Best Practices in Creating and Delivering LGBTQ Cultural Competency Trainings for Health and Social Service Agencies

"The term [cultural competency training] has been used interchangeably with diversity education, cultural sensitivity training and multi-cultural workshops. Cultural competency is commonly understood as a set of congruent behaviors, knowledge, attitudes and policies that enable effective work in cross-cultural situations. Cultural competency training, therefore, aims to increase knowledge and skills to improve one’s ability to effectively interact with different cultural groups" (p. 5). This document explains how to effectively develop and deliver LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) cultural competency training. While it is intended for health and social service agencies, it is equally applicable to correctional agencies. Sections of this document include: introduction; defining cultural competency training; goals of LGBTQ cultural competency training-goals vs. objectives; preparing for a training-six trainer skills; training components-core topics; pros and cons of the following training methods-lecture with PowerPoint slides, guest speaker(s)/ panel discussion, media, interactive participation, print materials and learning aids, and Web-based learning; training evaluation-Kirkpatrick Model (Pyramid) of Learning, and Evaluation Planning Chart; resources and examples; and evaluation appendix-Kirkpatrick's Model of Evaluation is detail, tips on evaluation, sample training fidelity list items, sample survey items, and demographics.