Allyship in Surgical Residents: Evidence for LGBTQ Competency Training in Surgical Education

Background: Studies have shown poorer health outcomes for people who identify as sexual and/or gender minority (LGBTQ+) compared to heterosexual peers. Our goal was to establish baseline levels of LGBTQ Ally Identity Measure (AIM) scores: (1) Knowledge and Skills, (2) Openness and Support, and (3) Awareness of Oppression of the LGBTQ+ in surgical trainees, and implement a pilot training in LGBTQ + cultural competency. Materials and methods: General surgery residents from a single academic medical center participated in a 2-h educational training developed from the existing Health Care Safe Zone training at our institution. Utilizing the previously validated LGBTQ Ally Identity Measure (AIM), residents responded to 19 items on Likert-type scales from 1 to 5 pre training and 6 wk posttraining. The residents' perceptions of the utility of the training were also assessed. Data were analyzed by MANOVA, repeated measures MANOVA, and subsequent univariate analysis. Results: 27 residents responded to the pretraining survey (52%), 22 residents participated in the training, and 10 responded at 6 wk posttraining (19%). The average baseline scores were Knowledge and Skills 19.38 +/- 4.64, Openness and Support 25.96 +/- 4.31, and Awareness of Oppression 17.15 +/- 2.20. Participants who identified as women scored 4.46 (95% CI 0.778.15) points higher in Openness and Support compared to males. Of those respondents who completed pretraining and posttraining surveys (n = 10), training had a significant effect on AIM scores with an improvement in Knowledge and Skills (P = 0.024) and Openness and Support (P = 0.042). Residents found the training relevant to surgery patient care (71%), increased their competency in LGBTQ + patient care (86%), and all participants indicated they were better LGBTQ allies following the training. Conclusions: Assessing LGBTQ + allyship in surgical residents, we found that training improved AIM scores over time with significant improvement in the Knowledge and Skills,

Automated summary

The study assessed LGBTQ+ allyship in surgical residents and found that training improved their knowledge and skills, as well as increased their openness and support for LGBTQ+ patients. The training was perceived as relevant to surgical patient care by the majority of participants, and was found to enhance their competency in caring for LGBTQ+ patients.