Sexual diversity, Knowing the facts, Impact on youth, Learning the language, Learning to eliminate barriers (SKILL) Toolkit: A resource for clinicians working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents

Adolescent care providers, are susceptible to heterocentrism and require appropriate information and skills to better address the complex issues of non-heterosexuality across the diverse population of adolescents. The Sexual Diversity, Knowing the Facts, Impact on Youth, Learning the Language, Learning to Eliminate Barriers (SKILL) Toolkit was developed to address the educational needs of adolescent health care providers working with non-heterosexual adolescents. The purpose of this capstone project was to assess adolescent care providers' opinions of its usefulness by having them review the Toolkit and participate in a structured interview.;Healthy People 2010 identified non-heterosexual individuals as a group experiencing health disparities, based on limited access to care, discrimination, stigma and cultural barriers. The content of the SKILL Toolkit was drawn from the basic concepts of adolescent growth and development, literature evaluating health care access for non-heterosexual adolescents, the minority stress model, and the literature on homophobia. The SKILL Toolkit emphasizes unique aspects of non-heterosexual adolescent culture and health as a resource for adolescent care providers to improve health promotion and intervention strategies.;The interviews revealed an understanding of the concept of the SKILL Toolkit, and that it was a useful resource for clinical practice. Overall, the interviewees stated that the SKILL Toolkit would be better presented in an interactive format.