Training imaging professionals on transgender-inclusive breast cancer screening practices

Transgender/gender diverse (TGD) people are underscreened for breast cancer. A barrier to screening is anticipated discrimination during screening encounters. This pilot study evaluates a training session for breast imaging professionals (clinical support specialists, technologists, and radiologists) on LGBTQIA+-inclusive breast cancer screening visits.

Training topics included terminology, an overview of the guidelines, principles of trauma-informed care, and strategies for creating a welcoming and inclusive environment. Pre- and post-surveys gathered participants' demographic information, frequency of LGBTQIA+ patient interactions, and previous exposure to LGBTQIA+ training and assessed changes in knowledge, self-reported knowledge, and attitudes toward gender diversity.

In pre-surveys, participants reported frequent interactions with LGBTQIA+ patients and little previous training. A 45-min didactic training that included storytelling of relevant experiences resulted in a significant increase in participants' self-reported knowledge of LGBTQIA+ terminology with a large effect size. After training, participants correctly answered more directly assessed knowledge questions (small effect size), with a trend toward attitudes more accepting of gender diversity (medium effect size), but neither reached statistical significance.

Continued efforts to implement and evaluate inclusive education for the entire clinical team are essential to enabling more inclusive and welcoming clinical encounters that will reduce the disparities in breast cancer screening for TGD populations.