A study conducted last year by Bolding et al. (2022) examined the knowledge, clinical preparedness, and attitudinal awareness of occupational therapy practitioners, in regards to the LGBTQIA+ folks. This self-report study was broken down by category and found that on a scale of 1-7, respondents scored a mean of 4.7 in their Knowledge about queer populations, 4.4 in Clinical Preparedness, and 5.6 in Attitudinal Awareness.

I speak often about the importance of self-reflection and processing of our sexual values, beliefs, attitudes, and biases to ensure they aren’t influential in our clinical decision making. As painful or uncomfortable as it might be, I encourage all OT professionals, if you haven’t already, to really sit with the personal thoughts and feelings that come up in self-reflection about what this means for you as a sexual person

Something OT practitioners need to keep in mind as we (humbly) approach the topic of sex with clients is how people can have sex in countlessly different ways –many that may be unfamiliar to us, and some of ways that may even be considered…

If you have a brain, you have a bias. Confronting our own biases is uncomfortable, but it is our ethical responsibility as occupational therapy professionals. Considering how paramount reconciling our biases are to enhancing the therapeutic relationship and treatment efficacy, and reducing patient harm and health disparities…