Cumming N, Bansee G, Haskins AR; Florida International University, Miami, FL. haskins@fiu.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of physical therapists toward homosexual patients, comparing the attitudes of female and male physical therapists. BACKGROUND: Homophobia and heterosexism are two forms of discrimination that affect the quality of care. Previous research suggests that homophobia does exist within the health professions, including nursing, psychiatry, social work, and medicine, and that males are more homophobic than females. SUBJECTS: This study included a random sample of 58 male and 89 female physical therapists who were APTA members, licensed and residing in Florida. The mean age of the respondents was 45 years for males and 41 years for females. METHODS: A mailed survey design was used. The Index of Homophobia (IHP) was used to determine the proportion of therapists who were homophobic, and the Kite Homosexuality Attitudes Scale was used to determine the attitudes of male and female physical therapists toward homosexuality. ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, were calculated for each group’s age and questionnaire responses. A two-sample Z test was used to assess whether the proportion of males with positive attitudes toward homosexuality differed from the proportion of females with positive attitudes. RESULTS: Analysis of the total scores on the IHP revealed that 75% of the therapists were found to be non-homophobic and 25% were homophobic. The two-sample Z test of the Kite Homosexuality Attitudes Scale computed a z-score of 2.24 with a p-value of .025, with a mean score for males of 78.75 (SD=15.69) and a mean score for females of 84.66 (SD=13.54). Thus, the Kite Homosexuality Attitudes Scale revealed that female physical therapists have more positive attitudes toward homosexuality than do male therapists. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports our hypotheses that homophobia exists among physical therapists, and that male therapists would be found to be more homophobic than female therapists. The results of this study suggest that physical therapists would benefit from educational interventions to reduce negative attitudes toward lesbian, gay and homosexual persons. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

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