• Adrienne Hancock and Gregory Haskin.
• Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2015 May 1; 24 (2): 206-21.

PurposeThe cultures and service needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) minority groups are relevant to speech-language pathologists (SLPs). In particular, transgender individuals seeking communication services from SLPs in order to improve quality of life require culturally and clinically competent clinicians. Knowledge and attitudes regarding a population are foundational stages toward cultural competency (Turner, Wilson, & Shirah, 2006). The purpose of this research is to assess LGBTQ knowledge and attitudes among aspiring and practicing SLPs.MethodAn online survey was completed by 279 SLPs from 4 countries.ResultsMean accuracy scores on LGBTQ culture questions were near 50%. Self-ratings indicated more comfort than knowledge, with generally positive feelings toward LGBTQ subgroups. Transgender communication is within SLPs' scope of practice, yet 47% indicated such services were not addressed in their master's curriculum, and 51% did not know how to describe transgender communication therapy. When respondents were asked to indicate priority of 10 LGBTQ topics for a continuing education seminar, communication masculinization/feminization best practice and case examples had the highest mean priority scores.ConclusionThere is a need to promote LGBTQ cultural competence within speech-language pathology. This study provides direction for improving LGBTQ cultural competence among SLPs.

21 keywords...

hide…