Application to graduate psychology programs by undergraduate students of color: the impact of a research training program.

Full Abstract

The top 86 students were selected from a pool of approximately 400 applicants to a summer clinical psychology research training program for undergraduate students of color. Forty-three of the students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 clinical psychology research training programs, and 43 were randomly assigned to a control condition without training. The multicultural version of the training program emphasized the cultural context of psychology in all areas of training, whereas cultural context was de-emphasized in the monocultural version of the program. Although the cultural content of the 2 training programs was effectively manipulated as indicated by a fidelity check by an outside expert, there were no significant differences between the effects of the 2 programs on the outcomes measured in this study. The primary differences in this study were between students who did versus those who did not participate in a training program. Sixty-five percent of the students who completed the multicultural training program applied to graduate schools in psychology, compared with 47% of those who completed the monocultural training program, and 31% of those in the control group. Participation in summer research training programs also increased self-perceptions of multicultural competence.

Author information

Author/s: Hall, Gordon C Nagayama (GC); Allard, Carolyn B (CB);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. gnhall(-atsign-)uoregon.edu

Grants: R01 MH58726 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; R25 MH62575 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology (Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 15 (issue 3) : pp 223-9

Dates: Created 2009/07/14; Completed 2009/09/25;

PMID: 19594251, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/25/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.