek (2014) found that an individual's observing ability to be aware of internal and external experiences seemed to contribute significantly to MCC among counseling professionals. Ivers et al. (2016) found that an individual's nonreacting to inner experience and skills to identify and express internal experiences seemed to contribute significantly to one's multicultural counseling awareness and knowledge, respectively, in a predominately Hispanic sample. However, limitations exist in the studies: first, the MCC measures used in the two studies either lacked key MCC sub-constructs (i.e., skill and/or relationship) or were criticized for limited content and construct validities (Ponterotto and Alexander 1996); second, the multicultural training variable lacked specificity. For example, Ivers et al. (2016) asked participants if they had taken multicultural counseling courses (yes/no) without specifying the number of courses taken, while Tourek (2014) did not distinguish between the didactic and experiential (i.e., internship/practicum) training approaches. Third, neither study examined the association of mindfulness practice and MCC; fourth, neither study has examined the association of mindfulness and MCC in a mostly White counselor trainee sample, a potentially important line of research given the fact that White counselor trainees serve as the majority of counselor trainees (Hill 2003). Attention to a White counselor trainee sample would be particularly important considering that they tend to approach multicultural counseling training with defensiveness and experiential avoidance (Ivers 2012;Pope-Davis and Ottavi 1994). Last, it is unclear how mindful acceptance specifically may be associated with the development of multicultural counseling competency.
Thus, the current research aimed to expand on Ivers et al.'s (2016) and Tourek's (2014) studies by examining the relationships among mindfulness, acceptance, and MCC in a predominately White sample and investigating the association of mindfulness and mindfulness practices on MCC above and beyond the multicultural training and demographic variables. The following hypotheses were proposed: (1) mindfulness and acceptance will be positively correlated with MCC; (2) mindfulness and mindfulness practices will contribute a significant amount of variance on accounting for MCC above and beyond the variance explained by multicultural training and demographic variables.

Procedures
Participants were recruited through email invitations sent to 350 program directors of CACREP, APA, COAMFTE, and CORE-accredited programs, requesting they forward the email invitations to counselor trainees in their programs. Of the 350 directors, 25 responded stating that they would be willing to distribute the survey. However, it is unknown how many programs are represented, as not all participating programs may have responded to the email informing the researchers of their participation. Email invitations sent to program directors included an IRB Approval Letter, an online Qualtrics survey, and directions for completing the Qualtrics survey. Participants were also recruited through posts on counseling-related organization Facebook pages with directions for participation.
Upon opening the online survey link, the participants gained access to the informed consent, which introduced the purpose and voluntary nature of the study, and potential benefits and risks of participation. The participants were asked to complete an online survey that includes demographic information, mindfulness, mindfulness practices, and MCC-related instruments.

Measures
The survey collected demographic information about the degree participants were pursuing (master's/doctorate) and participants' race, which was transformed into a dichotomous variable (underrepresented racial group/White). Additionally, the survey inquired on the number of multicultural courses completed (0 classes/1-2 classes/3 or more classes), the number of practica completed (none/1-4 semesters/5 or more semesters), the duration of weekly mindfulness practice (never/ less than an hour/1 h or more), and the total length of mindfulness practice (never/less than a year/a year or more).
The Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. 2006) is a 39-item self-report instrument measuring one's level of trait-based mindfulness on five specific mindfulness subscales. The Describing subscale refers to one's ability to identify and use language to express one's internal experiences (i.e., thoughts and feelings). The Observing subscale describes one's ability to be aware of external stimuli and one's physiological experiences. The subscale of Acting with Awareness indicates how awareness of experiences, or lack thereof, impact behavior, such as how mind-wandering may impair one's ability to concentrate on a task at hand. The Nonjudging subscale measures the acceptance of internal experiences. Lastly, the Nonreacting subscale is defined as the ability to suspend judgment and action as a response to internal experiences. A sample item included BI criticize myself for having irrational or inappropriate feelings^ ). Participants rated themselves on a range of 1 (never or very rarely true of me) to 5 (very often or always true for me). Higher scores on this measure indicate greater levels of mindfulness . The scale exhibits good psychometric properties with good internal consistency among facets (α = .75-.91). Research shows good construct validity, as all facets except Acting with Awareness were associated with meditation experiences (Baer et al. 2008). A study conducted by Christopher et al. (2012) also demonstrated that all facets of the FFMQ were positively correlated with life satisfaction and negatively correlated with depression. The current study found the internal consistencies for the FFMQ subscales of Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Nonjudging, and Nonreacting to be . 81, .91, .88, .94, and .82, respectively. Multicultural counseling competencies were measured using the self-report instrument Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI; Sodowsky et al. 1994), a 40-item Likert scale assessing multicultural awareness, skills, knowledge, and relationship. With the exception of Multicultural Counseling Relationship as a separate factor, the definitions of awareness, skills, and knowledge subscales are consistent with Sue's Multicultural Counseling Competency Tripartite Model (Sue et al. 1992). The relationship subscale is designed to measure B…stereotypes of, and comfort level with, minority clients ( Ponterotto et al. 1994, p.320). A sample item included BWhen working with minority clients, I form effective working relationships with the clients^(as cited in Ponterotto et al. 1994, p.320). The scale demonstrated good internal consistencies at .81 for skills, .80 for awareness, .67 for relationship, and .80 for knowledge. Correlations among factors ranged from .16 to .30, suggesting that the factors are related but measure unique components of MCC (Sodowsky et al. 1994). Furthermore, research has demonstrated adequate construct validity and criterion-related validity for MCI (Ponterotto and Alexander 1996;Sodowsky et al. 1994). The current study found the internal consistencies for the MCI subscales of Skills, Awareness, Relationship, and Knowledge to be .85, .76, .74, and .79, respectively.
The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (Bond et al. 2011) is a 7-item Likert scale ranging from 1 (never true of me) to 7 (always true of me) used to measure ones' experiential avoidance, or using a judgmental orientation of examining internal experiences in an effort to alter or block them. Acceptance was the term used to positively describe one's willingness to experience unwanted events or emotions in pursuit of one's values and goals. The AAQ-II has been used in both the general population and clinical samples. On the original scale, higher scores on this scale indicate greater experiential avoidance of one's internal experience. For the purposes of the current study, scores were reversed. Thus, higher scores on the AAQ-II indicate less experiential avoidance or more mindful acceptance. The inclusion of the AAQ-II is to supplement the FFMQ by offering a measure of acceptance.
The AAQ-II includes item such as BI worry about not being able to control my worries and feelings^ (Bond et al. 2006, p.7). The AAQ-II has good internal consistency ranging from .78 to .88. Moreover, the AAQ-II was positively correlated with the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI; Wegner and Zanakos 1994), indicating good convergent validity. Bond et al. (2006) also demonstrated evidence of good convergent, as a strong correlation was observed between experiential avoidance and depressive symptoms. The current study found the alpha coefficient for the AAQ-II to be .90.

Data Analyses
Cases that missed all items for the MCI, FFMQ, and AAQ-II or missed more than half of the items on the subscales for these scales were excluded from the data analysis. A total of 195 participants began the study. However, based on the exclusion criterion, 157 participants were included in data analyses, thereby excluding 38 cases. Averages were derived from items completed in the subscale to impute missing data within each particular subscale based upon the suggested data imputation strategies (Dodeen 2003). A post hoc power analysis was conducted using the software program, GPower 3.1. When the parameters were set for an alpha level of .05, an effect size of .15, and with seven predictors in the regression model, it was revealed that a sample size of 157 participants would achieve a power of 0.96. Pearson product-moment correlation test was utilized to investigate the correlations among the MCC, mindfulness, acceptance, and their subscales. A hierarchical regression utilizing the enter method was employed to calculate the variance of the MCC and its subscales explained by the mindfulness, mindfulness practices, and other covariates.

