Townsend-Chambers, C. (2020). IMPROVING PUBLIC HEALTH CLINICIANS’ BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORS WITH LGBT INDIVIDUALS. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
ABSTRACTCOLETTE TOWNSEND-CHAMBERS. Improving Public Health Clinicians' Beliefs and Behaviors with LGBT Individuals (Under the direction of DR. KELLY POWERS).Identified gaps in the education of healthcare clinicians contribute to non-affirming beliefs and marginalizing behaviors towards LGBT individuals. This can result in poorer health outcomes for LGBT persons. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a targeted educational intervention in improving public health clinicians’ affirming beliefs and behaviors with LGBT patients. A one group, pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design was used. The sample was 69 public health clinicians from local public health clinics that are piloting a Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP®) HIV medication. An educational training was implemented which focused on challenges for the LGBT client and current LGBT sensitive terminology. A standardized patient simulation video recording of a transgender patient encounter was shown to demonstrate best practices and a structured debriefing followed. The Gay Affirmative Practice (GAP) scale was administered at three timepoints (pretest, immediate posttest, and 2-month posttest). Friedman's Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were performed. There was a statistically significant immediate improvement in clinicians’ affirmative beliefs (p< 0.001); however, beliefs scores returned to baseline two months later. The improvement in self-reported affirming behaviors from pretest to two-month posttest was statistically significant (p= 0.003). Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the education and written comments revealed participants felt this education should be offered more frequently. Providing LGBT-specific healthcare training may improve clinicians’ affirmative beliefs and behaviors, which can significantly improve the patient-provider relationship. The use of experiential learning via simulation and ongoing education are recommended.