Residents feel underprepared to treat LGBTQ youth

Survey findings presented at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry annual meeting showed that many residents do not feel confident providing care to LGBTQ youth and reported minimal training and knowledge of the patient population.

“LGBTQ+ youth, compared with heterosexual youth, are three times as likely to report a history of suicidality. They are also at an increased risk for mental health disorders including PTSD, depression, anxiety and substance use,” Aylin Saner, MD, of the University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “There is currently no standardized model of LGBTQ+ health education in residency training programs. We created this pilot study to understand resident knowledge, awareness and confidence as it relates to providing medical and mental health services to sexual minority youth.”

To assess residents’ knowledge, attitudes and satisfaction attained from current residency training programs regarding health care of LGBTQ+ youth, researchers utilized an anonymous and voluntary survey platform. To date, 27 residents completed the survey, of which 30% were in their postgraduate year 1; 48% were in postgraduate year 2; 15% were in postgraduate year 3; and 7% were in postgraduate year 4. The study is ongoing.

Overall, 74% of respondents were pediatric residents, 22% were psychiatric residents, and 4% were medicine and pediatrics residents.

Most respondents reported that it was important to know a patient’s sexual orientation and gender identity and that there are unique discrepancies in LGBTQ+ youth health care.

However, most respondents reported minimal training, knowledge and confidence when providing care to LGBTQ+ youth, regardless of training level.

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Sixty-three percent of respondents were not aware of any national resources for LGBTQ+ youth and 78% had never recommended resources to patients.

Attitudes toward providing LGBTQ+ care differed between postgraduate year 1 residents and their more senior peers.

“Our survey results have thus far shown that pediatric and psychiatry residents at the University of Florida have not received formal LGBTQ+ education in their medical training,” Saner said. “We are planning to disseminate the survey to residency programs nationwide. In doing so, we hope to promote the addition of LGBTQ+ health education to residency program curricula. This would secondarily prepare residents to practice inclusivity in a clinical setting, while confidently providing comprehensive care to LGBTQ+ youth.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Saner A, et al. Education gaps in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) health among residency training programs. Presented at: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry annual meeting; Oct. 23-28, 2017; Washington, D.C.

Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.