An Interdisciplinary Approach to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Clinical Competence, Professional Training, and Ethical Care: Introduction to the Special Issue

ABSTRACT

There are exigent reasons to foster lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) competence, training, and ethical care for health professionals within an interdisciplinary paradigm. LGBT individuals experience serious health and psychosocial disparities; moreover, these inequalities can be amplified when other aspects of diversity such as race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status intersect with sexual orientation and gender identity (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2011). While the origins of LGBT health and psychosocial disparities are manifold, deficiencies in professional training, ethical care, and clinical competence are underlying contributors (IOM, 2011). In addition, LGBT clinical competency advancements are often siloed within the various health care disciplines—thus advances by one group of health professionals often have limited impact for those practicing in different health and human service fields. This special issue explores LGBT clinical competence, professional training, and ethical care within an interdisciplinary context and, to our knowledge, represents the first attempt to address LGBT clinical competence from a multidisciplinary health care perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBT clinical competence
• training
• interdisciplinary

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the contributing authors to this special issue for their diligence and groundbreaking scholarship. We are especially indebted to the assiduous efforts of our special issue research coordinator, Thomas M. Toomey.