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Boekeloo B, Fish J, Turpin R, Aparicio EM, Shin R, Vigorito MA, Lare SM, McGraw JS, King-Marshall E. LGBTQ+ cultural-competence training effectiveness: Mental health organization and therapist survey outcome results from a pilot randomized controlled trial. Clin Psychol Psychother 2023. [PMID: 37622344 DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and other sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) persons frequently lack access to mental health service organizations (MHOs) and therapists who are competent with LGBTQ+ clients. Existing continuing education programmes to better equip therapists to work with LGBTQ+ clients are often not widely accessible or skills focused, evaluated for effectiveness and inclusive of MHO administrators who can address the organizational climate needed for therapist effectiveness. A virtual, face-to-face, multi-level (administrators and therapists) and multi-strategy (technical assistance, workshop and clinical consultations) LGBTQ+ cultural competence training-the Sexual and Gender Diversity Learning Community (SGDLC)-was tested in a pilot randomized controlled trial. Ten organizations were randomly assigned to the intervention (SGDLC plus free online videos) or control (free online videos only) group. Pretest/posttest Organization LGBTQ+ Climate Surveys (n = 10 MHOs) and pretest/posttest Therapist LGBTQ+ Competence Self-Assessments (n = 48 therapists) were administered. Results showed that at pretest, average ratings across organization LGBTQ+ climate survey items were low; twice as many items improved on average in the intervention (10/18 items) than control (5/18 items) group organizations. At pretest, therapist average scores (range 0-1) were highest for knowledge (0.88), followed by affirmative attitudes (0.81), practice self-efficacy (0.81), affirmative practices (0.75) and commitment to continued learning (0.69). Pretest/posttest change scores were higher for the intervention relative to the control group regarding therapist self-reported affirmative attitudes (cumulative ordinal ratio [OR] = 3.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.73, 6.26), practice self-efficacy (OR = 5.28, 95% CI = 2.00, 13.93) and affirmative practices (OR = 3.12, 95% CI = 1.18, 8.25). Average therapist and administrator satisfaction scores were high for the SGDLC. These findings suggest the SGDLC training can affect organizational- and therapist-level changes that may benefit LGBTQ+ clients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradley Boekeloo
- Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Jessica Fish
- Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Rodman Turpin
- College of Public Health, Department of Global and Community Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
| | - Elizabeth M Aparicio
- Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Richard Shin
- Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Michael A Vigorito
- Vigorito Counseling and Consulting, LLC, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Sean M Lare
- Vigorito Counseling and Consulting, LLC, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - James S McGraw
- Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
| | - Evelyn King-Marshall
- Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
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