Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs of Nurses About LGBTQ Older Adults Using a Documentary Video

Statistics reveal that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults experience health disparities and barriers to accessing healthcare because of discrimination and fear of disclosing sexual orientation. Nurses receive limited education regarding care for LGBTQ older adults. This study exposed nurses to the documentary, Gen Silent, which details LGBTQ older adult experiences. The objective of the study was to increase participants’ understanding of LGBTQ health disparities. A one-group pre-/post-test design was conducted to test the effect of the documentary on knowledge and attitudes about LGBTQ health. A total of 379 nurses participated in the study. A questionnaire including a 16-item standardized scale and an open-ended question asking how participants would change their practice was administered before and after the intervention. Findings revealed statistically significant increases in LGBTQ knowledge and inclusive attitudes. This research supports the use of a documentary as an educational method related to LGBTQ older adults.

LGBTQ+ Psychosocial Concerns in Nursing and Midwifery Education Programmes: Qualitative Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study

LGBTQ+ people experience significant physical and psychosocial health issues and concerns, and encounter barriers when accessing healthcare services. We conducted a mixed-methods research study across all Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in the United Kingdom and Ireland using a survey and qualitative interviews. This was to identify the current content within nursing and midwifery pre-registration programmes in relation to LGBTQ+ health and to identity best practice and education innovation within these programmes. The survey was completed by 29 academics, with 12 selected to participate in a follow-up in-depth qualitative interview. Analysis of the data from the survey and interviews identified five themes: there is variable programme content; academics are developing their own programmes with no clear consistency; LGBTQ+ health is being linked to equality and diversity; there are barriers to education provision; and these is some evidence of best practice examples. The findings of the study support the need to develop and implement a curriculum for LGBTQ+ health in nursing and midwifery pre-registration programmes with learning aims and outcomes. Academics need support and tools to prepare and deliver LGBTQ+ health content to nurses and midwives as they ultimately have the potential to improve the experiences of LGBTQ+ people when accessing healthcare.

A Scoping Review of Current Social Emergency Medicine Research

Introduction: Social emergency medicine (EM) is an emerging field that examines the intersection of emergency care and social factors that influence health outcomes. We conducted a scoping review to explore the breadth and content of existing research pertaining to social EM to identify potential areas where future social EM research efforts should be directed. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive PubMed search using Medical Subject Heading terms and phrases pertaining to social EM topic areas (e.g., “homelessness,” “housing instability”) based on previously published expert consensus. For searches that yielded fewer than 100 total publications, we used the PubMed “similar publications” tool to expand the search and ensure no relevant publications were missed. Studies were independently abstracted by two investigators and classified as relevant if they were conducted in US or Canadian emergency departments (ED). We classified relevant publications by study design type (observational or interventional research, systematic review, or commentary), publication site, and year. Discrepancies in relevant publications or classification were reviewed by a third investigator. Results: Our search strategy yielded 1,571 publications, of which 590 (38%) were relevant to social EM; among relevant publications, 58 (10%) were interventional studies, 410 (69%) were observational studies, 26 (4%) were systematic reviews, and 96 (16%) were commentaries. The majority (68%) of studies were published between 2010–2020. Firearm research and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) health research in particular grew rapidly over the last five years. The human trafficking topic area had the highest percentage (21%) of interventional studies. A significant portion of publications -- as high as 42% in the firearm violence topic area – included observational data or interventions related to children or the pediatric ED. Areas with more search results often included many publications describing disparities known to predispose ED patients to adverse outcomes (e.g., socioeconomic or racial disparities), or the influence of social determinants on ED utilization. Conclusion: Social emergency medicine research has been growing over the past 10 years, although areas such as firearm violence and LGBTQ health have had more research activity than other topics. The field would benefit from a consensus-driven research agenda.

LGBTQ+ health research guides at North American health sciences libraries: a survey and content analysis

Objectives: Current literature recommends online research guides as an easy and effective tool to promote LGBTQ+ health information to both health care providers and the public. This cross-sectional study was designed to determine how extensive LGBTQ+ health guides are among hospital and academic libraries and which features are most prevalent.Methods: In order to locate LGBTQ+ health guides for content analysis, we searched for guides on the websites of libraries belonging to the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Additionally, we searched the Springshare interface for LibGuides with the word “health” and either “LGBT” or “transgender.” Content analysis was performed to identify major characteristics of the located guides, including target audience and the information type provided.Results: LGBTQ+ research guides were identified for 74 libraries. Of these, 5 were hospital libraries, and the rest were academic libraries. Of 158 AAHSL member libraries, 48 (30.4%) had LGBTQ+ guides on their websites. Nearly all guides (95.9%) provided general LGBTQ+ health information, and a large majority (87.8%) also had information resources for transgender health. Smaller percentages of guides contained information on HIV/AIDS (48.6%) and women’s health (16.2%).Conclusions: Even though literature recommends creating LGBTQ+ health guides, most health sciences libraries are missing an opportunity by not developing and maintaining these guides. Further research may be needed to determine the usage and usefulness of existing guides and to better identify barriers preventing libraries from creating guides.

LGBTQ Health Research: Theory, Methods, Practice

Book Review

Combating LGBTQ+ health disparities by instituting a family medicine curriculum

Research shows that a growing number of people in the United States are identifying as LGBTQ+. Therefore, it is more important than ever that clinicians are trained to be knowledgeable, inclusive, and culturally aware. Unfortunately, there is a lack of LGBTQ+ health education requirements in graduate medical education. As a result, fewer clinicians are prepared to care for this growing population. The shortage of knowledgeable clinicians contributes to LGBTQ+ health disparities and barriers to care. One strategy to combat these deficiencies in health care is for Family Medicine residency programs to create and carry out an LGBTQ+ health curriculum. This article will review LGBTQ+ health topics, identify efforts that Family Medicine residency programs can make, and summarize curriculum developments made by the St. Vincent's Family Medicine Residency Program.