Education of health and care staff on LGBT issues using behaviour-change techniques.

A recent community survey of 3000 UK health and social care staff (Unhealthy Attitudes Survey; Stonewall 2015) found that 25% of patient- or client-facing staff had heard colleagues make negative remarks about sexual orientation and 20% had heard negative remarks about gender identity. The UK Government Women and Equalities Select Committee Report on Health and Social Care and the LGBT Communities stated that “Every witness that we heard from in this inquiry emphasised the need for frontline staff to better understand the lives and needs of LGBT people under their care. “ It recommended that staff should feel “empowered to take action when they are aware of LGBT discrimination” and that “All NHS and social care providers should … provide staff with the relevant training so they feel confident in challenging discriminatory behaviour.” Our systematic review of training materials for health and care staff on LGBT issues demonstrated that, despite the availability of appropriate training programmes for post-qualifying staff, recommendations to undertake training, best practice examples and statements of good intent, LGBT people continue to report that they are experiencing discrimination or direct prejudice from health and/or social care services. This indicates that better training strategies using behaviour change techniques are needed.

The aims of this project are to identify, trial and evaluate behaviour change interventions that will improve the experience of health and social care provision for LGBT+ people and increase their satisfaction with health and care services.

During the project systematic review techniques will be used to examine the effectiveness of a range of types of behaviour change techniques that have been used for the education of health and care staff. Primary research will be conducted to develop an effective behaviour-change training package for use with UK health and care staff, and evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of the training materials.

To discuss the research project, please contact [Email Address Removed]

Candidate requirements

Applications are invited from UK/EU nationals only. Applicants are expected to hold, or about to obtain, a minimum upper second-class undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a cognate discipline. A Masters degree in a relevant subject is desirable.

Applications

You can apply via our landing page www.anglia.ac.uk/studentships. We will review all applications after the submission deadline of 9 February. Applications missing the project reference number will be rejected as will applications for multiple studentships.

If you have any queries relating to the application process or the terms and conditions of the studentships, please contact Becky Kraszewski on 01245 684920, or email [Email Address Removed].

Documentation required

You will also need the following documents available electronically to upload them to the application portal (we can accept files in pdf, jpeg or Word format):

1) Certificates and transcripts from your Bachelor and Masters degrees, (if applicable)
2) Your personal statement explaining your suitability for the project
3) Passport and visa (if applicable)
4) English Language qualifications (if applicable)
5) Curriculum Vitae