Results
Descriptive statistics (range, mean, SD, skewness, and kurtosis) were calculated for all scales and subscales. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated among totals and subscales of the FFMQ, MCI, and the AAQ-II (see Table 1). A strong, positive correlation was found between the FFMQ and MCI scales (r = .48, p < .01), a moderate to weak positive correlation was found between the MCI and AAQ-II scales (r = .22, p < .05), and a very strong positive correlation was found between the FFMQ and the AAQ-II scales (r = .61, p < .01). The FFMQ appeared to be moderately to strongly and positively correlated with the MCI subscales MCI_Skills: (r = .48, p < .01) and MCI_Relationship (r = .41, p < .01). Likewise, the MCI scale emerged as having moderate to strong positive correlations with the FFMQ subscales: nonreacting (r = .45, p < .01), observing (r = .42, p < .01), and describing (r = .36, p < .01). Nonreacting and observing emerged as having moderate to strong positive correlations with MCI subscales, whereas correlations with Nonjudging and Acting with Awareness appeared to have weak to no correlation with MCI subscales. The AAQ-II, in contrast, was strongly to moderately and positively correlated with all the FFMQ subscales with the exception of observing (r = .13, p = .18). The AAQ-II was moderately and positively correlated with MCI_ Skills (r = .27, p < .01) and MCI_Relationship (r = .30, p < .01), but not with MCI_Awareness (r = .09, p = .35) or MCI_Knowledge (r = .04, p = .66). See Table 1 for details.
A hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the associations of mindfulness, mindfulness practice, and other covariates on MCC. Variables that were found not significant in correlational and t tests (age and gender) were excluded from the hierarchical regression. Significant differences (p < .01) were found in the total MCI scores of students belonging to underrepresented racial groups (M = 131.57, SD = 11.78) and White students (M = 123.06, SD = 13.06). All subscale scores, except for MCI_Skills, were found to be significantly different (p < .01) wherein underrepresented students showed higher MCI and subscale scores than White students. All the independent variables were regressed on MCI and its sub-constructs (Awareness, Skill, Knowledge, and Relationship) using three models. In the model 1, only race was included; in the model 2, number of multicultural course and practica were included on top of race; in the model 3, mindfulness, acceptance, the total length of mindfulness practice, and the duration of weekly mindfulness practice were included along with all the variables in model 2 (see Table 2).
In model 1, race was found significant (p < .01) in predicting MCI total and all its subscales except MCI_Skills. The amount of variance accounted by race ranged from 2% (MCI_Skills) to 10% (MCI_Awareness). In model 2, multicultural training variables were found to contribute a fair amount of additional variance on accounting for MCI and its subscales. The additional amount of variance ranged from 4% (MCI_ Relationship) to 10% (MCI_Awareness). The number of multicultural courses taken was found significant (p < .01) i n a s s o c i a t i n g w i t h M C I t h o u g h p r i m a r i l y o n MCI_Knowledge and MCI_Awareness. The number of practica was found significantly only for MCI_Skills (p < .01) and MCI_Relationship (p < .05). Race remained in the same pattern as it did in model 1.
