Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of final- year medical students regarding sexual and gender minorities at a South African institution
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Keywords

health care education
medical curriculum
medical education
sexual and gender minorities

How to Cite

Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of final- year medical students regarding sexual and gender minorities at a South African institution. (2024). Undergraduate Research in Health Journal, 2(2), e2252. https://doi.org/10.1796/

Abstract

Background. SGMs continue to face systemic prejudice and discrimination, including within healthcare, despite global strides towards acceptance and equality. This reality is especially problematic in the context of the SA Constitution, which provides for the protection of the SGM community and their healthcare needs. Research suggests that the healthcare needs of SGMs are either inadequately, or not, addressed, in the medical curriculum which contributes to the continuation of the marginalisation of SGM healthcare.

Objective. To explore the knowledge and attitudes of final-year medical students towards SGM healthcare education in the medical curriculum at a South African medical school in 2021.

Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted as an anonymous online survey using Qualtrics and included 5-point Likert scale and open- ended questions. The survey underwent face (n=10 students) and content validation (n=3 clinical staff members), showing acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.94).

Results. Most participants felt that their training on SGM-specific healthcare was insufficient and lacked an understanding of key SGM terms, which suggests a foundational knowledge gap in the SGM-specific content within the curriculum. Potential barriers to a more inclusive curriculum were identified as: a content-heavy curriculum, SGMs being a minority group with little curricular attention, lack of reform in the institutional culture and insufficient SGM representation in the learning environment. Although the low response rate (12.5%) limits the generalisability of the results, these findings offer preliminary insights for further investigation.

Conclusion. Our findings suggest a gap in the SGM curriculum, though this conclusion is limited by the low response rate. More research is needed to fully characterise this gap, but the results highlight areas for improvement during curricular review. Given the importance of equitable healthcare, we advocate for the inclusion of SGM healthcare education within the medical curriculum as a formal component to strengthen its teaching, learning and assessment.

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