Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
While the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has been incorporated more and more into mainstream society recently, there are still stigmas attached to those lifestyles and these stigmas could be affecting LGBT individuals seeking healthcare.
According to a new study from UCLA in the American Journal of Public Health, LGBT individuals are much less likely to seek medical care than heterosexuals.
For example, partnered gays and lesbians are twice as likely to be uninsured as heterosexuals. The study team added that the fear of disclosing a sexual or gender identity to a provider could also be an impendent to quality care.
In a recent phone interview with redOrbit, study author and medical student Joshua Khalili said he had personal experience with doctors who were not oriented with issues specific to the LGBT community.
“I did some work in Washington DC with AmeriCorps, and there I worked with transgender and gay minority youth,” Khalili said. “Some of them were HIV-positive and they had a lot of encounters with healthcare providers who were not competent on LGBT health.”
Increasing LGBT competency
In the study, the researchers interviewed 69 representatives from accredited academic faculty practices in the United States, including Puerto Rico. The study team asked if practices were mindful of and used the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s (GLMA’s) online provider directory, and their desire to do more around the issue connected with LGBT health. Furthermore, they examined if the presence of policies or interest in policies was impacted by the part of the country in which they were located, if they were public or private institutions, and if an LGBT health center was present in the same state.
The team saw that 16 percent respondent institutions had full LGBT training, 32 percent had some training and 52 percent had none at all.
Khalili told redOrbit that this shouldn’t be surprising given that medical schools often consider LGBT issues as an afterthought.
“In the first couple years of a traditional medical school curriculum, you’re kind of learning the books and you have to learn everything behind the clinical aspect of medicine,” he said. “Sometimes, they might bring up the subject of someone who is LGBT-identifying.”
The survey-based study also found some interested among participants for expanding their LGBT policies and training. Khalili suggested that policies not only address LGBT health, but also something he called ‘LGBT 101,’ where issues like what it means to be gay are discussed. He also suggested that instituations develop LGBT programs and certify providers who pass through them as LBGT competent.
“I think change and increasing LGBT competency in these institutions can happen and we’re happy that a lot of places are interested,” he said. “It also interesting to see that a good amount of places and people I interview didn’t really think that this was an issue.”
Above all else, Khalili said he hopes that simply conducting and publishing the study raises awareness that this is an issue for the LGBT community and changes can be made.
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