New Training Offers Healthcare Providers the Opportunity to Practice Gender Affirmative Care for Critical Needs
Healthcare providers can now practice providing care for gender-diverse patients who have HIV, are experiencing violence, or thinking about suicide.
COLUMBIA, MD, UNITED STATES, November 27, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Challenge
As a result of negative attitudes, disapproval, discrimination, abuse, harassment, and other factors, transgender and non-binary people experience gender minority stress. According to the Mayo Clinic “Gender minority stress is linked to transgender and gender-diverse people seeking preventive health care and health screenings less often than other people.” When seeking help, a significant number of transgender and nonbinary individuals share unfavorable experiences partly due to a lack of knowledge among providers.
The needs of trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse individuals are often different from the needs of cisgender individuals experiencing similar situations. Clinicians can provide better care to gender diverse clients when they understand these unique needs and practice meeting those needs.
Meeting the Challenge
NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), (https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/) provided SIMmersion with funding to help meet this challenge. To start with, SIMmersion (https://www.SIMmersion.com) developed a suite of three training systems to help providers build skills needed to meet the traditional needs of this population. These systems include training on:
1. Creating a safe and inclusive therapeutic environment for new clients
2. Navigating discrimination and social support
3. Providing transition support
For more on this training, please visit SIMmersion’s Gender Affirmative Therapy Training Suite.
However, these systems did not address the challenge of providing appropriate care when the client is in crisis, so SIMmersion developed a system for training critical needs care for patients in three different crisis situations. One of the unique elements of these care practice sessions is the realistic experiences role-player Eden Bray provides in three different virtual scenarios.
Gender Affirmative Care for Clients with HIV
For this scenario, providers work at a clinic that offers HIV testing and follow-up care. They can practice talking with Eden, a virtual role-player who portrays someone recently diagnosed with HIV. Eden has come to the clinic to receive a physical and start her treatment.
Gender Affirmative Care for Clients Experiencing Interpersonal Violence
For this scenario, providers work at a clinic that offers medical care. They can practice talking with Eden, who portrays someone who has just been treated for a wrist injury. For this practice, the physician who treated her realized that she could be a victim of interpersonal violence and referred her to the training user to learn more about how she hurt her arm.
Gender Affirmative Care for Clients Having Thoughts About Suicide
For this scenario, providers work at a clinic that offers suicide and crisis care. They practice talking with Eden, who portrays someone who walked into the clinic looking for support.
Authenticity
These products were designed using a diverse development team (i.e., Key Personnel, Expert Panels, Actors, Script Engineers, Focus Groups, and Community Partners) to ensure representation from individuals with diverse minority identities, including transgender and nonbinary individuals and people of color.
For more on this Gender Affirmative Care training suite visit SIMmersion’s Gender Affirmative Care for Critical Needs.
Conclusion
The training empowers providers, enhances their skills, and boosts their confidence in delivering gender-affirming culturally competent care. This ultimately fosters safe and trusting environments, enabling gender minorities to receive the care they need in critical care situations.
Dale Edward Olsen
SIMmersion
+1 443-745-5754
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