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Comfort Theory for GLBT
By Kathy Kolcaba RN, MSN, PhD, TheComfortLine.com
Pondering the role of Comfort Theory for GLBT teens and adults: a
response to the New York Times Editorial, Sept 2nd, 2012 by Frank Bruni, Excluded
From Inclusion.
Bruni begins his column by commenting on the politics of
exclusion, which he saw in full force at the recent Republican Convention.
Being gay himself, he was acutely aware that of all the speakers who were
invited to speak, no one was openly gay, nor were policies that would include
gays and lesbians mentioned. When Bruni asked a fellow gay Republican about
this, the response was “Our messaging within the party has been: if you can’t
say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
The columnist continues, “But that’s not progress enough. Silence
does nothing for gay and lesbian teenagers racked with self-doubt about what
the world has in store. “ So I decided I would no longer remain silent about
what I think is a very helpful instrument constructed by one of my graduate
students nearly 15 years ago.
This student came to me with a passion to focus her dissertation
of the plight of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) community. She
was a nurse and a counselor, and now was seeking the PhD degree, an important
credential for a counseling career. She adapted my General Comfort
Questionnaire for the GLBT population, which then could be used for assessment,
intervention (when indicated), and evaluation of what works. She then conducted
an instrumentation study in which the GLBT Comfort Questionnaire proved to be
very strong psychometrically. You can see her brief summary of results by
clicking on this link: http://www.thecomfortline.com/resources/cq.html
Scroll down to Instruments created by others and look for the one currently
titled “Self Comfort With Sexual Identity Questionnaire.” (I will ask my web
master to change the title to the GLBT Comfort Questionnaire). When analyzing
data, please use total scores (higher scores indicated higher self-comfort).
After her successful defense, I urged my new PhD nurse to publish
her story – she had done extensive background research, which demonstrated the
need for such a questionnaire for GLBT folks of all ages, especially for those
who were having difficulties in “the world.”
For nurses and counselors, a measure of which interventions worked to increase comfort in the GLBT client should be very helpful. As a tool to measure the success of strategies to prevent discrimination or judgment, this questionnaire could be used to compare self-comfort across GLBT populations some of whom were exposed to innovative policy changes. A psychometrically strong questionnaire could be used across high school or college campuses or even across state lines. In a just society all people with a sense of compassion will need quality data to support the GLBT community, or any community, in the quest for basic civil rights.
For nurses and counselors, a measure of which interventions worked to increase comfort in the GLBT client should be very helpful. As a tool to measure the success of strategies to prevent discrimination or judgment, this questionnaire could be used to compare self-comfort across GLBT populations some of whom were exposed to innovative policy changes. A psychometrically strong questionnaire could be used across high school or college campuses or even across state lines. In a just society all people with a sense of compassion will need quality data to support the GLBT community, or any community, in the quest for basic civil rights.
Alas, my new PhD nurse did not follow through with an article or
an official publication of her valuable questionnaire. Immediately after
graduation, she allowed me to post it on my web site, Comfort Line, and I let
it go at that. She stopped answering my communications, and then I felt I had
no further recourse…
But now I have a professional blog, on which I can post some of my
current thoughts about applications of Comfort Theory. I hope this time around,
this wonderful GBLT questionnaire gets a wee bit more traction.
- Kathy Kolcaba
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Copyright 2012 Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD. Creative Commons
3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. The Comfort Line, Chagrin
Falls, Ohio 44022. E-mail: kathykolcaba@yahoo.com
Phone: 440-655-2098 Web: http://thecomfortline.com/
-Betsey Merkel, Comfort Is Strength Communications
-Betsey Merkel, Comfort Is Strength Communications
