Aptitudes and Attitudes among Licensed Professional Counselors Regarding Human Sexuality ...

162 Pages·2017·1.79 MB·English

Aptitudes and Attitudes among Licensed Professional Counselors Regarding
Human Sexuality and Sexual Counseling in Puerto Rico: An Exploratory Study

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Faculty of
The American Academy of Clinical Sexologists
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Clinical Sexology

By
Orlando García Colón, MPH, MFC, LPC
Orlando, Florida
May 2017

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© Copyright by Orlando García Colón, MPH, MFC, LPC. 2017
All Rights Reserved

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the aptitude and attitude exhibited by a group of
Licensed Professional Counselors in Puerto Rico regarding human sexuality and sex counseling.
Descriptive data was gathered by a self-administrated questionnaire. Out of the 100 counselors
that were invited to participate, 64 accepted the invitation. The sample group (N=64) was
recruited according to their availability. Due to the size of the sample the results do not reflect
the reality of all professional counselors in Puerto Rico.
The participants were asked to answered basic socio-demographic questions. Almost half
of the sample group was composed by Guidance Counselors. Majority of the participants were
women with more than 15 years of experience in the field and who worked in the public
education system. The level of knowledge was measured by two factors; previous education on
sexuality and by the results obtained on a self-evaluation exercise using a Likert scale. The
instrument included 22 basic concepts related to sexuality. More than half of the respondents
(56%) answered they had taken a course on human sexuality. The present results indicated that
49% of the sample considered that they had a high or very high level of knowledge concerning
human sexuality.
In this study attitude was defined as a learned manner or disposition to approach and
evaluate a situation or a subject. In this case, 83% of the sample was willing to improve their
education on human sexuality and 56% was willing to intervene on cases involving sex
counseling. Therefore, the investigator concluded that in general, professional counselors in
Puerto Rico exhibit a positive attitude toward human sexuality and sex counseling.
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It was also found that the most common topics that counselors were willing to intervene
included; contraceptive methods, female and male reproductive systems and sexually transmitted
infections. All these subjects are commonly found in medical books rather than in counseling
books. On the contrary, some of the topics they were most likely to refer were; psychogenic
female and male sexual dysfunctions, fetishes and paraphilias. These subjects are usually found
in counseling books. These results combined with the fact that almost one-half of the participants
(47%) studied human sexuality at bachelor’s degree level, suggests that the type of knowledge
that they demonstrated was must likely learned in sex health classes rather than sexuality
counseling courses. This finding suggests that the knowledge participants reported was learned
from a biology point of view rather than from a counseling perpective. Further investigations are
therefore recommended.

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Vita

Orlando García, MPH, MFC, is a licensed professional marriage and family counselor, a
certified sex educator and sex therapist in Puerto Rico. He completed his Master’s Degree in
Public Health at the Graduate School of Public Health, Medical Science Campus of the
University of Puerto Rico. He obtained his human sexuality education certification from the
Professional Studies Division of the University of Puerto Rico. He earned his second Master’s
Degree in Marriage and Family Counseling at the Central University of Bayamon, P.R. and later
attained a sex therapist certification from the Carlos Albizu University, San Juan Campus.
Currently, he is a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Sexology from the
American Academy of Clinical Sexologists.
His professional history includes working for the Puerto Rico Health Department Ryan
White II Program, San Juan, P.R. as a program evaluator. He has also worked as a research
interviewer on various investigations at the Behavioral Science Research Institute, Medical
Science Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. Currently, he is an adjunct professor of
professional counseling and human sexuality at Central University of Bayamon, P.R. and active
member of the Asociación Puertorriqueña de Educadores, Consejeros y Terapeutas Sexuales
(AsPECTS) (Puerto Rican Asociation of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists).

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Dedication

To all licensed professional counselors who dedicate their lives to promoting good mental
health in Puerto Rico. But specially to those who always aspire more, those who seek growth as
professionals and as individuals. But especially to those counselors who demonstrate interest in
human sexuality and sex counseling.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to all the people that in one way or
another contributed to making this study possible. And I would like to give special thanks to my
Dissertation Committee; Dr. Carmen Várcarcel-Mercado, Dr. William Granzig and Dr. Karla
Narvaez, for their guidance, support and trust. I am especially grateful to Dr. Várcarcel-Mercado
for accepting being chairperson of my committee, and for her time and encouragement.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank the people who helped me validate my
research instrument. Dr. Waldo Sánchez, Dr. Myrian Guadalupe, Dr. Karla Narvaez, Dr. Agnes
Ferrer and Ms. Yamilet Arroyo and to Dr. Idania Rodríguez for her contribution to the SPSS data
program and analysis. Also, I would like to thank Mr. Cutberto Camacho and Ms. Amnerys
Colón for their technical assistance and the five graduate counseling students who anonymously
participated in the pilot test to validate the questionnaire.
I would also like to recognize and thank the participants. Without their willingness and
thirst for knowledge this investigation would have never been possible. Thank you all.

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List of Tables

Table 1 – Socio-demographic Characteristics of Professional Counselors …………………….42
Table 2 – Knowledge and Willingness to Have Further Studies in Human Sexuality …………43
Table 3 – Level of Knowledge About Human Sexuality Concepts …………………………….44
Table 4 – Intention to Refer or Intervene on Cases Regarding Human Sexuality ……………...48
Table 5 – Intention to Receive Training Regarding Human Sexuality …………………………51
Table 6 – Chi Square Test of Level of Knowledge Among Counselors by Selected
Characteristics ……………………………………………………………………….56
Table 7 - Chi Square Test of Level of Knowledge Among Counselors by Years of
Experience ………………………………………………………………………...…57
Table 8 – Chi Square Test Willingness to Refer or Intervene in Cases Among
Counselors by Selected Characteristics ……………………………………………...58
Table 9 – Chi Square of Interest in Receiving Training About Human Sexuality
Concepts Among Counselors by Years of Experience ………………………………59
Table 10 – Chi Square Test of Interest of Counselors for Hours of Training by
Category of Interest to Take a Full Course in Counseling on Human
Sexuality ……………………………………………………………………………..60
Table 11 – Chi Square Test of Interest of Counselors for Hour of training by
Category of Interest to Take a Certificate on Human Sexuality …………………….61
Table 12 -Chi Square of Interest of Training by Category of Interest to Obtain an
Academic Degree on Human Sexuality ……………………………………………....61
Table 13 – T-test results of Selected Categories and Concepts ………………………………..62
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Table of Content

Copyright Page ……………………………………………………………………………III
Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………...IV
Vita ………………………………………………………………………………………..VI
Dedication ………………………………………………………………………………..VII
Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………VIII
List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………….IX
Chapter One: The Problem ………………………………………………………………..1
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….1
Rationale and Purpose of the Study ………………………………………………3
Research Questions ……………………………………………………………….3
Limitations / Delimitations ……………………………………………………….4
Operational Definitions …………………………………………………………..5
Chapter Two: Literature Review …………………………………………………………6
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………6
Gender Identity ………………………………………………………………….13
Sexual Orientation ………………………………………………………………14
Classification of Sexual Orientation ……………………………………………14
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