Is the use of pronouns making an impact among faculty and staff of the School of Health Professions?

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

12:40 PM – 12:46 PM

Location: Station 4

Presenting Author(s)

Chih-Ying Li, PhD, OTR

Associate Professor
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston, Texas, United States

Non-presenting author(s)

Adrianna L. Ellis, PT, DPT, GCS. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor of Instruction
University of Texas Medical Branch
GALVESTON, Texas, United States

Non-presenting Author(s)

Monique R. Pappadis, MEd, PhD

Associate Professor
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Galveston, Texas, United States
JW

Jqar Shayne Washington, EdD

Director, Student Success Center
University of Texas Medical Branch, Texas, United States
JR

Jose Rojas, PhD, RRT, RPFT, FAARC

Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Respiratory Care in the School of Health Prof
University of Texas Medical Branch, United States
MC

Michelle Conley

Program Mgr, Student Affairs • Office of Acad&Student Affairs
University of Medical Branch, United States

Research Objectives: To evaluate the perceptions and gender inclusivity among faculty and staff of a School of Health Professions (SHP).

Design: Pretest-Posttest design with LGBTQ+ and pronoun use training.

Setting: SHP in Galveston, TX.

Participants: Electronic mail invitations were sent to all SHP faculty and staff of the institution. Faculty and staff attended the training and completed the pre- and post-test surveys.

Interventions: 45- minute LGBTQ+ and pronoun use training delivered by 2 SHP students.

Main Outcome Measures: Pre and posttest using a 15-question survey adopted from the “Cultural Competence Check-in: Self-Reflection" by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2021). This tool includes a 5-point Likert Scale (1 indicating strongly disagree and 5 indicating strongly agree), with higher scores indicating greater gender inclusivity.

Results: Ten individuals (8 faculty and 2 staff members) participated in the LGBTQ+ and pronoun training. The post-test results revealed that 89% of the attendees found the LGBTQ+ and pronoun training helpful. The training demonstrated how using correct pronouns show respect, acceptance, and support to all students, staff, and faculty especially those who identity as transgender, gender non-conforming and nonbinary.

Conclusions: Despite the limited participation, SHP faculty and staff attendees perceived the LGBTQ+ and Pronoun Training as informative and helpful to support gender diverse students, staff and faculty of SHP accordingly. Future plans include offering multiple trainings throughout the academic year to increase opportunities for greater participation. In summary, the findings suggest the need to consider timing, location, and frequency of offerings when developing an institutional training program to address the needs of faculty and staff with promoting pronoun use and gender inclusivity.

Author(s) Disclosures: No funding or conflicts of interest reported.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion, the participant will be able to appreciate the use of appropriate pronouns in the School of Health Professions.
Upon completion, the participant will be able to value strategies to measure the perceptions about the use of pronouns in the School of Health Professions.
Upon completion, the participant will be able to compare the changes and impact that pronoun training can have on faculty and staff of the School of Health Professions.