ABSTRACT

Sexuality is a key element of the life of any human being. The present study aims to explore therapists’ experience of facilitating discussion of the topics of gender and sexuality in therapy. The design consisted of a qualitative approach using semi-structured in-depth interviews with five participants. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the transcripts where themes were identified. The results highlighted two superordinate themes and five sub-themes. The first superordinate theme is View from Within with three sub-themes: personal processing, level of comfort and self of the therapist. The World Outside is the second superordinate theme and it includes subthemes of therapy training and facilitating discussion of the topics. Conclusions highlighted that overall, therapists facilitate discussion of matters relating to gender and sexuality with clients. However, they feel unprepared by their training and may be reluctant to engage because of a lack of comfort and knowledge. An awareness of their own facilitation, personal processing and experiences enhances this offering. Despite certain challenges, the findings of this study suggest that therapists engage with these topics and this concurs with existing research.

摘要

性是任何人生活的关键要素。本研究旨在探讨治疗师在促进治疗中性别和性主题讨论方面的经验。该设计包括一种定性方法，使用对五名参与者的半结构化深度访谈。解释现象学分析 (IPA) 用于分析确定主题的转录本。结果突出了两个上级主题和五个子主题。第一个上级主题是从内部看，有三个子主题：治疗师的个人处理、舒适度和自我。外面的世界是第二个高级主题，它包括治疗训练和促进主题讨论的子主题。结论强调总体而言，治疗师促进与客户讨论与性别和性有关的问题。然而，他们觉得自己的培训没有做好准备，并且可能因为缺乏舒适感和知识而不愿参与。意识到他们自己的便利、个人处理和经验可以增强此服务。尽管存在某些挑战，但这项研究的结果表明治疗师参与了这些主题，这与现有研究一致。