Date of Award

9-1-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Marie Hammond

Abstract

Supervisor cultural humility has been theorized to contribute to stronger supervisory working alliances (SWA), yet limited research has examined its role within multicultural contexts involving international trainees. Guided by the Multicultural Orientation framework, this study explored whether supervisors’ cultural humility predicted the quality of the supervisory working alliance, whether the relationship differed based on participant role (supervisor or trainee), and whether international trainees’ cultural backgrounds influenced their perceptions of the SWA. The sample included 72 participants from counseling and psychology training programs in the United States, consisting of international trainees and clinical supervisors. Participants completed an online survey assessing cultural humility and perceptions of the supervisory relationship. Quantitative analyses, including multiple linear regression, moderation analysis, and an independent-samples t-test, were conducted. A compromise power analysis indicated sufficient power (≈ .85) for detecting medium effect sizes. Findings revealed that Self-awareness was the most consistent and significant predictor of stronger supervisory working alliances from both the trainee and supervisor perspectives. In contrast, higher levels of supervisor Openness were associated with weaker alliance ratings among trainees, suggesting that Openness may require careful calibration in cross-cultural supervisory contexts. Other dimensions of cultural humility were not significant predictors. No moderating effects were found for participant role or trainee cultural background, indicating that the positive effects of cultural humility were consistent across groups. These results highlight the central role of self-awareness in culturally humble supervision and suggest that while openness is often valued, it may be perceived differently by international trainees. The findings support the integration of cultural humility into supervisory training and underscore its relevance for promoting effective and equitable supervision within multicultural counseling settings. Implications for Counseling Psychology, limitations of the study, and future research directions are discussed.

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