Date of Award

Summer 8-22-2015

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Lynett Henderson Metzger

Second Advisor

John McNeil

Third Advisor

Rachael St. Claire

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Transgender, Clinician training, Psychological treatment, Competence guidelines

Abstract

Literature on appropriate psychological care for the transgender population has been sparse (American Psychological Association [APA], 2009; Carroll, Gilroy, & Ryan, 2002; Israel, Gorcheva, Walther, Sulzner, & Cohen, 2008; Korell & Lorah, 2007; Maguen, Shipherd, Harris, & Welch, 2007; Walker & Prince, 2010). Historically, the focus of research has been on medical care for transgender individuals, and this literature has tended to pathologize the population (APA, 2009). More recently, individuals who identify as transgender have been included under the umbrella of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) studies, where their unique needs are often overlooked or ignored (APA, 2009; Carroll et al., 2002; Israel, et al., 2008; Korell & Lorah, 2007; Maguen, et al., 2007). However, in recent years there has been increased interest and redirection towards the importance of understanding how to serve the mental health needs of transgender clients in a positive and affirming manner. Recent health care reforms in some states have outlawed transgender exclusions previously allowed in most health care plans, leading to more available coverage for transgender-identified individuals (Goodwin, 2014; Johnson, 2014). These changes will likely lead to an increase in transgender-identified people seeking services. Studies looking at the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population have shown that clinicians and graduate-level psychology students express a lack of confidence in working with sexual minorities (Rutherford, McIntyre, Daley, & Ross, 2012; Sherry, Whilde, & Patton, 2005). An October 2014 review of the literature did not reveal any studies that have looked specifically at the competence and training levels of clinicians working with transgender populations. Though Sue, Arrendo, and McDavis described multicultural competency guidelines in 1992, there have only recently been transgender-specific suggestions for competencies (Singh & Burnes, 2010). It is unknown to what extent these guidelines are being used to assist in training transgender-competent clinicians in graduate psychology programs. Though more recent evidence has begun to highlight the importance of clinician competency in working with this unique population’s needs, no studies have examined the perceived training needs of graduate students in the field. People who identify as transgender experience a variety of unique stressors and life

Copyright Date

6-29-2015

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Vanessa Zimmerman

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

28 pgs

File Size

267 KB

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