Cultural Competence Shifts in Multicultural Psychology: Online Versus Face-to-Face

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Translational Issues in Psychological Science

Volume

6

Issue

2

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Publication Date

6-1-2020

First Page

160

Last Page

174

Abstract

An undergraduate multicultural psychology class that aimed to promote shifts in the cultural competence domains of self-awareness, knowledge, and skills was offered online and face-to-face. Upon comparison of pre- and post-self-report measures for 155 students across the two modalities, we found significant between-group differences for gender, Wilks’ Λ = .821, F(6, 146) = 5.291, p < .001, ηp2 = .179, with women reflecting more favorable scores than men. Within groups, we found a main effect for time, Wilks’ Λ = .726, F(6, 146) = 9.203, p < .001, ηp2 = .274—specifically, more favorable scores at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in ethnocultural empathy, color-blind racial attitudes, and multicultural experiences. Notably, the main effect for modality was statistically nonsignificant, Wilks’ Λ = .988, F(6, 146) = 0.291, p = .940, ηp2 = .012, reflecting similar general gains across modalities. However, a significant time by modality interaction within groups, Wilks’ Λ = .888, F(6, 146) = 3.063, p = .007, ηp2 = .112, suggested that in-person students had more favorable movement than online students between Time 1 and Time 2 on specific measures of ethnocultural empathy and color-blind racial attitudes. Results show that shifts in multicultural domains can be possible through mirroring gold standard courses in multicultural psychology regardless of the teaching modality. Results appear to be somewhat attenuated for online compared to in-person students. Recommendations for changes in teaching strategies and further evaluation are discussed.

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