In model 3, mindfulness, acceptance, and mindfulness practices were found to account for the greatest amount of additional variance on accounting for MCI and its subscales (MCI_Skill, MCI_Relationship, and MCI_Knowledge). The additional amount of variance ranged from 9% (MCI_Awareness) to 21% (MCI_total). Mindfulness was found significant for MCI and all its subscales. The duration of weekly mindfulness practice was found significant (p < .05) in associating with MCI_total and was approaching to significant for MCI_Awareness and MCI_Relationship. The total length of mindfulness practice and level of acceptance was not found significant. The variance of multicultural didactic training variables on MCC and its subscales decreased in model 3. The number of practica was found significant only for MCI_Skill (p < .05) while the number of multicultural courses was significant only for MCI_Awareness (p < .05) and MCI_Knowledge (p < .05). Race was found significant for MCI and all its subscales in model 3. See details in Table 2.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mindfulness and MCC as well as the additional variance accounted for by mindfulness and mindfulness practices on MCC above and beyond the multicultural training and demographic variables. The findings in the current study showed that mindfulness and MCC were positively related in counselor trainees. The high correlations between MCC (and its subscales) and mindfulness (and its subscales) in the current study seemed to be consistent with Tourek's findings (Tourek 2014), suggesting that counselors who believed themselves to be more mindful also tended to think of themselves as more multiculturally competent. Specifically, the mindfulness concepts of observing, nonreacting, and describing emerged as particularly important concepts interrelated to almost all components of MCC, which again supported Ivers et al.'s (2016) and Tourek's (2014) findings. We postulate that skills of mindfully observing and describing experiences are particularly useful for counselor trainees. For example, counselors that excel in observation may be better equipped to accurately interpret nonverbal communication of multicultural clients, as well as understand contextual messages better. Furthermore, counselors skilled in description may be able to translate their internal experiences into words, which allows for mindful review of potential stereotypes toward culturally diverse clients, thus positively influencing the therapeutic relationship and process. Similarly, counselors who are capable of suspending their immediate reaction to potentially distressing thoughts and feelings might be better equipped to attend to multicultural clients. The strong association found between nonreacting and MCC may be explained by research suggesting that individuals who tend to be more nonreactive have greater cognitive flexibility than those who are more reactive (Anicha et al. 2012). This may suggest that counselors who are nonreactive are better able to cognitively navigate counseling sessions through their abilities to pause in reacting to their inner experiences, suggesting enhanced multicultural skills. Unexpectedly, Nonjudging, Acting with Awareness, and the AAQ-II seemed to yield more moderate correlations with the MCI and its subscales. All these scales were entirely written negatively or reverse coded, which may have impacted the results of the study.
In addition, mindfulness, along with mindfulness practices, accounted for a significant amount of additional variance on MCC and all its subscales. The current findings seem to be in alignment with Ivers et al.'s (2016) research, which found that mindfulness subscales (i.e., nonreacting and describing) contributed an additional amount of variance on MCC subscales (i.e., awareness and knowledge). These findings seemed to demonstrate the promising links between mindfulness and MCC. In addition, the duration of weekly mindfulness practice was found to be significant in accounting for MCC and close to significant in the awareness and relationship scales. However, the total length of mindfulness practice was not found to be significant for MCC and its subscales. The current findings aligned with research in that counselors often perceived active mindfulness practice to be more important than the total length of practice when assessing the value of mindfulness practice (Stauffer and Pehrsson 2012).
The current study demonstrated that mindfulness and mindfulness practices contributed a significant amount of variance on MCC and its subscales above and beyond multicultural training and demographic factors. This result, along with findings in previous studies (Ivers et al. 2016;Stauffer and Pehrsson 2012;Tourek 2014), suggests that both general mindfulness and active practice of mindfulness activities may serve as important factors in developing multicultural counseling competences. The past research finding that individuals participating in mindfulness practices seem to demonstrate more openness and cognitive flexibility supports the notion that mindfulness plays a role in reducing the experiential avoidance tendency or enhancing psychological flexibility (Thompson and Waltz 2010). Mindfulness may help trainees to become aware of themselves and others, as well as approach uncomfortable situations with equanimity rather than withdrawing from uncomfortable situations. The potential impact of mindfulness and/or mindfulness practices on the MCC and all its subscales in the current study, along with previous studies (Ivers et al. 2016;Masuda 2014;Napoli and Bonifas 2013), may suggest that mindfulness could be a viable tool in assisting trainees in accumulating knowledge to foster culturally competent awareness, skills, and relationships. If counselors have awareness of self and others, and practice curiosity, openness, and acceptance of their own experience and the experience of their clients, they may be more effective across culturally diverse situations. The multicultural training variables were also associated with MCC to varying degrees. The multicultural training demonstrated additional variance on accounting for MCC and/or its subscales in model 2 of the hierarchical regression. The current study also shared similar results with Tourek (2014), in that the number of practica (years of experience in the field) was highly associated with multicultural competency though the variance of multicultural training variables diminished with the addition of mindfulness and mindfulness practices in the model. These findings suggest that traditional skill-based models of instruction, though still important, may not be sufficient enough in fostering comprehensive growth in various developmental domains (Foster and McAdams 1998).
