Journal article
Do therapists become more culturally humble with experience? Some humility is warranted
Journal of counseling psychology, Vol.72(5), pp.517-522
10/2025
DOI: 10.1037/cou0000817
PMID: 40811126
Abstract
Research has indicated that clients' perceptions of their therapist's cultural humility are important factors in positive treatment outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research examining whether therapists become more culturally humble over time. In this study, we advance this area of literature by testing whether therapists' cultural humility increases with more clinical experience using data from 1,640 clients seen by 21 therapists in a university counseling center over a 4-year time period. Clients rated their therapist's cultural humility starting at the third session and every four sessions after that. Two-level multilevel models (clients nested within therapists) were used to examine the relationship between therapist experience and client pre-post effect size (Cohen's
), average, and baseline cultural humility ratings. Experience was examined both as chronological time and cumulative clients seen. Results indicated that clients' initial and average ratings of their therapist's cultural humility significantly decreased over time as a function of chronological time and cumulative cases, albeit these effects were small. By contrast, therapists' client pre-post changes in cultural humility did not significantly change over time. Last, the relationship between client average, baseline, and pre-post change in cultural humility did not significantly vary between therapists. Implications for training and clinical practice as well as future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Do therapists become more culturally humble with experience? Some humility is warranted
- Creators
- Kate Coneys - The University of Texas at AustinJulia Toomey - Utah Valley UniversityBree C S Parish - Utah Valley UniversityKylie Toomey - Utah Valley UniversityJosephine Ariadna Schwalbe - Utah Valley UniversityKun Wang - University of IowaD Nicholas Top - Utah Valley UniversityMartin Kivlighan - University of IowaAndrés E Pérez-Rojas - Indiana University BloomingtonMelanie M Wilcox - University at Albany, State University of New YorkPeter Sanders - Utah Valley UniversityRussell J Bailey - Utah Valley University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of counseling psychology, Vol.72(5), pp.517-522
- DOI
- 10.1037/cou0000817
- PMID
- 40811126
- NLM abbreviation
- J Couns Psychol
- ISSN
- 0022-0167
- eISSN
- 1939-2168
- Publisher
- AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 08/14/2025
- Date published
- 10/2025
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9984945848002771
Metrics
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