Organizational cultural competence and the availability of outreach services for racial and ethnic minorities in university counseling centers

Outreach is recommended as an intervention for racial and ethnic minorities who underutilize traditional mental health services (e.g., Brinson & Kottler, 1995). Yet, the availability of outreach services at university counseling centers for students of color has not been studied. In addition, no study has examined factors influencing the availability of outreach services for racial and ethnic minorities. The primary purpose of the current study was to investigate the availability of outreach for racial and ethnic minorities and how these services are influenced by institution size, staff size, institution type, accreditation, and organizational cultural competence. One hundred and fifty one counseling center directors completed an online survey. It was hypothesized that counseling centers’ organizational cultural competence would predict the availability of outreach services for racial and ethnic minorities beyond that of institution size, staff size, institution type, and accreditation. The results supported this hypothesis. Among the variables examined, organizational cultural competence was the greatest predictor of the availability of outreach for students of color. The results suggested that counseling centers with greater levels of organizational cultural competency also had a greater availability of outreach services for students of color. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and practice are discussed.