Primarily this data shows that cultural competence training is useful in enhancing the skills of mental health specialists over a short period of time. Established mental health care providers can be trained to have a higher amount of cultural competency. The significant results from this study may allow us to broaden our cultural competency training format to other disciplines, such as business, education, entertainment, and any field where a greater understanding of diversity is needed. This study used a pre- and posttest design to examine the relationship between multicultural competency and racial identity of therapists enrolled in a cultural competency training class. Past research suggests that cultural competence training increases an individual's level of multicultural competence.
Additional research suggests that cultural competency also influences racial identity formation.
Training consisted of weekly training sessions that were alternated with case conferences. During this time period, the topics of ethnicity, difference, race, and power were discussed. The main objective of training was to get individuals to share their views on these topics, and to relate their experiences to clinic practice. Participants would then realize their biases and misconceptions thereby increasing their level of multicultural competence. T-test analysis revealed significant differences in participants' scores from pretest to posttest on the MCI Knowledge subscale.