Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Virtual Simulation Impact on Cultural Humility

Abstract : Cultural humility in delivering health care to diverse population groups has become an urgent need in the United States. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex plus (LGBTQI+) community faces healthcare disparities linked to stigma, discrimination, and uninformed providers. Within healthcare education, there is a historical lack of LGBTQI+ specific content discussion. This project aimed to determine if providing sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) virtual simulation games (VSG) education would impact cultural humility scores with second-semester Associate Degree Nursing students. This study was a quantitative quasi-experimental before and after study looking at the pre-and post-educational scores of Foronda’s Cultural Humility Scale (FCHS). The theoretical framework for this project was based on the NLN Jefferies Simulation Theory. The SOGI VSG educational experience embraced environmental trust and focused on experiential, interactive, collaborative, and learner-centered learning, resulting in improved outcomes, which are characteristics of the NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory. Cultural humility scores were analyzed utilizing a paired-samples t-test. There was a statistically significant increase in the cultural humility scores (n = 42) from pre-intervention (M = 77.6, SD = 8.17) to post-intervention (M = 81.0, SD = 9.41), t (41) = -2.70, p = .010 (two-tailed). The mean increase in FCHS scores was -3.38, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from -5.91 to -.85. The SOGI VSG intervention impacted cultural humility. Providing diversity education, evaluating one’s biases, and developing cultural humility while improving patient care and therapeutic communication for all patients must become a priority within nursing curricula.