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Description
Background: Identifcation of sex and gender identity is the first step to inclusive care for sex and gender minorities, and studies have shown that health care providers may make heteronormative assumptions about sex and gender. Implemented in 2007, the Jefferson Health Mentors Program (JHMP) involves firstand second-year students from couple and family therapy, human genetics and genetic counseling, medical laboratory sciences, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies. In the First assignment, 140 student teams complete a comprehensive questionnaire, the Individual Life and Wellness History with their Health Mentor. Health Mentors live with one or more chronic conditions and range in age from 27 to 95 years old, with the majority over age 50. Interprofessional education where students learn from, with, and about each other is an ideal place for students to be exposed to the sex and gender two-step question.
Objectives: To describe our experience with 713 students involved in the JHMP asking the two-step sex and gender question.
Methods/Research: In Fall 2018, the two-step sex and gender question was added to the questionnaire. The module evaluation included both a quantitative and a qualitative question to gather student feedback on the inclusion of the two-step sex and gender questions. The qualitative responses were reviewed for themes, and the authors came to consensus.
Conclusions/Impact: Common themes included student appreciation of the importance of the questions; confusion of the Health Mentors with the questions; student perception of generational differences, and student teams having no issues with the questions. No Health Mentors dropped out of the program after the First assignment, other than those who dropped out for health related reasons. Interprofessional education can provide a venue for normalizing the two-step sex and gender question.
Publication Date
9-2020
Recommended Citation
Ankam, MD, N.; Mitchell, A. B.; Bell, K. A.; Hass, R.; and Lopez, A. M., "Inclusivity in Action: Interprofessional Curricula Integrates Two-Step Question for Sex and Gender Identity" (2020). Sex and Gender Health Education Summit 2020 – Virtual Meeting. 1.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/sexandgenderhealth/1
