Sexuality Training for Professional Psychologists: A National Survey of Training Directors of Doctoral Programs and Predoctoral Internships

Addressing sexuality issues is an inherent part of being a professional psychologist. A survey of training directors revealed that, although about one half of the doctoral programs covered at least some sexuality topics within courses, 19 % to 21 % of programs did not offer any training with regard to sexual dysfunction, therapy with gay clients, and HTV-AIDS. Sexuality training was even less likely in predoctoral internships. Sexuality training was unrelated to size of the program but was a function of the number of faculty with relevant expertise. Psychologists with adequate knowledge and comfort regarding sexuality will be better able to serve clients and avoid ethical pitfalls. Suggestions for infusing sexuality training into the already-crowded curricula are offered. Sexuality is an inherent part of being human, and problems in sexuality may be a cause or consequence of emotional and psy-chological distress (Charlton, 1996; Leiblum & Rosen, 1989; Wincze & Carey, 1991). Clinically, sexual disorders as a class may be second only to substance-related disorders with regard to prev-alence (Spector & Carey, 1990). In the mental health setting, a lack of appropriate formal training in sexuality issues can result i