The Effects of Intergroup Dialogue Program for Multicultural Competency Enhancement of Undergraduate Students Majoring in Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an Intergroup Dialogue program designed to enhance the multicultural counseling competency of undergraduate students majoring in counseling psychology. Participants were 43 undergraduate students majoring in counseling psychology at H University in D Metropolitan City, selected from 51 students enrolled in a multicultural counseling course who consented to participate. Participants engaged in a 6-session Intergroup Dialogue program. Preand post-tests were conducted using the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, scales for cognitive and affective attitudes towards racial/ethnic minorities, the Behavioral Intentions Index, and the Multicultural Receptivity Scale. Qualitative content analysis and big data analysis (word frequency, TF-IDF, sentiment analysis) of participants’ reflection notes were also performed to explore the program’s impact in depth. Quantitative analysis revealed statistically significant improvements from pre-test to post-test in participants’ intercultural sensitivity, attitudes towards racial/ethnic minorities, and multicultural receptivity. Qualitative analysis indicated cognitive growth in awareness of self, others, and the counselor role (highlighted by the importance of keywords: ‘client’, ‘counseling’, ‘culture’). Affectively, participants reported positive experiences like empathy and growth, alongside emotional discomfort (e.g., fear, anxiety) conducive to reflection (indicated by a high frequency of negative sentiment words). Behaviorally, participants expressed intentions for change, including seeking knowledge/experience, self-reflection, improving communication skills, and recognizing social responsibility. The Intergroup Dialogue program was effective in enhancing multicultural sensitivity, attitudes, and receptivity, and promoting cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of multicultural counseling competency among undergraduate counseling psychology students. This suggests the applicability and educational significance of Intergroup Dialogue program as an experiential and reflective learning method in counselor training programs.