Implementation of sexual and gender minority health curricula in health care professional schools: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people—inclusively termed “sexual and gender minorities”—have unique health and health care needs that are not being met by most healthcare providers due to lack of training in health care professional schools. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine implementation factors for advancing sexual and gender minority health professional student curricula in academic settings. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) were conducted with sixteen curricular champions to identify factors relevant to curricular adoption, integration, and sustainment. Themes were coded using a hybrid of deductive and inductive approaches and reported using major CFIR domains. RESULTS: Facilitators supporting implementation of sexual and gender minority health curricula included collaboration among multiple stakeholders, alignment of formal and hidden curricula, fostering an organizational culture that valued inclusion and diversity, engagement with external subject matter experts or faculty with content expertise, and thoughtful and inclusive planning. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to health care professional education research as well as to implementation science. Facilitators that were identified in this study can be used to increase the adoption, integration, and sustainment of sexual and gender minority health curricula in diverse academic settings.