title: Determinants of lesbian and gay affirmative practice among heterosexual therapists.
abstract: The current study tested a conceptual model based on social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), highlighting the influence of attitudes toward sexual minority individuals, training hours, affirmative counseling self-efficacy, and beliefs about affirmative practice on therapist engagement in lesbian and gay affirmative practice. We recruited via the Internet 443 heterosexual psychologists (n = 270), clinical social workers (n = 110), and marriage and family therapists (n = 63) residing in various parts of the United States. The majority of participants identified as female (70%) and White (88%). A path analysis indicated that beliefs and affirmative counseling self-efficacy mediated associations between attitudes and therapist engagement in affirmative practice. Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the relation between training hours and engagement in affirmative practice. Results suggest that more affirmative attitudes are linked with higher levels of affirmative counseling self-efficacy and more positive beliefs, which in turn positively influences therapist engagement in affirmative practice. Additionally, more hours of training influence affirmative counseling self-efficacy, which in turn correlates with higher levels of therapist engagement in affirmative practice. The discussion includes implications for affirmative practice training.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
authors.forename: Edward J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Alessi
authors.affiliation: Division of Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
authors.forename: Frank R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
authors.forename: Hillary Mi-Sung
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires