An Evaluation of Cancer’s Margins Training Videos and their Impact on Medical Students’ Self-Rated Confidence in Working with Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (LBT) Patients with Breast and Gynecological Cancers

Abstract

Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) patients with breast and gynecological cancers face unique challenges and barriers to accessing LBT affirming healthcare. Physician attitudes and knowledge for working with LBT patients contribute to these challenges and barriers. Despite this, there is very limited LBT specific education in the medical curriculum. Cancer’s Margins (cancersmargins.ca) is a national project funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) that has developed a series of first voice videos which can serve as additional training content for medical students for working with LBT patients within what has been traditionally termed “women’s cancers”. This project serves to evaluate the impact of the Cancer’s Margins videos on the self-reported confidence of Dalhousie University medical students in working with these populations. Medical students were invited to participate in a two-part online survey using a 29-item survey that explored self-rated confidence before and after watching the Cancer’s Margins videos. There were 4 open-ended questions for feedback on the videos to help assess overall self-rated impact. 23 surveys were either fully or partially completed. Overall attitudes towards LBT patients were positive, but overall confidence was variable. There was an average increase of 8% in overall group self-rated confidence after watching the Cancer’s Margins videos. Incorporating training for working with LBT patients into the medical school curriculum could increase quality of care and break down barriers in access to care for LBT populations. The Cancer’s Margins training videos can be an effective resource for medical students for increasing self-reported confidence.