Initial Validation of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale (LGBTQ-DOCCS) with Practicing School Psychologists

Lichty Lotus

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: The College of Health Professions and Human Services

Major: School and Clinical Psychology (Psy.D)

Faculty Research Mentor: Aaron Gubi

Abstract:

School psychologists play a crucial role in supporting the well-being of diverse youth, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). While school psychologists receive extensive education across various disciplines, many receive minimal training working with students who identify as LGBTQ. As part of a more extensive study examining the relation between cultural humility and school psychologists’ perceived preparedness working with LGBTQ students, this study explores the validity of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale (LGBT-DOCSS) with practicing school psychologists.A total of 56 practicing school psychologists completed all sections of the survey. The survey measured knowledge, clinical preparedness, and attitudinal awareness surrounding working with sexual and gender diverse people. Cronbach alpha and Spearman Rho were employed to examine the reliability and validity of the measure.There was acceptable to good internal consistency among the items within the three subscales.Moreover, there were significant and small correlations between the attitude and knowledge subscales and subscales on another scale, the Multidimensional Cultural Humility Scale, that seem to conceptually relate.While the scale has been previously validated with counselors, this study represents its first application to school psychologists. This study takes the first steps of providing some initial validity evidence of the scale among this group of mental health professionals.Key words: LGBTQ, School Psychology, Cultural Humility