Gender diversity training in Canadian paediatric postgraduate medical education: A needs assessment survey

Evaluate the current state of postgraduate medical education on gender diversity in Canadian paediatric residency programs, exploring both resident and program director perceptions.

Primary care providers are seeing more gender diverse children and youth in their offices, along with an exponential growth in referrals to Canadian specialty clinics and potential for significant mental health comorbidities. Gender-affirming support and management have been shown to improve overall outcomes. There is no mandatory curriculum on gender diversity for Canadian paediatric residency programs.

Cross-sectional online surveys in English and French distributed to program directors (PDs) and paediatric residents in the 17 Canadian paediatric residency programs. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics with 95% confidence intervals.

Response rate was 88.2% from PDs and 24.5% from paediatric residents. Among PDs, 14.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.3, 22.3) reported a formal curriculum for gender diversity teaching. Sixty-four per cent (53.3, 75.2) of PDs estimated their residents received ≤ 2 hours teaching on gender diversity. Residents reported comfort levels ≤ 50% on specific topics. Among residents, 73.8% (67.9, 79.6) reported that mandatory time in a gender diversity clinic would be the most effective teaching tool while PDs favoured an online module (66.7% [58.2, 75.1]). Barriers to more teaching included lack of time in a busy curriculum. Over 90% of resident indicated that more teaching on gender diversity is required.

Significant variability in education on gender diversity is seen amongst Canadian paediatric residency programs. Discussion regarding a formal paediatric curriculum on gender diversity is needed.