Matthew Numer

The medical community is giving increasing attention to issues of social class, gender, race, ethnicity, culture and other areas of difference in interprofessional education and patient care. The Changing Worlds: Diversity and Health Care Project, an interprofessional diversity education initiative, was designed with the aim of exploring social issues in the medical professions. This project brought together the Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Professions at Dalhousie University in an effort to address issues of difference related to multiplicities of races, ethnicities, cultures, languages, sexualities and religions. The findings of this paper include methods for the project implementation and future direction for education initiatives aimed at issues of social justice and equity in health care.

We developed and validated a set of self-administered, multi-dimensional indicators of sexual health among Canadians aged 16-24 years. This study used a mixed-method qualitative and quantitative approach to develop and validate indicators of sexual health. We used the four-stage Dillman method to identify, focus-test, pilot-test, and validate key metrics to measure sexual health. We collected quantitative data to validate the measures through a computer-assisted self-interviewing program among a purposive sample of 1,158 people aged 16-24 years recruited from four Canadian provinces. The survey contained 75 items measuring five dimensions of sexual health: (1) physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being in relation to sexuality; (2) approach to sexuality; (3) sexual relationships; (4) sexual experiences; and (5) discrimination, coercion, and violence. Principal components analysis for composite measures found seven components with eigenvalues ≥1. The factor structure was stab...

This paper discusses a review of the literature on how gender and sexuality impact healthyaging in relation to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) seniors. Despite the recognitionof the importance of gender and sexuality in relation to health outcomes, the health needs of LGBT  seniors have largely been ignored by health policy and program developers and are rarely considered within the scope of practice of many health care professionals. Recent research in the area of LGBT  seniors and health care has established the need for greater inclusivity and diversity education among health care workers. While many seniors are comfortable with their sexuality later in life, others maybe unable or unwilling to disclose their sexual orientation due to fear of homophobic reactions(Brotman, Ryan, & Cormier, 2003). This review of the literature frames further investigation into the experiences of LGBT seniors and the challenges for care givers as essential to producing more effective health promotion policies and programs.