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Richard Sawyer, PhD, Center on AIDS & Community Health, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009, 202 884-8868, rsawyer@aed.org, J. Davidson Porter, PhD, Maryland Institute College of Art, 1300 Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217, T Lehman, MA, Center for Applied Behavioral and Evaluation Research, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Conn. Ave, NW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20009, Clinton Anderson, MA, American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002, and Karen M. Anderson, PhD, NIH-DC Initiative, Howard University, 2018 Georgia Avenue NW, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20001.
A national-level study identified training and educational resource needs of high school psychologists, counselors, social workers, and nurses relevant to providing health and mental health services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning (GLBQ) students. Within a cross-sectional design, representative samples (n = 941) of school psychologists, counselors, social workers, and nurses from national-level professional membership organizations completed a self-report survey, which had been extensively pilot tested. Participants’ attitudes towards GLBQ youth were generally positive (supported gay and lesbian students to date same-sex students). Most participants assessed GLBQ students to be at much greater risk, than their heterosexual counterparts, for several health and mental health concerns (e.g., low self-esteem, substance abuse). Participants indicated that they should be providing more services (e.g., counseling students about their sexual orientation) than they currently do provide, and identified many barriers to providing such services (e.g., school climate tolerates harassment, lack of staff training, and staff fear of parental objections. Few participants reported receipt of relevant pre-service or in-service education related to providing services to GLBQ students. Participants identified specific topics (e.g., methods to address harassment of GLBQ students) on which they would like to receive training. Results from the needs assessment can be used to: 1) provide targeted training and education to school-based health and mental health staff; 2) engage and inform the work of national organizations represented in the sample; and 3) increase national-level awareness and support regarding the health and mental health needs of GLBQ students.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to
Keywords: Gay, School-Based Programs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.