Community-Engaged Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Interprofessional Education Workshop on Gender-Affirming Care

Background: Transgender/nonbinary (trans/NB) patients face stigma in health care settings. Health care professionals' training on trans/NB issues has historically been lacking. Interprofessional education (IPE) provides an opportunity to improve knowledge and attitudes across health care professions. The purpose of this study was to: (a) describe the development and implementation of an IPE workshop on gender-affirming care through a trans/NB community-academic partnership and (b) examine the impact of the workshop on student knowledge and attitudes.

Methods: The workshop included a slide presentation on basic terminology and concepts, video clips of trans/NB patient – provider interactions, facilitated discussions of affirming practices, and a trans/NB panel. Nonparametric statistical analysis of pre- and post-survey data from 58 workshop participants measured changes in student knowledge and attitudes.

Findings: Students demonstrated statistically significant improvements in knowledge ( t =−12.72; p < 0.01) and interpersonal comfort ( t =−2.06; p < 0.05) as well as sex and gender beliefs ( t =−3.06; p < 0.05) on subscales from the Transgender Attitudes & Beliefs Scale. The results demonstrated no differences on the human value subscale ( t =−0.69; p =0.49) or on health care professional questions ( t =−1.23; p =0.23).

Conclusions: A community-academic partnership developed and implemented this brief interactive educational intervention, which can improve both knowledge and attitudes about trans/NB individuals' health among health professional students.