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The current retrospective study examined whether clients' (N = 176) perceptions of their psychotherapists' multicultural orientation (MCO) were associated with their psychological functioning, working alliance, and real relationship scores. Moreover, we tested whether clients' perceptions of the working alliance and the real relationship mediated the relationship between clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO and psychological functioning. The results showed that clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO were positively related to working alliance, real relationship, and psychological functioning. Only clients' ratings of the working alliance mediated the relationship between clients' perceptions of their psychotherapists' MCO and psychological functioning. Thus, because clients perceive their psychotherapists as being more oriented toward cultural issues, they may view the therapist as being more credible and may gain a sense of comfort in the therapeutic process. In turn, clients' strong alliance facilitates improvement in psychological well-being.

Although the Hmong have resided in the United States since the 1970s, there has been limited research exploring the effect of acculturation and stigma on the Hmong community and their perspective of mental health services. This study investigated the relationship between Hmong women’s level of acculturation, perception of stigma, and the expression of attitudes toward professional psychological help and willingness to see a counselor. The 222 Hmong women completed a Demographic Questionnaire Form (DQF), the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA), then the Stigma for Receiving Psychological Help (SSRPH), the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form (SSRPH-SF), and finally, the Willingness to See a Counselor questionnaire (WSC). Almost 86% of the Hmong women were between 18 and 35 years old, and 96.4% lived in the United States for 20 or more years and almost 53% practice Shamanism. Data analysis of the research hypotheses found that there was a weak positive significant correlation between acculturation and willingness to seek services. Additionally, the relationship between acculturation and attitudes toward counseling services, expression of attitudes and perception of stigma was statistically significant. However, the relationships between the other study variables: perception of stigma and acculturation, expression of attitudes and acculturation, and acculturation and willingness were not statistically significant. The findings of this study will enhance our understanding of Hmong women and their views of counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]