Most Nursing Home Social Service Directors Lack Training in Working With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Residents

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study is to report findings from a nationally representative mail-in survey of nursing home social service directors (n = 1,071) who were asked if they had received at least one hour of training in six different areas of cultural competency in the past five years. Of the six areas, the lowest percentage of directors reported having training in homophobia. Three-fourths of the sample had not received even one hour of homophobia training over the past five years. Directors who were more recently educated were more likely to report having received homophobia training, as were directors with a college degree, and those who worked in nursing homes located in the West and South regions of the United States. Directors with the most experience were less likely to report having received training. Findings call for immediate development and dissemination of heterosexism and homophobia training of social service staff, policy changes within the nursing home, and policy advocacy priorities for social workers.

Keywords:

• homophobia
• heterosexism
• aged
• nursing home
• older adults
• lesbian
• gay
• bisexual
• LGB