Using Simulation With Nursing Students to Promote Affirmative Practice Toward the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Population: A Multisite Study

AIM: The aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of a transgender simulation on nursing students' affirmative practice when caring for a transgender person. BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of research that assesses the attitudes of nursing students toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons and a deficit in nursing curricula regarding LGBT content. METHOD: A nonexperimental, pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate nursing students' affirmative practice when caring for a transgender patient using the Gay Affirmative Practice Scale. RESULTS: A Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistical significance in Gay Affirmative Practice scores after the simulation with a small effect size. These results suggest that the transgender simulation supported nursing students' attitudes and affirmative practice when providing nursing care to a transgender person. CONCLUSION: Experiential learning in nursing education is an effective approach to teach cultural competence and sensitivity in caring for vulnerable populations.