A preliminary study of intensive transgender-specific cultural competency training: Implications for social workers and psychologists who work with rural transgender clients

What is it about?

Rural transgender individuals face heightened disparities relative to other transgender individuals. However, social workers and psychologists receive minimal training in transgender client care. The current study used one-way repeated measures ANOVAs to investigate the effectiveness of transgender-specific cultural competency training for social workers and psychologists working with rural clients to improve knowledge, awareness, and self-efficacy (i.e., competency) concerning transgender clients’ needs. Results indicated significant differences in the change of competency among participants assigned to a transgender-specific group compared to those assigned to a general multicultural group. Thematic analysis of participants’ responses to course evaluations also supported the course effectiveness.

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Photo by Lena Balk on Unsplash

Photo by Lena Balk on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study demonstrated that generalist social workers and psychologists licensed in Michigan who work with rural clients being assigned to an intensive 10-hour asynchronous online training that is transgender-specific can lead to a statistically significant increase in transgender competence from pre- to post-test with a statistically significant difference in post-test competence compared to a 10-hour general multicultural group with one hour of transgender content. Given the difference between the groups, it may be the case that more intensive training is needed for social workers and psychologists to work competently with the transgender community, especially when working with transgender communities like the rural trans-gender community, which faces heightened health disparities and less access to affirming care.