How Prepared Are They? Exploring Couple and Family Therapy Faculty Members’ Training Experiences in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Therapy

Abstract

This study investigated the training that couple and family therapy (CFT) faculty members have received on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) affirmative therapy. The sample consisted of 65 faculty members from accredited CFT programs. The on-line data collection involved two Likert scale items and one open-ended question. The study found that 45.6% of CFT faculty members reported receiving at least some LGB affirmative therapy training during their graduate studies. Additionally, the qualitative data analysis revealed that the LGB affirmative training of faculty members could be described by the following four categories: (1) Negligible Training, (2) Informal Training, (3) Coursework, and (4) Experiential Learning. The findings of this study provide crucial implications for both CFT training programs as well as for current CFT faculty members.

KEYWORDS:

• couple and family therapy faculty members
• couple and family therapy training programs
• faculty members training
• LGB affirmative therapy training