Increasing the Cultural Competency of Healthcare Providers Caring for Transgender Individuals

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to increase healthcare provider knowledge of evidence-based culturally competent practices specific to transgender individuals in the acute care setting.Background: Transgender individuals often face harassment, discrimination, and violence when seeking healthcare (James et al., 2016). They also encounter providers who lack essential knowledge in care of the transgender individual (Samuels et al., 2017). These issues discourage transgender individuals from seeking care, creating a disparity in health (Samuels et al., 2017). Providers report witnessing discrimination against transgender individuals and lacking knowledge required to provide care for this minority population (Carabez et al., 2016). Methods: An online interactive educational module was created using EdApp for providers to access at their convenience. The material was tailored specifically to acute care providers and was restricted to evidence-based culturally competent practices. The module was paired with a pre- and post-survey powered by Qualtrics to obtain de-identified participant data. Results: Twenty-five participants accessed the pre-survey, five participants participated in the educational module, and three participants completed the post-survey. A majority of participants identified as female, registered nurses, and between the ages of 25-44. The high level of dropout between pre- and post-survey confounded statistical analysis using either a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Post-survey participants rated themselves as very likely to implement a change to their practice after the training module. Conclusions: While significant limitations were identified in the implementation of this project, it served as an important proof of concept in educating providers on culturally competent practices specific to transgender individuals. Recommendations are made for future researchers.