Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Degges-White, Suzanne

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)

Abstract

Research has revealed that cultural immersion can increase multicultural counseling competencies in counselors-in-training (Barden & Cashwell, 2014; Barden et al., 2015; Choi & Protivnak, 2016; Dietz & Baker, 2019; Gaia, 2015; Wathen & Kleist, 2015). In light of the increasing diversity within the counseling profession and cultural competency continuing education requirements, the examination of cultural immersion as a means of shaping counselors' cultural competence is both justified and imperative. By utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis, five participants were interviewed to better understand professional counselors’ perceptions of their multicultural counseling competencies following cultural immersion. The results from this study identified five themes, including immersing yourself in a culture goes beyond simply learning about a culture, “feeling foreign,” debriefing “cultural landmines,” all humans are the “threads in a shared cultural tapestry,” and transforming counseling practices. The rich findings that emerged from the participants’ shared experiences are presented in connection with relevant research from counselors-in-training who have participated in cultural immersion. Implications for both counselor educators and the counseling profession are evaluated, accompanied by recommendations to guide future research exploration.

Extent

196 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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