Developing a taxonomy of helpful and harmful practices for clinical work with boys and men

Abstract

This study drew upon the knowledge base of member practitioners of the American Psychological Association (APA) to develop a taxonomy of helpful and harmful practices for treatment with boys and men. Four hundred seventy-five APA-member practitioners solicited from practice-related divisions provided responses to 4 open-ended questions about helpful and harmful practices in working with boys and men. Ten themes emerged from qualitative analyses. Beneficial and sensitive practices included addressing gender socialization and gender-sensitive issues as they apply to boys and men in psychological practice. Harmful practices included biased practices, stereotypes, and a lack of awareness and training around gender and diversity issues as they apply to boys and men. We discuss the specific themes that emerged from analysis of the responses, how these findings are situated within previous work examining helpful and harmful practices, limitations to the study, suggestions for research, and implications for training psychologists.