A descriptive study on awareness and attitude of medical undergraduates about the transgender population and their healthcare needs

Abstract

Background: Medical education in transgender health care can empower physicians to identify and change the systemic barriers to care that cause transgender inequities as well as improve knowledge about transgender specific care. The objective of this study is to estimate the awareness among medical students about the terms related to transgender and their healthcare needs, to create an environment of inclusivity and educate the undergraduate MBBS students to provide highest level of care and advocacy for transgender population and to stress on the fact that the transgender education in the medical curriculum is an inevitable one in the modern medical practice. Methods: Knowledge questionnaire and TABS scale questionnaire was distributed to the 150 students through Google forms and their responses were collected. Knowledge questionnaire was given a score as 1 point for each (28 points). TABS questionnaire was assessed with Likert scale. Results: 52.6 percentage of the students have scored below the median and remaining 48.4 percentage of students have scored above the median score. The undergraduate students have a basic understanding about the healthcare needs of the transgender population and attitude towards transgender is on par with population of similar age group Conclusions: It is been observed that more knowledge regarding the terms about transgender population and their healthcare needs is needed for undergraduate students. A good curriculum to teach about basic health needs of transgender population has to be discussed.