(PS7-B43) Therapist Race as a Moderator Between Client Racial Microaggression Experiences and Client Perception of Therapist Cultural Awareness

Known factors contributing to mental health disparities for Black Americans include: history of mistreatment in healthcare, lack of Black mental healthcare providers, and lack of culturally competent providers (APA, 2017). One aspect of cultural competency is cultural awareness (i.e., therapist awareness of their own cultural biases and how those biases may influence client perceptions; Michalopoulou et al., 2009). Research has also demonstrated detrimental effects of racial microaggression experiences on mental health for Black Americans (Brondolo et al. 2009). The current study examines therapist racial identity as a moderator between client experiences of racial microaggressions and client perception of therapist cultural awareness.

215 Black American participants completed an online survey querying therapist cultural competency (Michalopoulou et al., 2009), experiences of racial microaggressions (Torres-Harding et al., 2012), and demographic information (Suyemoto et al., 2016). Therapeutic dyads consisted of Black clients/White therapists (n = 42) and Black clients/therapists of color (n = 42). We hypothesized that therapist race would moderate client experiences of racial microaggressions and therapist cultural awareness, such that for White therapists there would be a significant negative relationship between client experiences of racial microaggressions and therapist level of cultural awareness and for therapists of color there would be a non-significant relationship between client experiences of racial microaggressions and therapist level of cultural awareness.

Frequency of experiencing racial microaggressions was moderately positively correlated with psychological symptoms of anxiety, r(169)= .32, p < .001), depression, r(169)= .22, p = .01), and stress, r(169)= .35, p < .001. Distress appraisal of experiencing racial microaggressions was moderately positively correlated with psychological symptoms of anxiety, r(169)= .33, p < .001, depression, r(169)= .24, p < .001, and stress, r(169)= .37, p < .001.

Neither the therapist’s race (β = -.52, p</span> = .653) nor the frequency of racial microaggressions experienced by the client (β = -.54, p = .260) were associated with the client’s perceptions of the therapist’s cultural awareness. There was no significant interaction between the therapist’s race and client’s frequency of experiencing racial microaggressions on client’s perception of their therapist’s cultural awareness (β = .64, p = .38). The distress appraised from racial microaggressions experienced by the client (β = -.57, p = .19) was not significantly associated with the client’s perceptions of their therapist’s cultural awareness. There was no significant interaction between the therapist’s race and client’s distress appraisal of experiencing racial microaggressions on client’s perception of their therapist’s cultural awareness (β = .51, p = .38).

Findings demonstrate the importance of therapist cultural awareness within the therapeutic dyad regardless of therapist race. Clinical implications and future directions will be discussed.