School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University.
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health, and Society, La Trobe University.
Psychotherapy (Chic). 2018 Mar;55(1):52-62. doi: 10.1037/pst0000149.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people seek psychotherapy at high rates, and the importance of providing culturally appropriate and LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy has been widely acknowledged. Despite this, remarkably little research has investigated the effects of therapist training in LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy. Here we examined the effectiveness of a training protocol for LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy with 96 mental health professionals, ranging in therapeutic experience from <1 year to 37 years (M = 6.54 years). Across all outcomes, therapists reported increased knowledge and skills related to working with LGBT clients following the training. Therapists also displayed reductions in homo-negativity and trans-negativity. Therapists' characteristics did not influence the extent to which they benefited from training. Specifically, years of clinical experience, therapist religiosity, and therapist psychological flexibility were unrelated to changes in attitudes, knowledge, and skills. The results of this study clearly suggest that providing training in LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy can enhance therapists' attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Of particular importance is that the benefits associated with such training appear to hold regardless of therapists' characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record
女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者（LGBT）寻求心理治疗的比例很高，提供文化上合适和支持 LGBT 的心理治疗的重要性已得到广泛认可。尽管如此，关于 LGBT 肯定心理治疗的治疗师培训效果的研究却少之又少。在这里，我们研究了一项针对 LGBT 肯定心理治疗的培训方案对 96 名心理健康专业人员的效果，他们的治疗经验从不到 1 年到 37 年不等（M = 6.54 年）。在所有结果中，治疗师报告说，在接受培训后，他们在与 LGBT 客户合作方面的知识和技能有所提高。治疗师还减少了对同性恋者和跨性别者的负面看法。治疗师的特点并没有影响他们从培训中受益的程度。具体来说，临床经验年限、治疗师的宗教信仰和治疗师的心理灵活性与态度、知识和技能的变化无关。这项研究的结果清楚地表明，提供 LGBT 肯定心理治疗培训可以提高治疗师的态度、知识和技能。特别重要的是，这种培训带来的好处似乎与治疗师的特点无关。
