Abstract
BackgroundLesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients have an increased incidence of a range of health problems, and face many barriers to accessing healthcare. Our research aimed to explore the awareness of health issues and attitudes of medical students towards LGBT patients’ health including barriers to health services, their attitudes towards inclusion of LGBT content in the curriculum and their confidence with providing care for their LGBT patients in the future.MethodsMedical students were recruited to take part in a cross-sectional survey. We used a 28-item survey to explore views about the undergraduate medical curriculum.Results252 surveys were analysed from 776 eligible participants. Attitudes towards LGBT patients were positive but awareness and confidence with respect to LGBT patients were variable. Confidence discussing sexual orientation with a patient significantly increased with year of study but confidence discussing patient gender identity did not. The majority of participants (n = 160; 69%) had not received specific training on LGBT health needs, and 85% (n = 197) wanted to receive more training.ConclusionsIncreasing the amount of LGBT teaching in undergraduate medical curricula could help to increase the quality of doctor-patient interactions, to facilitate patients’ disclosure of sexual orientation and gender identity in healthcare and increase the quality of healthcare.
Highlights
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients have an increased incidence of a range of health problems, and face many barriers to accessing healthcare
Self-reported confidence in treating LGBT patients Participants were ‘neutral’ at clarifying unfamiliar sexual or gender terms used by patients (Table 2)
This study found that medical student attitudes towards LGBT patients were positive but awareness of health issues and confidence with respect to LGBT healthcare was variable
Summary
Gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients have an increased incidence of a range of health problems, and face many barriers to accessing healthcare. Arthur et al BMC Medical Education (2021) 21:56 higher risks of a variety of physical, sexual and mental health issues. Physical health problems include increased risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and certain cancers such as testicular, prostate, breast and endometrial. The UK National LGBT survey reported that 24% of participants had accessed mental health services in the previous 12 months [9]. LGBT people have higher incidences of substance use, family rejection, homelessness and isolation; all social determinants of health [10]. Minority stress theory hypothesises that long term discrimination and stigma can lead to chronic stress, potentially resulting in long-term physical and mental health problems [11]
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