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The authors conducted a 20-year content analysis of the entire field of empirical research on the multicultural counseling competencies (D. W. Sue et al., 1982). They conducted an exhaustive search for empirical research articles using PSYCInfo, as well as complete reviews of the past 20 years of several journals (e.g., Journal of Counseling Psychology, The Counseling Psychologist, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice). They identified 75 articles reporting findings based on 81 different samples. Findings include (a) descriptive data regarding the designs, methodologies, and sample characteristics of studies; (b) major topics and themes of the multicultural counseling competencies empirical research literature; and (c) leading contributors. A brief analysis of major findings and gaps in the literature is provided, and the authors make recommendations for further research.

It has been 25 years since the first publication of Sue et al.'s (1982) model of multicultural counseling competencies (MCCs). In the intervening years since that seminal work was published, the vast majority of counseling psychology programs have incorporated the model into graduate training (Constantine & Ladany, 2001), several measures of MCCs were based on it (e.g., D'Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Hernandez, 1991; Ponterotto, Alexander, & Grieger, 1995; Ponterotto, Gretchen, Utsey, Rieger, & Austin, 2002; Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, & Wise, 1994), the original model has been updated and revised (e.g., American Psychological Association, 2003; Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue et al., 1998), and meta-analytic research has demonstrated that multicultural education produces positive results related to MCCs (Smith, Constantine, Dunn, Dinehart, & Montoya, 2006). Yet, as recently as 2003, Atkinson and Israel noted that relatively little empirical research has directly evaluated the validity of this conceptual model.

Despite the paucity of empirical research in this area, the increased attention to understanding and counseling culturally diverse populations...