Date of Award

8-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Global Inclusion and Social Development

First Advisor

Valerie Karr

Second Advisor

Sharon Horne

Third Advisor

Kristen Eckstrand

Abstract

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) have worse health outcomes than heterosexual, cisgender individuals due to a heteronormative, cisgendered society that has created inequitable access to healthcare and increased health disparities. In 2014, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published guidelines to facilitate implementation of SGM health content and institutional climate changes to reduce the burden of health disparities and increase medical student competence treating SGM patients, however, no publication to date has assessed the efforts of medical schools to implement these guidelines. Sensitivity and cultural training of medical students is imperative to increase comfort, knowledge retention, and clinical skill acumen to increase accessibility to and quality of healthcare, and to decrease and eliminate SGM health inequities. This research study examined SGM health inequities and investigated culturally responsive best practices for implementing an inclusive SGM curriculum in U.S. medical schools. Through a survey of medical schools in the U.S. assessing the efforts of medical schools to adopt the AAMC SGM curricula and climate change guidelines, the study explored the total hours of SGM content taught, the competencies that were included in the curriculum, if assessment of SGM content was occurring, and what resources were available and needed for both faculty and students of medical schools. The results show an increase in overall hours of SGM content taught (from 5 hours in 2011 to 8.9 hours in 2021), however, SGM content and competencies are inconsistently implemented across medical schools. The study also shows there is limited information on student assessment and SGM content efficacy with only 23% of respondents performing assessment. This further reinforces the need for comprehensive SGM curricula that empowers medical students and future physicians to accurately and comfortably treat SGM patients. This study contributes to improving healthcare quality and access for SGM individuals as the results indicate that while there has been progress in SGM rights over the past several decades, healthcare education and practice lag in ensuring and inclusive medical education for students, which prevents equal access and quality healthcare for the SGM community.

Comments

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Additional and Related Files

Signature Page JMM Signed.pdf (296 kB)

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