“Being me”: developing pedagogic tools to strengthen education and training for health and social care practitioners who provide services to older LGBTQI+ people

LGBTQI+ ageing populations in the globalised world continue to be ignored through lack of inclusive care services and face social isolation, stigma and discrimination and higher risk of negative mental health outcomes. This paper shares the outcomes of an EU project ‘BEING ME’ in which four EU partners collaborated to improve the care provided to older LGBTQI+ people by health and social care practitioners, through the development of targeted pedagogic tools and teaching resources.
Adopting an innovative approach through the World Café, a collaborative process was used to engage with older LGBTQI+ people with lived experience, service providers, practitioners and educators Together, these stakeholders were able to share experiences, expertise and best practices to improve pedagogic approaches which enable improved inclusive care.
Sixteen potential learning resources were identified for learning and teaching, which emerged from the themes of Two World cafés in Ireland and Netherlands. These resources contributed to the development of a toolbox for learning, a best practice guide and a board game. The teaching and learning resources were tested and validated with older LGBTQI+ service users and educators at a further workshop in Scotland. The project was formally evaluated using a pre and post workshop survey and thematic analysis of qualitative data gathered during the World Café group activities.
Findings from the evaluation contributed to our understanding and recommendations on what is needed to improve awareness and skills of health and social care professionals and how to do so. The BEING ME website and toolkit developed by the project seeks to make a tangible contribution to addressing this gap in the health and social care curricula. It is imperative that LGBTQI+ and older LGBTQI+ issues are embedded throughout the educational curriculum on vocational and professional programmes in order to improve practice and the way care is provided to this marginalised group. Sharing this work will help to stimulate awareness and to share the resources developed.