New training tools developed for professionals to remedy inequalities, barriers and discrimination faced by LGBT+ people when accessing health services.
AS PART of a consortium led by the Verona University Hospital, the University of Brighton helped develop the tools along with researchers, experts and activists in the lesbian, gay bisexual, trans and intersex communities.
The €500,000 EU-funded pilot project Health4LGBTI ran 12 focus groups in six EU member states to gather data and evidence.
The project has now concluded with the production of new training modules for health professionals. To view them online, click here:
The University of Brighton’s research team, led by Dr Nigel Sherriff with Dr Laetitia Zeeman, Professor Kath Browne (formerly at the University), and Dr Nick McGlynn, was part of a consortium contracted by the European Commission to explore health needs and challenges faced by LGBT+ people and to analyse barriers faced by health professionals when providing care for LGBT+ people.
The study, which was launched in March 2016, aimed to improve understanding of how best to reduce inequalities and focused on discrimination and unfair treatment. Other countries involved in the study were Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, and Poland.
Its report said: “LGBTI people continue to experience stigma and discrimination combined with social isolation and limited understanding, leading to significant barriers in terms of accessing health and social care services. These experiences can translate into a risk of depression, suicide and self‐harm, violence, substance misuse and HIV infection.”
The study produced a number of findings and reports including a focus on inequalities, two focus group studies, a manual for trainers, a training video and an evaluation report.
LGBT+ people and healthcare professionals involved agreed that mandatory training around LGBT+ issues is needed by all staff in healthcare services.
The study, part of a 24-month project launched in 2016, is funded by the European Parliament and is being carried on behalf of the European Commission.
Nigel Sherriff said: “This project has drawn attention to the unfair and unnecessary health inequalities experienced by many LGBT+ people across Europe. The training we have developed as a Consortium, is a crucial tool in addressing and reducing these inequalities in healthcare settings.
“The next step for the project is to ensure that the evidence-based outputs including the innovative project training is incorporated into the pre-registration training for health professionals as well as into the continuing professional development of these same health professionals
“We are already seeing the project outputs having an impact with changes to the curriculums for health professionals, as well as changing policies and practices in health systems themselves across the six partner countries…the next steps as a Consortium is to look at how this innovative training can be rolled out across all EU Member States and beyond.”
Other members of the Health4LGBTI Team were: Francesco Amaddeo, Sophie Aujean, Ruth Davis, Valeria Donisi, Francesco Farinella, Cathrine Festersen, Lorenzo Gios, Massimo Mirandola, Michał Pawlęga, Anne Pierson, Nuno Pinto, Magdalena Rosinska, Marcin Rodzinka, Juliette Sanchez-Lambert, Marta Niedźwiedzka-Stadnik, and Karolina Zakrzewska.
For more information about Health4LGBTI, click here:
You must be logged in to post a comment.