Graduation Semester and Year
2022
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Social Work
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Micki Washburn
Abstract
Historically, clinicians have functioned as gatekeepers to access gender-affirming care for individuals identifying as transgender. However, current best practice standards by reputable professional associations have encouraged clinicians to minimize potential barriers for clients seeking gender-affirming care. This care includes hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gender confirmation surgeries, and other gender-affirming interventions such as name and gender marker change. This study seeks to describe Texas clinicians’ attitudes toward transgender clients and their self-perceived competency to perform gender affirming care. Licensed mental health care clinicians were recruited from various professional associations to complete an anonymous internet-based survey on providing gender-affirming mental health care. Seventy-five clinicians completed all survey measures. Approximately 86.7 % of respondents scored below the clinical cutoff score for effective counseling for transgender clients. Results further indicated that a range of demographic variables of respondents was associated with self-reported levels of competence and bias. Implications for social work education, practice, policy, and research are offered to help support increased competence of social workers in this area.
Keywords
Transgender, Gender diverse, Mental health, Clinician attitudes, Clinical training, Texas
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Bolinger, Taylor Dahlia, "Competence and Bias in the Provision of Transgender Mental Health" (2022). Social Work Theses. 72.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/socialwork_theses/72
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington