322 The Professional Counselor | Volume 11, Issue 3 through a counselor training program as well as specific multicultural training: Training was linked to increased White guilt and privilege awareness (n = 15), though others did not find significant effects of training (n = 2). Conceptual articles emphasized focusing training on anti-racist development. Collectively, these findings and subsequent implications encourage further research and reflection on the correlates of WRI and MCC, factors facilitating growth, and ways to improve research and measurement to enhance critical engagement with these topics. Discussion and Implications In this content analysis of 63 articles covering a 35-year period across eight national counseling journals, we found that a third of counseling journals featured scholarship specifically related to Whiteness, with the Journal of Counseling & Development and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development accounting for more than 76% of the total sampling units. The majority of the articles were quantitative, followed by theoretical and qualitative articles. Topical focus was centered on correlates of Whiteness with variables such as racism and color-blindness, other nonracial components of cultural identity, training implications, and theory development (see Table 3). Interestingly, many Whiteness constructs discussed in the general literature (e.g., White fragility, modern racism, psychosocial costs) were not addressed in counseling scholarship; the primary constructs discussed were WRI and White privilege. The sample composition across empirical studies was primarily White and female with a mean age in the late 20s and with undergraduate students comprising on average 22% of the article samples. In addition, practitioners, site supervisors, the general population, and EdS trainees only comprised between 1.6% and 13.1% of the samples. Schooley et al. (2019) cautioned against the overuse of undergraduate students when measuring Whiteness constructs because of the complexities and situational influences of WRI development, and this warning seems to hold relevance for counseling scholarship. Methodological selection mirrored previously found patterns in counseling research (Wester et al., 2013), with most quantitative studies relying upon convenience sampling and correlational design with ANOVA/MANOVA as the selected statistical analyses. In addition, 26.3% of the articles included an intervention. For the qualitative studies, the most frequently used tradition and method was phenomenology and individual interviews. Overall, findings from the sample support theoretically consistent relationships with Whiteness and/ or WRI, including their predictive nature of MCC, social desirability, working alliance, and lower race salience. However, findings were mixed on the role of gender and MCC in connection to a training intervention. Additionally, some studies in our sample critiqued WRI models, cautioning against oversimplification of a complex model and highlighting issues in measurement due to subjectivity and social desirability. This critique aligns with previous researchers who have suggested that WRI is more complex than previously indicated (see Helms, 1984, 1990, 2017). WRI may be highly situational and affected by within-group differences and internal and external factors that complicate accuracy in assessment and clinical application. Of particular concern in previous research is the ability to properly conceptualize and measure the Contact and Autonomy stages (Carter et al., 2004). Both stages have demonstrated difficulty in assessment due to an individual’s lack of awareness of personal racism at each stage (Carter et al., 2004; Rowe, 2006). The Autonomy status, in particular, could be impacted by what DiAngelo (2018) referred to as “progressive” or “liberal” Whiteness, in which efforts are more focused on maintaining a positive self-image than engaging with people of color in meaningful ways (Helms, 2017). Therefore, although there are some consistencies and corroborations within counseling literature and other scholarship on Whiteness, the critiques and complexities of the topic suggest further inquiry is needed.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU5MTM1