The Behavior Analysis, Strategy and Communications Team (BISC Partners) and the Democracy Lab (DemLab) jointly implemented an initiative aimed at increasing access to and awareness of gender-inclusive health services using behavioral science approaches.
The final event of the project, attended by project partners, doctors, representatives of the LGBTQI+ community t, was held on February 27.
The main objective of the initiative was to reduce the harmful effects of discrimination and gender stereotypes and increase access to gender-inclusive services by creating and piloting a behavior change model among medical practitioners.
Within the framework of the event, social psychologist and head of social psychology department of BISC Partners, Maia Mestvirishvili, talked about the research results of psychological, structural and social barriers in the relationship between medical specialists and representatives of the LGBTQI+ community.
Tinatin Stambolishvili, Executive Director of BISC Partners and Head of Integrated Communications, gave a speech about behavioral science-based training for medical and non-medical personnel working in the healthcare field – “Gender Inclusive Communication in Healthcare.”
DemLab chairman Ketavan Bojgua presented a digital communication campaign to the audience, the goal of which was to raise awareness about inclusive medical services through the creation and distribution of informal educational content.
The audience present at the event was presented and given a service protocol (manual), which was developed for doctors, clinic administration and health care representatives.
Project activities:
The development of the module was driven by behavioral insights research conducted by BISC Partners to identify the main psychological, structural or social barriers to discussing or discovering gender-sensitive topics in patient interactions. The research was conducted among both medical staff and community representatives.
Based on the studied behavior and context, interventions will be developed that focus on the root causes of the problem and overcome barriers to target behavior or encourage motivators.
It should be noted that within the framework of the initiative, on January 9-12, the doctors of the Curatio and Evex were trained on gender-inclusive medical services – “Rules of communication with LGBTQ+ patients’ ‘.
Behavioral science experts and public health experts participated in the development of the training module. Training was developed based on recognized foreign guidelines and protocols and adapted using behavioral science principles.
The initiative was implemented with the support of the United Kingdom of Great Britain within the ongoing project of the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) – Increasing Resilience in Eastern Europe.
