Abstract

`This critique examines Riggs and Bartholomaeus (2015) article, “The role of school counselors and psychologists in supporting transgender people.” The study assesses 98 participants from all parts of Australia who were grouped according to their gender, age, work experience, and religion as par their position in the study. The research compared the treatments that the parents and their transgender children got from school’s mental health professions and how the procedure may varied with the school’s psychiatrists’ competency level. The scale of treatments either positive or negative was analyzed and got inferred to the schools’ mental professions demographics that reflect on the competency. The study found out that religion influenced the competency of school mental health professions’ competency in supporting the transgender children, which marks a starting point for the future search.

Critiquing a Chosen Article

Riggs and Bartholomaeus, 2015 studied how the position of college counselors and Psychologists in the provision of counsel to the transgender population of the school ensured that the community feels included in schools programs. Previous studies on transgender issues indicated that; school had less involved or  recognized the needs of transgender groups, schools lacked knowledge on inclusion of transgender parents and student’s problems in the curriculum and that college mental clinicians’ had little competency skills to offer counsel to the transgender community. The survey examines over 98 participants who include parents of transgender students and school mental health Clinicians, who help in assessment of the treatments that transgender children face in schools and the level of provision of a supportive psychological intervention in schools. The study hypothesized that parents had negative experiences and school psychiatrists had inadequate knowledge of their role regarding the transgender issues (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

Participants

Since the entire study paper report took a two-tier perspective, first, obtaining parents and their transgender children experiences on association and the college counselor. Secondly, determining the college psychiatrists’ competency in the provision is necessary to support the transgender students. Therefore, participants of the two surveys were recruited separately. The first study recruited 60 parents of transgender students who consisted of mainly females in heterosexual relationships. The individuals were recruited from Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. The second study recruited 28 college mental health clinicians licensed in the Australian Mental Health Professions. The participant’s selection was based on age, work experience, and sexual orientation (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

Variables

The independent variables of study 1, includes the parents and their transgender children experiences on interaction with college psychologists and the support they obtain from the school. The dependent variable consisted of the general outcomes of interaction of school’s mental health clinicians and transgender students and supports the school provides to the group (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

For survey 2, the independent measure includes information on the participants’ demographics and work experience whereas the dependent measures  consist of competency of the college mental professions in providing support to the transgender students (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

Methodology

The participants were informed of the ethics procedure required in the study before disseminating an online-survey that was administered through monkey survey.  The surveys deployed open questionnaires from which the participants accounted for interactive experiences they had with transgender children. The parents’ responses were then tested using the conventional content analysis that categorized them as either positive or negative. The second survey also used questionnaires to assess the attitudes and confidences levels of school counselors and psychologists in working with transgender children. The relationship scales were used to measure the counselors’ attitude and confidence levels in working with the transgender student, which was numerically scaled to varied points of Likert’s scales. The monkey survey data was later entered into SPSS 21.0 scale from where means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients of relationships were calculated (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

Results and Discussion

The results of the study showed various experiences that the parents and the student encountered with the school mental counselors. Some parents reported negative experiences they had with school clinicians who victimized or discriminated their children based on their distinct sexual orientation. Other parents reported positive responses of interaction with the school’s mental health professions who provided their children with the necessary resources and supportive services for adaption in the schools’ environment.

Moreover, the study indicated an average acceptance of transgender students by the schools’ mental health professions.  The professions had a moderately higher clinical knowledge of working with the transgender students although they portrayed average confidence levels of working with the transgender population (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015). The schools’ mental health professions demographic had insignificant differences on variation on their performance. Religion was the major factor that indicated differences in the profession’s acceptance of transgender in which more religious participants had little acceptance of the transgender students (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

The study outcomes mirror the results of the previous study and echo to education stakeholders to align more strategies and measures to enhance a suitable schooling environment for the transgender cohort. In the provision of services to the group of students, personal differences in attitudes seem to determine the quality of services the transgender receive despite their mental health knowledge in working with the group.  According to Riggs and Bartholomaeus (2015), further training and awareness programs should be initiated to surge for acceptance of transgender as a gender group since religiosity seems to be a predictor of acceptance among the school counselors and psychologists.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Study

The study has several advantages. To begin with, it provides an extended knowledge to the previous researches done on issues about transgender, where the study explains the role of school mental health psychologists in ensuring that transgender students adapt to the school’s environment. Secondly, the study report can be used as a future study reference material or policy formation tool since the report highlights religion as a significant determiner of schools psychologists’ acceptance of transgender as an original group (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015).

The research had the following limitations. First, the study report lacked objectivity in the analysis since it drew up two different samples for it neither focused on parents and their transgender student’s experiences nor psychologist’s competency (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015). Secondly, the study used the small size of sample statistic study an issue that disturbs the entire nation which reduces the reliability of the data as is might have some biased information.

Suggestions

If the research problem was to be replicated in the future, the following improvements are recommended to enhance the validity and reliability of the publication. The study should be made more objective in that it should focus on one facet at a time either, the experiences parent and their transgender children get from psychologists or the competency of psychologists in the provision of necessary to transgender students (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2015). The study should also use a relatively large study sample to increase the amount of data obtained from the group which increases the validity of the report

References

Riggs, D. W., & Bartholomaeus, C. (2015). The role of school counselors and psychologists in supporting transgender people. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 32(2), 158-170.

 
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