IENE 9 project: Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT + curriculum in health and social care education

Abstract

Introduction

The IENE projects (2008–2022) aim to promote a model for developing intercultural dialogue and enhance the ability to provide culturally competent and compassionate care for the health and social care professionals at national and European levels. The IENE 9 project, named “Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT + curriculum in health and social care education,” builds on the work developed in the previous IENE projects and emphasizes the importance of addressing LGBT + issues in health and social care education.

Method

Through an innovative Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), professionals will learn the skills to work toward building an LGBT + inclusive health and social care system.

Result

Notwithstanding the progress made in recent years on LGBT + issues, research indicates that too little attention has been given to LGBT + needs in health and social care settings, and these remain substantial issues that are often ignored.

Conclusion

This letter to the editor aims to present the IENE 9 project given that greater efforts are needed to improve professionals’ skills regarding sexual and gender minority population. We strive to continue our efforts in promoting the well-being and mental health of LGBT + people in health and social care education.

Keywords:

• LGBT+
• compassionate curricula
• health and social care
• research
• intercultural education

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their thanks to the staff of the IENE 9 project (Elena Rousou, Elena Nicolaidou, Remedios López-Liria, Ana Maria Doru, Sabine Ziegler, Christian Adolphs, Laila Twisttmann Bay), who contributed to the success of this innovative project. All authors who contributed to the work have been identified.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Data availability statement

The dataset generated for the IENE projects are available on IENE project webpages (http://ieneproject.eu/; https://ienerefugeehub.eu/; https://iene7.eu/; https://iene-lgbt.com/).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported with funding from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (Grant number 2019-1-UK01- KA202-061955). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.