Date of this Version

11-27-2022

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Compared to heterosexual youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) children and adolescents face a disproportionate burden of negative mental health outcomes. LGBTQ youth health disparities and inequalities are in part due to a lack of cultural competence and gender-sensitivity training among healthcare providers in mental health settings. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase knowledge awareness among healthcare providers at an outpatient clinic in Miami, Florida, regarding practice sensitivity of LGBTQ children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. A descriptive, cross-sectional, pre- and posttest study design was employed to conduct this project. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit N = 9 participants and access data at an outpatient psychiatric-mental health specialty clinic in Miami, Florida. The project was conducted wholly remotely, including the delivery of the educational intervention and the administration of the pre- and posttests of a modified Queer Youth Cultural Competency (QYCC) scale, that measured knowledge awareness on practice competency and sensitivity of LGTBQ youth. Results revealed a significant large difference between pretest and posttest mean scores, with participants achieving higher scores on the posttest after the educational intervention, t(8) = 4.46, with a p = 0.002, (p < 0.05). Healthcare providers should be educated on practice sensitivity of LGBTQ children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders to increase this vulnerable population’s mental healthcare access, utilization, and outcomes.

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