The demographic factors seemed to be associated with MCC to varying degrees. The finding that gender and age did not explain any of the variance for multicultural competency in the current study seemed to be consistent with findings in a previous study (Tourek 2014). However, race emerged as an important covariate in explaining a significant amount of the variance of MCC across three models. Similar to previous research (Ivers 2012;Ivers et al. 2016;Ponterotto et al. 1994;Pope-Davis and Ottavi 1994), the current study revealed that individuals belonging to underrepresented racial groups demonstrated higher MCI scores than White individuals. Privilege and power, normally held by Whites, may explain this association, as privilege and power may trigger reduced ability to understand and comprehend how others think and feel about the world and lead to negative effects on therapeutic outcomes and relationships (Miserocchi 2014).

Limitations and Future Research
Although the current study offers a unique contribution to the literature on MCC and mindfulness, this study is not without limitations. The study employed a convenience sampling procedure, recruiting trainees from a variety of different training programs (e.g., marriage and family therapy, rehabilitation counseling, mental health counseling, counseling psychology) and levels (i.e., doctoral and master's). While the sample is somewhat diverse in regard to program type, it may not be generalizable to specific counseling-related populations. Moreover, it is impossible to know the potential differences between participants who completed the survey and those who did not, as participants who responded may be more familiarized with mindfulness and perceived themselves to be high on multicultural competence. Additionally, the variables of mindfulness practices were not defined for participants and examples were not provided. Given that some participants may not be familiar with mindfulness practices, it is possible that self-report mindfulness practices may be a broad measure including formal and informal mindfulness, and possibly non-mindfulness based activities. Furthermore, all measures utilized in this study are self-reported; thus, interpretation of the results should be done with caution, as participants may have provided socially desirable ratings of their mindfulness and multicultural counseling competencies. In addition, out of 350 program training directors, only 25 responded to the survey request. The program data was not collected. Thus, there is a potential possibility for data nesting if participants are from the same program(s).
How to enhance multicultural counseling competency for counselor trainees and professionals in clinical settings is a critical issue in the field. Coordinated efforts should be made among training programs in generating creative and evidenced-based approaches to develop MCC so that trainees and professionals can offer culturally sensitive treatments to clients. Considering the positive associations between mindfulness and multicultural counseling competency found in this and previous studies, and the nature of mindfulness practices (viable, cost-effective, and not limited to certain religious identities) (Tourek 2014), future research should focus on providing evidence of the impact of mindfulness and its practices on multicultural counseling competency through the use of rigorous experimental design-based studies. For example, future research may examine the differences in MCC and its subscales between counselor trainees who infuse mindfulness practices in the multicultural counseling training and those who do not infuse mindfulness practices. In addition, future research should consider using objective multicultural counseling competency measures (including observation and evaluation of trainee's performance from program faculty or site supervisor) rather than just focusing on using self-reported evaluations of perceived abilities or competence. As observing and nonreacting were found to be important factors related to MCC, future research should focus on assessing the effectiveness of mindfulness strategies such as mindful body scan, mindful breathing, or full sensory awareness exercises, in developing these skills among counselor trainees.
Author Contributions AC: designed and executed the study, conducted data analyses, wrote paper, and participated in revisions process; SV: helped with data analysis and participated in the writing and editing of the manuscript; SD: assisted in conceptualizing and designing the study, conducted data analyses, revised the paper, and supervised the study.
Compliance with Ethical Standards This research was not funded by any internal or external funding.