Genetic Counselors' and Genetic Counseling Students' Implicit and Explicit Attitudes toward Homosexuality

Abstract

Members of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community experience significant health disparities. Widespread preferences for heterosexual over homosexual people among healthcare providers are believed to contribute to this inequity, making recognition (and ultimately reduction) of healthcare providers' sexual prejudices of import. The present study sought to characterize North American genetic counselors' and genetic counseling students' implicit and explicit attitudes toward homosexuality. During January 2017, 575 participants completed a Web-based survey and Sexuality Implicit Association Test (SIAT). A majority of participants (60.2%) harbored implicit preferences for heterosexual over homosexual people. Mean implicit attitude score (0.24) indicated a slight automatic preference for heterosexual over homosexual people, while mean explicit attitude score (0.033) indicated no preference for either group. Although participants' implicit and explicit attitudes were positively correlated (p < 0.001), there was greater implicit bias for heterosexual over homosexual people than suggested by explicit attitude scores (p < 0.001). Implicit attitudes differed across self-reported sexual orientation (p < 0.001), but not across gender, race, or genetic counseling specialty. Education has been demonstrated to be moderately effective at reducing sexual prejudices, and almost all participants (95.8%) indicated that they would support the implementation of genetic counseling curricula addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues. The study's combined findings suggest that North American genetic counselors and genetic counseling students support, and may benefit from, the implementation of genetic counseling curricula addressing LGBT issues.

Attitudes of registered physiotherapists in Israel toward people identifying as lesbian, gay, and bisexual: a cross-sectional survey

“…The current multivariant logistic regression analysis demonstrated that gender, sexual orientation, and religiousness are significantly predictable with attitudes toward LGB individuals, as reflected in the ATHS scores. Those results are consistent with previous studies [ 7 , 26 – 29 ]. Gender has previously been shown to be a significant predictor of attitudes toward LGB individuals, with men exhibiting more homophobic attitudes [ 26 ].…”

“…Thus, religious healthcare professionals have been known to exhibit more negative attitudes toward LGB individuals [ 26 , 28 ]. Previous studies also support the association between the sexual orientation of healthcare providers and their attitudes toward LGB individuals, with healthcare professionals who identify as heterosexuals reporting more negative implicit attitudes compared to sexual minority healthcare providers [ 7 , 29 ].…”

Diversity training experiences and factors associated with implicit racial bias among recent genetic counselor graduates of accredited programs in the United States and Canada

“…A 2014 study of third‐year medical students showed that 65% of respondents demonstrated implicit bias towards people of similar demographic groups as themselves (Gonzalez et al., 2014). The prevalence of pro‐White bias among recent GC graduates was also lower than other reports of bias towards other majority populations among genetic counselors (Gould et al., 2019; Lowe et al., 2020; Nathan et al., 2019). Specifically, Lowe et al reported that 77% of practicing genetic counselors involved in their study demonstrated bias favoring White individuals.…”

“…Gould et al found that 90% of genetic counselors and students demonstrated pro‐ability bias as assessed by the Disability Attitudes IAT. Similarly, Nathan et al (2019) showed that over 60% of genetic counselors and students demonstrated implicit preference for heterosexuality over homosexuality.…”

Attitudes of registered physiotherapists toward people identifying as lesbian, gay, and bisexual: A cross-sectional survey

“…27,29 Previous studies also support the association between the sexual orientation of healthcare providers and their attitudes toward LGB individuals, with healthcare professionals who identify themselves as heterosexuals reporting more negative implicit attitudes compared to sexual minority healthcare providers. 7,30 Further studies are required to explore how implicit and explicit attitudes toward people identifying themselves as LGB affect physiotherapy treatment quality.…”