The Examination of the School Psychology Multicultural Competence Scale

Abstract

The School Psychology Multicultural Competence Scale (SPMCS) is a 45-item, self-report measure designed to assess the multicultural competence of school psychologists and school psychology trainees. The SPMCS was developed to address the need for a multicultural assessment tool specific to school psychology. The purpose of the present study was twofold: to determine the underlying factor structure of the SPMCS and to determine which characteristics of training programs and individual trainees were related to higher self-reported scores on multicultural competence. Participants in this study were 312 school psychology specialist and doctoral students enrolled in NASP approved and/or APA accredited school psychology programs in the United States. All students completed the SPMCS and a brief demographic survey in which they were asked about coursework in multicultural and diversity issues and practicum experiences with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. The results of the factor analysis demonstrated that a four factor solution best fit the data obtained from the sample of graduate students who completed the SPMCS. The four factor subscales were Cultural Knowledge/Skills, Cultural Appreciation, Basic Skills, and Cultural Awareness. These four subscales may provide a clearer and more accurate description of multicultural competence in professional psychology. Overall, education and training (i.e., advanced standing in graduate program, multicultural/diversity coursework, practicum with culturally and linguistically diverse clients, and internship) were associated with higher self-reported scores of multicultural competence. Female trainees, ethnic minority trainees, and bilingual/multilingual speakers also reported higher multicultural competence than male, Caucasian, and monolingual trainees. These results lend tacit support for an integrated-separate course model of multicultural training with explicit coursework in multicultural issues, integration of multicultural content into all coursework, and practicum experiences with culturally and linguistically diverse clients.