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LGBT+ Training Needs for Health and Social Care Professionals: A Cross-cultural Comparison Among Seven European Countries

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Abstract

Introduction

Research suggests that specific training on LGBT+ issues may improve the competencies and skills of health and social care (HSC) professionals, which reduces the negative attitudes toward LGBT+ people. Despite this, there seems to be a lack of coverage of LGBT+ needs in HSC education. The present study aims to explore the specific LGBT+ training needs of HSC professionals and to examine the relationship between these training needs and the four dimensions of the Papadopoulos model, i.e. cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and cultural competence.

Methods

The research used data from a cross-cultural project, “Intercultural Education for Nurses in Europe (IENE9),” which was administered to 412 HSC academics and workers (62% females; Mage = 46.06, SDage = 10.48) between February 2020 and July 2020, in seven European countries: UK (coordinator), Denmark, Spain, Germany, Cyprus, Italy, and Romania.

Results

Hierarchical multiple regression showed that higher training needs were associated with cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, and cultural competence. The need for training on LGBT+ issues was higher for Cyprus, Romania, Spain, Italy, and the UK, compared with Denmark (no differences between Germany and Denmark were found).

Conclusions

We believe that there has been a lack of focus on the LGBT+ training needs of HSC professionals: Greater efforts are required to develop a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+ curriculum.

Social Policy Implications

Findings from the present study will inform the development of a free, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), for culturally competent and compassionate HSC professionals in Europe to improve the quality of their care.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the health and social care academic and workers who participated in this study. All authors who contributed significantly to the work have been identified.

Funding

This project was supported with funding from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (Grant number 2019-1-UK01-KA202-061955). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Correspondence to Roberto Baiocco.

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Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not refer to any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Baiocco, R., Pezzella, A., Pistella, J. et al. LGBT+ Training Needs for Health and Social Care Professionals: A Cross-cultural Comparison Among Seven European Countries. Sex Res Soc Policy 19, 22–36 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00521-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00521-2

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