Determining the Efficacy of the Psychological Society of South Africa’s LGBTIQA+ Sensitization Training on Related Clinical Competencies Among a Cohort of Social Work Practitioners

An increased call for timely intervention to address knowledge deficits and training gaps among healthcare practitioners working with sexually and gender-diverse (including LGBTIQA+) people contributed to the development of a related Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) sensitization training intervention. A need was identified to scientifically establish whether the training curriculum effectively enhanced clinical competencies and skills among practitioners working with the sexually and gender-diverse. This study therefore set out to pilot the efficacy of PsySSA's LGBTIQA+ sensitization training on related clinical competencies among a cohort of social work practitioners. The study utilized a Quasi-Experimental Design. Participants were purposively selected across five regions of the Gauteng province in South Africa. Findings revealed that PsySSA's LGBTIQA+ training intervention had a significant effect on clinical competencies, holding constant the differences in participants' residual knowledge/experience (F (3,794) = 401.24, <i>p</i> < .001; n_p² = 0.603). 60.3% of the change observed in participants' competencies was due to the training intervention. A significant increase was observed in participants' clinical preparedness (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mover><mml:mi>X</mml:mi><mml:mo>-</mml:mo></mml:mover></mml:math> = 03.74 to 05.64) and LGBTIQA+ knowledge (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mover><mml:mi>X</mml:mi><mml:mo>-</mml:mo></mml:mover></mml:math> = 04.21 to 05.53). The study concluded that the intervention was effective in enhancing clinical competencies and skills among the study population. Limitations and recommendations are discussed.