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Therapists in a Foreign Land: Acculturation, Language Proficiency and Counseling Self-Efficacy among Foreign-Born Therapists Practicing in the United States

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Abstract

Immigration and acculturation can have profound effects on counselors’ sense of self and interactions with others. Yet the influence of being an immigrant on a therapist’s use of self during actual clinical encounters has received very little empirical attention, even though the number of foreign-born counselors is steadily increasing in the U.S. In order to fill this gap we conducted a web-based survey study to examine the associations between acculturation, language proficiency, and clinician’s self-efficacy in a sample of 258 foreign-born counselors and providers currently practicing in the U.S. Results suggest that perceived prejudice and not the level of acculturation is significantly associated with levels of clinical self-efficacy, suggesting that the attitudes and behaviors of the host community play a much bigger role in the acculturation of immigrant therapists than previously assumed.

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Correspondence to Karni Kissil.

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Kissil, K., Davey, M. & Davey, A. Therapists in a Foreign Land: Acculturation, Language Proficiency and Counseling Self-Efficacy among Foreign-Born Therapists Practicing in the United States. Int J Adv Counselling 35, 216–233 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-012-9178-0

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