260 - Confidence in Color: Preparing Pediatric Residents for LGBTQ+ Care with a Novel Interactive Workshop

Publication Number: 1246.260

Michael Petrus-Jones, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Shelley Kumar, Baylor College of Medicine, Sugar Land, TX, United States; Aditi Gupta, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States

Background: Medical education can help address LGBTQ+ pediatric health disparities, but training often lacks standardized, practical education. Pediatric trainees have limited exposure to LGBTQ+ content and variable levels of knowledge and comfort interacting with these patients. A needs assessment of pediatric residents was previously conducted to understand baseline attitudes, comfort, and perceived educational needs. Based on that assessment, a novel curricular intervention was developed.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a 2-hour LGBTQ+ curriculum on resident knowledge, and self-reported comfort and competence in caring for LGBTQ+ patients.

Design/Methods: Pediatric interns participated in a 2- hour multi-modal session learning about LGBTQ+ health disparities, allyship and clinical application. The session included didactics, case studies, gamification, and role-playing. Interns completed anonymous pre- and post- surveys using Likert-scale items to assess subjective comfort and competence, and multiple-choice and true/false questions to assess content knowledge. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired comparison, and Spearman correlation coefficient to assess associations between comfort and knowledge scores.

Results: Of 50 interns who attended the session, 35 completed both pre- and post-surveys (70.0%). Gender identity and sexual orientation demographics are in Figure 1. Self-reported comfort and skills measures were all significantly increased after the session vs before (Table 1). The largest shift in pre/post-test survey score was in identifying community resources available to support LGBTQ+ individuals (Median (IQR): 2 [2-4] vs 4 [4-5]; p< 0.0001). Spearman's correlation between comfort and skills/knowledge items strengthened from 0.60 pre-session to 0.79 post-session. The mean pre-test score on objective knowledge assessment was 84.5%, with a post-test score of 98.0% (p < 0.0001). Nearly all participants rated the session as good or excellent (97.1%), agreed or strongly agreed that the content was clinically relevant (97.1%), and it improved their ability to provide competent care to LGBTQ+ patients (97.1%), and recommended it for future residents (91.4%).

Conclusion(s): Significant improvements in 1) self-reported comfort and skills and 2) objective knowledge assessments demonstrate that the curricular session was effective in the immediate retention of knowledge and comfort in performing skills related to LGBTQ+ health. A 3-month follow-up survey will be collected to evaluate long-term retention of self-reported comfort and skills, and objective knowledge.

Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
Figure 1. Gender identity and sexual orientation demographics. Other gender identities not represented: agender, trans man, trans woman, feminine identified, masculine identified, gender fluid, unsure or questioning. Other sexual orientations not represented: asexual, pansexual, queer.

Comfort and Skills
Table 1. Self-reported measures of comfort and skills.