Health professionals' access to diversity training across Denmark
Janne Sorensen1, Hejdi Abdelhamid1, Julia Kadin Funge2
1Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.
Introduction:
Health disparities exist between migrants and ethnic minorities (MEM) and the majority population in Europe and Denmark. As diversity increases, delivering healthcare appropriate to MEM is essential. Training health professionals (HP) in diversity competence (DC) prepares them for a diverse society and helps address health disparities among MEM. The study aims to investigate which educational activities exist regarding DC training across sectors in Denmark.
Methods:
An email survey was sent to all health education programmes, municipalities, regions (including hospitals), healthcare worker unions, medical societies/associations, the Ministry of Health and the Danish Health Authority. Among the 295 institutions contacted, 148 responded. Ten surveys were excluded, yielding a dataset of 138 surveys and a response rate of 46.8%. Data were collected between 21 February and 12 May 2022.
Results:
All but one participating health education program included some level of DC in their curriculum. However, few institutions provided DC training for teaching staff. DC training in municipalities and regions varies, but most agree that it is relevant. Some municipalities that do not offer DC training to HPs attribute this to a lack of MEM citizens.
Conclusions:
Most health professionals lack adequate access to diversity competence training. Regions, municipalities and educational institutions should provide continuing medical education for healthcare workers in this area.
Funding:
None.
Trial Registration:
Not relevant.
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