Training Dietitians to Champion LGBTQ+ Health

Abstract

Health inequalities experienced by LGBTQ+ people motivate a call for the queering of dietetics, through an embodiment of queer pedagogies in dietetic training. A critical review of LGBTQ+ inclusion strategies identified a paucity of focused pedagogic research, limiting the queering of dietetic training programs. This study appraised such teaching practices in the UK through a positive focus on “what works?”. An interview study was undertaken with 14 participants who were dietitians, dietetics lecturers, or current dietetics students, all identifying as LGBTQ+ people. Semi-structured interviews generated qualitative data on LGBTQ+ journeys through dietetic training and into practice. An appreciative inquiry approach was used to develop a solutions-focused template analysis to appraise innovative, imagined, and inspired practices in the queering of dietetic training in the UK. Thematic outputs were informed by appreciative inquiry’s positive modalities of change, illustrating diverse perspectives on the definition of cis-heteronormativity in dietetics, and the discovery, dreaming, design, and deployment of queering practices to support their disruption. The analysis generated complex multi-stakeholder actions to bring about the queering of dietetic training, and appraising current educational practices in universities, clinical placement, and other learning environments. The study revealed opportunities for the queering of dietetic training, exposing spaces of educational queering far beyond the classroom. For the queering of dietetic training, we present recommendations concerning the development of LGBTQ+ inclusive curricula, teaching practices, and wider professional strategy through the dietetics governing bodies. Further studies should expand appreciative exploration of the queering of dietetic training to allies and LGBTQ+ patients.