Healthcare Professional Students' Attitudes, Beliefs, and Knowledge Regarding Transgender Healthcare
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Description
Background: In our current medical system, transgender patients face discrimination and lack access to physicians competent in transgender specific health issues. Despite the fact that many medical schools and other healthcare professional schools are incorporating LGBT+ curriculum, research shows that many students still lack the skills and knowledge to comfortably care for the transgender patient population.
Objectives: To assess Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) healthcare professional students’ attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge regarding transgender health, and to assess students’ prior educational experiences and current educational preferences.
Methods: All students enrolled in one of the following colleges at TJU: health professions, nursing, pharmacy, population health, rehabilitation sciences, and medical school, were asked to participate in a 5-minute anonymous survey approved by IRB. Students were asked to answer questions about their attitudes, beliefs; comfort, skill, and knowledge level regarding transgender care along with any prior transgender health education and their educational preferences.
Results: There were a total of 337 responses with a response rate of 4.3%. Over 80% of students were interested in learning more about transgender healthcare issues. Less than 20% of students reported they lacked the skill and comfort level to adequately treat this patient population. 67% of students received some form of education regarding transgender healthcare issues with medical students reporting a signicantly high rate of 79.5% (p < 0.001). The majority felt it was successful in increasing knowledge (85%) comfort (85%), and skill level (63%). Participants wanted to practice skills with clinical skills session, standardized patient encounter, and clinical elective
Conclusion: Overall students at TJU feel they have a good base to adequately care for the transgender patient population; however, many students expressed interest in learning more about transgender specific health issues. A possible solution to this would be to provide more curricular opportunities with emphasis on practicing clinical skills
Publication Date
9-2020
Keywords
transgender healthcare education
Recommended Citation
Clark, BS, J.; Chung, MD, P.; and Wolf, MD, A., "Healthcare Professional Students' Attitudes, Beliefs, and Knowledge Regarding Transgender Healthcare" (2020). Sex and Gender Health Education Summit 2020 – Virtual Meeting. 12.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/sexandgenderhealth/12
