Media interest in transgender issues has increased substantially, yet empirical studies are lacking. Little is known about the attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding transgender identity and transgender persons. Previous studies are decades old or did not differentiate sexual orientation from gender identity. This study fills a gap in the literature and addresses shortcomings seen in previous research on healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward the LGBT population. The authors surveyed 243 healthcare workers, including 83 nurses, 60 doctoral-level healthcare professionals, and 100 other healthcare workers using the Transgender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (TABS). Results of two-way ANOVAs showed that healthcare professionals on the whole hold generally favorable attitudes toward transgender persons with no differences in attitudes across professions. The current study found gender differences in attitudes consonant with previous findings, with females displaying more-accepting attitudes toward transgender individuals compared to their male counterparts. A chi-square test for independence also found changes in healthcare professionals’ views regarding sex reassignment surgery and mental health potential for transgender persons over the past 30 years. The paper includes discussion of earlier studies along with hypothesized and known correlates of attitudes towards transgender persons in an effort to inform possible strategies to improve healthcare for transgender persons.

Issues related to persons who are transgender have gained large interest in recent years, but discrimination and differential health outcomes for persons who are transgender continue. This article reviewed the 14 existing studies on attitudes toward persons who are transgender, none dealing exclusively with counselors and/or counselors in training. This study involved investigation of those attitudes with a sample of 95 counselors and counselors in training. Findings indicated that counselors tend to have positive attitudes. Greater personal familiarity and multicultural competence as well as being female were associated with more positive attitudes, whereas quantity of diversity training was not related and professional experience was related to more negative attitudes.

The article advocates for the equal prioritization of the formative and actualizing tendencies as motivational constructs in the person-centered approach. It describes a rationale, including problems with self-determination, varied identity ideas, and the ever-changing global context. The actualizing tendency roots growth in the maintenance and enhancement of the single human individual while the formative tendency is broader and both subsumes and exists in dialogue with the actualizing tendency. The formative tendency applies to all life processes, whether individual or group, organic or inorganic. It posits growth as fundamentally interconnected. Explicit prioritizing of both tendencies aids a multicultural and ethical understanding of person-centered theory where compromise and wider applications are necessary.

Transgender people suffer from others’ negative attitudes in many situations. The university context is one environment where further progress has to be made to ensure the inclusion of transgender people. In this study, a sample of 376 undergraduate students was collected and their attitudes towards transgender people were analyzed. A comparison was made between number of years in university, and a sample from the general public. In addition, comparisons were made by gender, since the literature shows more negative attitudes toward transgender people in men than in women. The results show relatively positive attitudes toward transgender people among higher education students, but they have little knowledge of transgender identity. In turn, researchers found significant differences between different years in the university and between genders. These results support the need to expand knowledge about transgender people in the university environment.

Wilderness therapy with adolescents is emerging as a bonafide counseling modality, both in terms of practice and research evidence. The researchers bring together qualitative literature to identify the meaningful elements for adolescent clients and their families who participate in wilderness therapy. This review describes the search and selection process and the resultant nine included studies to provide an initial synthesis of the methods and findings of this literature. Most studies used small samples with interviews as the primary data-gathering tool. The studies included common themes of family functioning, improved communication and relationships, person-environment connection and experiential components, transitions, and changes to the self-concept. The systematic review concludes with suggestions for future research and implications for practitioners.