Religiousness, Education and Attitudes Towards Providing Mental Health Services to Transsexual and Transgender Patients

Abstract

Efforts to promote adequate transgender and transsexual mental health care have been met with resistance in part due to the discrepancies between gender-affirming therapy and psychotherapists’ religious beliefs. This study aims to examine the relationship between religiousness and attitudes towards providing mental health care services to transgender population among graduate level psychology students and validate the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) for use in Puerto Rico. In this correlational study 110 psychology students enrolled in graduate programs in Puerto Rico completed measures including the Attitudes Towards Transsexual and Transgender Scale (AC-TT), a Spanish version of the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) and socio demographic questions. We found that self-reported religiousness is associated to negative attitudes towards transgender and transsexual patients. We also found that exposure to courses that discuss transgender and transsexual related topics resulted in positive attitudes towards these patients.