Abstract
Introduction
Sexual minority adults have more unmet mental health care needs than their heterosexual counterparts. There is widespread acknowledgment that clinical interventions need to be tailored and inclusive to effectively meet the needs of sexual minority adults, yet remarkably little research has examined this issue empirically.
Methods
In a sample of 464 sexual minority adults who recently accessed psychotherapy, we examined whether client-reported psychotherapy inclusiveness was associated with greater client satisfaction and perceived psychotherapy outcome, and whether these associations were mediated via aspects of the therapeutic alliance. Data were collected in 2018.
Results
Greater client-reported psychotherapy inclusiveness was associated with both higher client satisfaction and perceived outcome, and these relationships were mediated by the task component of the therapeutic alliance. Inclusiveness was also associated with client satisfaction via the bond component of the therapeutic alliance.
Social Policy Implications
Results are consistent with calls to tailor clinical interventions to be appropriate and inclusive of sexual minority clients and highlight that the therapeutic alliance may be one mechanism underlying the association between inclusive practice and better clinical outcomes. Implications for social policy and professional practice are discussed, including the importance of disseminating mental health practitioner training in inclusive practice, and the need to develop and evaluate the efficacy of tailored clinical interventions for sexual minority adults.
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Availability of Data and Material
Data are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.
Code Availability
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Davis, A.W., Lyons, A. & Pepping, C.A. Inclusive Psychotherapy for Sexual Minority Adults: the Role of the Therapeutic Alliance. Sex Res Soc Policy 19, 1842–1854 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00654-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00654-y