The COVID-19 Pandemic And The Impact Of Social And Cultural Courses on Ethnocultural Empathy: Cultivating Comfortability, A Program Evaluation

Abstract

The current study’s findings explored and defined graduate students’ perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for multicultural awareness, ethnocultural empathy, (a component of multicultural competency), and comfortability in the learning environment. The program evaluation’s aim is to report the impact of the learning outcomes of pre-designed social and cultural courses that are required in CACERP counseling programs and COAMFTE family therapy programs. As a program evaluation, the study research design was an embedded mixed- methodology that allowed for an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative inquiry. Therefore, a thematic analysis reported themes of multicultural awareness and empathic expressions among graduate students currently enrolled in a counseling program. The overall statistical analysis revealed a significant negative relationship between the number of credits for graduate students currently enrolled in a counseling program, and the level of ethnocultural empathy r= -.533*, p<05. There was a significant positive correlation between the level of comfortability in learning and the level of ethnocultural empathy r =. 05, p<01. A discussion on the areas of success, the study limitations, and implications for future research is included to provide insight of the presented program evaluation. Keywords: multicultural competency, ethnocultural empathy, comfortability, program evaluation, COVID-19 pandemic