Oral papers
Is Medical Education Inclusive? Exploring LGBT Health Topics in Portuguese Medical Courses
L. Lopes
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
B. Andrade
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
D. Costa
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
G. Castro
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
R. Dias
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
M. I. Matos
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
T. Valido
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
M. Couto
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Portuguese Medical Students Association (anem/pormsic), Braga, Portugal
M. Esteves
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Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.21465/2016-KP-OP-0003
Fulltext (english, pages 10-10).pdf
Abstracts
Objective: The importance of addressing LGBT health topics is increasingly recognized. This study aimed to explore whether Portuguese medical schools cover LGBT health topics from the perspective of undergraduate medical students.
Design and Method: Undergraduate students enrolled in Portuguese medical schools were invited to participate in an anonymous online questionnaire between March and June 2015 about Medical Education in Human Sexuality. Medical students from the ‘clinical’ years also answered a section on LGBT health topics. Descriptive statistics, comparison by Chi-Square statistical analysis and regression analysis were used. Statistical significance was settled at p<0.05.
Results: The analysis included 939 completed responses. Despite the diversity of realities found in Portuguese medical schools, more than half of medical students (59,3%) reported that they did not learn to perform inclusive questions when collecting a sexual history from patients. In fact, students that didn’t learn to ask inclusive questions reported more frequently to never use them (79,2% vs. 16,3%, p<0,001) and to always assume that patients are heterosexual (17,1% vs. 4%, p<0,001), when compared to student who have learned. Nevertheless, almost three quarters of students (71,1%) considered the allocation of curricular time on LGBT health topics as “Important” or “Very Important”.
Conclusions: Portuguese medical students recognize the importance of LGBT health in their curricula although these topics appear to be insufficiently addressed. Learning about LGBT health can change this scenario and should be more focused by medical schools.