Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Carolyn King

Abstract

Racial microaggressions are statements that occur in everyday life that are regarded as instances of subtle or unintentional discrimination against members of a racial or ethnic minority. For African Americans, racial microaggressions are feelings of denigration and exclusion. Racial aggressions experienced by African American women in clinical counseling profession (counseling, psychology, social work, mental health) supervision have not been well-studied. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used in this qualitative study to explore African American women supervisees' experience of racial microaggressions in cross-racial supervision. Intersectionality theory and identity negotiation theory were used to guide the development and analysis plan. Semistructured, audio-recorded interviews with nine African American women supervisees were conducted. Seven domains and 19 themes were developed from the interviews. The findings of this study provided a better understanding of how racial microaggressions occur in cross-racial supervision with African American women supervisees and White supervisors, the implications to supervisees' professional development, and how it impacted the supervisory relationship. The nine participants interviewed for this research candidly shared their experiences with racial microaggression, how racial microaggressive acts affected them, how they coped with the incidents, and what they believed White supervisors' cross-racial supervisory roles could do to help African American supervisees. The findings of this study also offered implications for positive social change for training clinicians and supervisors and improving clinical training programs.

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