Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 13;19(16):10010.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610010.

Medical Students' Perspectives on LGBTQI+ Healthcare and Education in Germany: Results of a Nationwide Online Survey

Gerrit Brandt  1 , Jule Stobrawe  2 , Sophia Korte  2 , Livia Prüll  3 , Nora M Laskowski  1 , Georg Halbeisen  1 , Georgios Paslakis  1
Affiliations

Medical Students' Perspectives on LGBTQI+ Healthcare and Education in Germany: Results of a Nationwide Online Survey

Gerrit Brandt et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The healthcare needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons are often overlooked, prompting national and international calls to include diversity-related competencies into medical students' training. However, LGBTQI+-focused healthcare education targets remain elusive, as surveys reveal considerable variability across national student populations. To generate empirical data and vocalize recommendations for medical education, we conducted the first nationwide online survey among 670 German medical students from 33 universities. Overall, most respondents reported low confidence regarding their medical training preparing them for LGBTQI+ patients, stated that LGBTQI+ themes were not covered during training, and agreed that the inclusion of such themes is urgently needed. In addition, we found gender and LGBTQI+ community member status to be key variables. Men scored lower in knowledge than women, while community members scored higher than non-community members. Similarly, community members reported higher comfort levels. Non-community men showed the highest levels of prejudice and efficacy beliefs, while at the same time had the lowest scores in contacts and the perceived importance of LGBTQI+-related teaching. Keeping subgroup differences in mind, we recommend that educational training should include LGBTQI+ healthcare aspects and address self-efficacy beliefs in future medical professionals to overcome LGBTQI+ healthcare disparities.

Keywords: gay; healthcare; lesbian; medical education; training; trans*.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Selection of difficult items from knowledge assessment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gallup . LGBT Identification in U.S. Ticks up to 7.1%. Gallup; Washington, DC, USA: 2022.
    1. Dalia Research . Dalia-Studie Zu LGBT-Anteil in Der Bevölkerung-LGBT-Jetzt.De. Dalia Research; Berlin, Germany: 2016.
    1. Marks S.M. Global Recognition of Human Rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People. Health Hum. Rights. 2006;9:33. doi: 10.2307/4065388. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Küpper B., Klocke U., Hoffmann L.-C. Einstellungen Gegenüber Lesbischen, Schwulen und Bisexuellen Menschen in Deutschland. Antidiskriminierungsstelle Des Bundes; Baden-Baden, Germany: 2017.
    1. Lee C., Ostergard R.L. Measuring Discrimination against LGBTQ People: A Cross-National Analysis. Hum. Rts. Q. 2017;39:37–72. doi: 10.1353/hrq.2017.0001. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources