108 - Exploring Learners' Perceptions of Gender and Sex Diversity Education Within Anatomy Courses

Poster Board Number: 108
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Charys Martin, PhD - Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Western University

Abstract Body :Educators in the anatomical sciences often discuss anatomical structures using sex binary terminology, such as male and female. Problematically, the terms male and female are used for sex and gender interchangeably. Though they are related, sex is distinct from gender. Sex is determined by biological characteristics such as reproductive structures, genetic make-up, and sex hormones. Whereas gender refers to the societal and cultural roles, behaviours, expressions, identities, and the expectations associated with masculinity and femininity. Teaching anatomy using a binary approach excludes sex diverse individuals who may be intersex or have differences in sexual development (DSD), as well as gender diverse individuals who may not identify with their sex assigned at birth. Medical education literature has expressed support for addressing sex and gender diversity in curricula. Anatomy educators have reported success in using independently developed sex and gender diversity primers, which are reference documents that outline, define, and justify sex and gender diversity in an anatomical context. However, the literature has yet to formally assess learners’ reception of these educational tools. This study aims to explore learners’ perceptions and attitudes towards learning about sex and gender diversity in anatomical education programs. A grounded theory approach will be applied to the research question where we will employ a mixed methodology to survey all learners enrolled in anatomy courses. Subsequently, learners may volunteer for semi-guided focus groups to further explore the survey findings. Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative data will undergo line-by-line coding and NVIVO thematic analysis. Data collection is planned for courses in the 2023-2024 academic year at the end of term. It is essential to know learner perceptions of sex and gender diversity education tools to ensure that future resources meet the needs of the current learner population. This data will drive the development of educational resources to be used in anatomy courses. Future research will investigate the effectiveness of sex and gender primers at increasing student’s knowledge of diversity and the longitudinal impact of learning about sex and gender diversity in anatomical education on future healthcare practitioners’ clinical practice.