Cross-sectional survey of education on LGBT content in medical schools in Japan

Abstract

ObjectivesWe aimed to clarify current teaching on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) content in Japanese medical schools and compare it with data from the USA and Canada reported in 2011 and Australia and New Zealand reported in 2017.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingEighty-two medical schools in Japan.ParticipantsThe deans and/or relevant faculty members of the medical schools in Japan.Primary outcome measureHours dedicated to teaching LGBT content in each medical school.ResultsIn total, 60 schools (73.2%) returned a questionnaire. One was excluded because of missing values, leaving 59 responses (72.0%) for analysis. In total, LGBT content was included in preclinical training in 31 of 59 schools and in clinical training in 8 of 53 schools. The proportion of schools that taught no LGBT content in Japan was significantly higher than that in the USA and Canada, both in preclinical and clinical training (p<0.01). The median time dedicated to LGBT content was 1 hour (25th–75th percentile 0–2 hours) during preclinical training and 0 hour during clinical training (25th–75th percentile 0–0 hour). Only 13 schools (22%) taught students to ask about same-sex relations when obtaining a sexual history. Biomedical topics were more likely to be taught than social topics. In total, 45 of 57 schools (79%) evaluated their coverage of LGBT content as poor or very poor, and 23 schools (39%) had some students who had come out as LGBT. Schools with faculty members interested in education on LGBT content were more likely to cover it.ConclusionEducation on LGBT content in Japanese medical schools is less established than in the USA and Canada.

Development and validation of the Japanese version of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale

“…Education on LGBT issues is lacking within the USA, but the deficiency is even more conspicuous in Japan. A recent study reported that the proportion of medical schools that did not teach LGBT content at all during clinical training was significantly higher in Japan than in the USA and Canada (47.2% vs 33.3%) [8]. Other recent studies have found that over 90% of hospitals in Japan do not provide nursing training with LGBT content, despite the demand for this education [28, 29].…”

LGBT-related educational contents and challenges in bioethics subjects in Japanese medical and nursing departments

“…Previous studies have shown that, in Japan, the need for LGBT-related education has been demonstrated in medical and nursing education [24,28] and the current situation has been shown to be inadequate. [7,23] This survey focused on bioethics subjects in Japanese medical and nursing departments. Thirty percent of the respondents had already adopted this theme in their subjects, and a further 20% of respondents had an ambitious desire to adopt it in the future.…”

“…The choices were knowledge, capability, ethical issues, coexistence, and dignity from several related studies. [7,24,25] The third, the author asked how much time was devoted to LGBT in the course. The fourth, the author asked them specifically about the content of LGBT education within the course.…”

“…However the education and training of health care workers has lacked LGBT-specific curricular content in Japan. [7] The policy statements can have tremendous influence on curricular design and faculty development programs, with the ultimate aim of aligning practice with the current evidence base. [8] Sexual minorities are individuals whose sexuality is a minority in the population in which they live; in this manuscript, we will focus on those who identify as LGBT.…”

“…However, 53 out of 82 schools (65%) answered that they did not have the opportunity to provide "handling and consideration for patients who identity as LGBT," which demonstrates that education is inadequate. [7] Since these classes are generally taken as one-time lessons by medical school students, it becomes necessary to incorporate a wide range of knowledge into the single lesson, making it impossible to gain an in-depth understanding. [23] 1.…”