Building Culturally Sensitive Assessments for Transgender Clients: Best Practices for Instrument Development and the Adaptation Process

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on best practices for developing, adapting, and using assessments with transgender clients. The historical context of gender minorities in counseling is discussed, outlining the bias and stigma that has been attached to transgender identities. Due to this historical bias, most assessments use heteronormative language and were not developed for use with gender minorities. As such, we used the guidelines put forth by the American Counseling Association (ACA), the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), and the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC) to present a guide for developing and adapting assessments for the transgender population. Finally, the authors discuss the clinical application of using a trans-sensitive assessment process for counselor educators and clinicians.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment
• counseling
• instrumentation
• multicultural
• transgender