Publication: What’s Shaping Medical Student’s Attitude Towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender (LGBT) Community?
Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kathmandu University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people form the basis of sexual and
gender minority groups who face discrimination in their daily lives, including in
healthcare facilities even though they are quite vulnerable to certain health problems.
Medical student’s attitudes towards the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender
community greatly shape the healthcare service delivery as well as service utilization
by them, thus influencing their health status in the long run.
Objective
To find out the knowledge, attitude, judgment, and experience of a medical student
regarding the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender community and its associated
factors.
Method
This institution-based Cross-Sectional study approved by the Institutional Ethics
Committee was conducted among 216 medical undergraduates of a medical college
from October 2022 to February 2023 after a pilot study. Sampling was done by
Stratified Random Sampling. Data were collected anonymously by using an online
questionnaire. Data were analyzed via Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
software using univariate and multivariable logistic regression.
Result
Only 37.5% of medical students had sufficient knowledge regarding the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender community (mean knowledge score 69.26 ± 14.6).
Upper socio-economic class students had a more positive judgment (p-value: 0.012)
and positive experience (p-value: 0.040). The presence of personal contact made
a significant difference in attitude (p-value: 0.001), judgment (p-value: 0.012), and
experience (p-value < 0.001).
Conclusion
The overall attitude of medical students regarding the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And
Transgender community was inadequate. Their knowledge and attitude were most
positively affected by any personal contact with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And
Transgender community thus peer-to-peer counseling among medical students
might be helpful to shed conservative attitudes and be more open-minded.
KEY WORDS
Attitude, Judgment, Knowledge, LGBT, Medical students, Perception
Description
Roy S,1 Bandyopadhyay L,1 Chakraborty A,2 Sahu,1 Paul B,1 Kumar R1
1Department of PSM
All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health
110, C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 73, India
2Department of Community Medicine
Medical College, 88, College Street
Kolkata -73, West Bengal, India
Keywords
Attitude, Judgment, Knowledge, LGBT, Medical students, Perception