Clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' multicultural orientation.

The current retrospective study examined whether clients' (N = 176) perceptions of their psychotherapists' multicultural orientation (MCO) were associated with their psychological functioning, working alliance, and real relationship scores. Moreover, we tested whether clients' perceptions of the working alliance and the real relationship mediated the relationship between clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO and psychological functioning. The results showed that clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO were positively related to working alliance, real relationship, and psychological functioning. Only clients' ratings of the working alliance mediated the relationship between clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO and psychological functioning. Thus, because clients perceive their psychotherapists as being more oriented toward cultural issues, they may view the therapist as being more credible and may gain a sense of comfort in the therapeutic process. In turn, clients' strong alliance facilitates improvement in psychological well-being. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.