Symposia
LGBQT+
Zachary A. Soulliard, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Yale School of Public Health
New York City, New York
Skyler D. Jackson, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist
Yale School of Public Health
Brooklyn, New York
Ilana Seager van Dyk, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
Massey University
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Eric K. Layland, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yale School of Public Health
New York, NY
Kirsty A. Clark, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
John E. Pachankis, Ph.D.
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
Yale School of Public Health
New Haven, Connecticut
Objectives: LGBTQ-affirmative CBT lends itself to broad dissemination to help reduce the substantial mental health disparities affecting LGBTQ individuals. LGBTQ community centers operate at the frontlines of providing mental health care to LGBTQ individuals in local communities nationwide. In a randomized controlled trial, we tested whether an 11-week online training in LGBTQ-affirmative CBT could lead to increased uptake of this practice at LGBTQ community centers across 20 US states.
Methods: A total of 121 mental health providers (M age=37.74; 74.4% cisgender; 76.9% LGBTQ; 67% White) were randomized to receive the 11-week training either immediately (n=61) or after a 4-month wait (n=60). Participants self-reported their LGBTQ cultural competency, cultural humility, and knowledge/familiarity of LGBTQ-affirmative CBT at baseline and 4- and 8-months after baseline. To assess LGBTQ-affirmative CBT skills, participants completed a simulated practice assessment at each assessment point. Change in cultural competency and humility, minority stress knowledge, and LGBTQ-affirmative CBT knowledge, familiarity, and skills were tested across assessments and between groups using general linear mixed models.
Results: All participants completed baseline assessments. The immediate condition and waitlist control group completed the training in January 2021 and April 2021, respectively. From baseline to 4-month follow-up, participants in the immediate condition improved in cultural competency (∆M = 1.64, p = < .001), minority stress knowledge (∆M = .94, p = .001), and LGBTQ-affirmative CBT knowledge (∆M = 1.01, p = < .001), familiarity (∆M = 5.89, p = < .001), and skills (∆M = 6.11, p = < .001). In coded assessments of simulated practice, participants in the training condition demonstrated greater uptake of LGBTQ-affirmative practice skills (d=0.82). Participants in the waitlist control did not change on these outcomes. Similar effects persisted 8 months post-baseline in the immediate condition.
Conclusions: This study represents the first randomized controlled trial capable of establishing the efficacy of training providers to deliver LGBTQ-affirmative CBT. Results demonstrate the efficacy of this training intervention through improvements in clinician cultural competency, LGBTQ minority stress knowledge, and LGBTQ-affirmative CBT knowledge/familiarity. The training tested here lends itself to broad implementation as a means to provide high-quality mental health care to LGBTQ individuals most in need nationwide.