Fostering Critical Feminist Multicultural Qualitative Research Mentoring

Qualitative research mentorship is essential to the development of counseling psychology as a field that supports socially just and multicultural inquiry. This type of research aligns with the core values proposed by the American Psychological Association. However, the governing beliefs and practices of neoliberal structures in higher education challenge critical qualitative research mentorship in counseling psychology. Namely, the values of economic gain promote practices that may constrain the potential for effective mentoring and socially just qualitative research practices. In opposition to these forces, we propose a critical multicultural feminist praxis for qualitative research mentoring. Critical feminist multicultural mentoring attends to systemic and relational power dynamics through transparency, collaboration, reflexivity, and attention to context. We describe the assumptions of critical feminist multicultural mentoring and apply them to case vignettes to illustrate ways to mentor students engaging in socially just qualitative research. In our discussion, we articulate implementation, policy, and research implications.