Dyadic simulation to prepare students for counseling transgender children and their parents

ABSTRACT

Transgender individuals are at risk for discrimination, which can lead to poor mental health outcomes. Social workers are often the health professionals to provide assistance during periods of transition. Social work education programs use simulation-based learning experiences to train students to think independently and respond empathically to clients. Nineteen undergraduate social work students participated in a dyadic simulation with transgender individuals and their cisgender parents, and they received lower performance scores compared to a similar group of students engaged in a simulation with bisexual child and parent dyads. This paper presents research findings and makes recommendations for simulation preparation activities to better prepare novice social workers for direct practice with transgender children and their parents. We conducted this simulation study at a private university in the United States of America.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender
• dyadic
• simulation
• social work
• learning

Acknowledgments

Joel Chaverri, LCSW

Tony Erby, PhD, LCSW

D. Lynn Jackson, PhD, LCSW, ACSW

Linda Milburn, LMSW, LCDC

Ronni R. Robinette, LMSW, TxCG

Carol Shelton, LCSW-S

Steffanie Strawbridge, LCSW

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We include technical terms in this paper related to simulation because it is important to use consistent terminology to enhance communication in the simulation community (Lopreiato, 2016). Our goal is for readers to find the paper accessible and to make recommendations to improve simulation practice for education and research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the TCU Research and Creative Activities Fund.

Notes on contributors

Tee R. Tyler

Tee R. Tyler is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Texas Christian University.

Ashley E. Franklin

Ashley E. Franklin is an associate professor in the Department of Nursing at Texas Christian University.