Evaluation of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Medical Faculty intern and resident doctors' views on homosexuality

Introduction and purpose: The prejudice of doctors against a certain segment of society will disrupt the functioning of the health system, prevent people from having the right to health, and this situation will not be compatible with medical ethics. For these reasons, it is important for doctors to have a positive attitude towards all segments of society and to treat them equally. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the attitudes of Van YYU Faculty of Medicine interns and assistant doctors towards homosexuals. The results to be obtained will show the approach of the participating doctors towards homosexual individuals in the hospital environment and in society. In the light of this data, it is aimed to conduct studies to reduce the practices that victimize homosexual individuals in society and in the health system. Materials and Methods: This study is a descriptive and cross-sectional survey study. As a result of the literature review, the Homosexuality Perception Scale Form was created; this form was applied to 180 volunteers consisting of Van YYU intern/assistant physicians in a virtual environment between 01.05.2024 and 01.06.2024. Statistical analyses were performed using MS Excel and SPSS (ver. 27) package programs. Descriptive statistics were given for categorical variables. Independent sample t-test and Oneway ANOVA test were used to examine the relationship between attitudes towards homosexuality and sociodemographic information. The statistical significance limit was accepted as 5% (p<0.05). Results: In the present study, the results obtained from 180 participants were examined and presented in detail and comparatively in the findings and discussion sections. The scores that the participants got from the homosexuality perception form were calculated and the average score was 3.4079, the minimum score was 1.65 and the maximum score was 4.83. As a result of the analyses, against homosexuality; women versus men (X ̅=3.584> X ̅=3.267); singles versus married (X ̅=3.521> X ̅=3.216); those who do not have children versus those who do (X ̅=3.463> X ̅=3.064); those who took courses/education about gender roles versus those who did not (X ̅=3.511> X ̅=3.279); It was observed that those who had experience working with applicants with different sexual orientations had more positive attitudes than those who did not have this experience (X ̅=3.765> X ̅=3.282); and that those who had this experience and encountered any difficulties had more positive attitudes than those who did not encounter any difficulties (X ̅=3.161> X ̅=2.856), and significant differences were created (p<0.05). It was also observed that the 20-24 age group (X ̅=3.729) had more positive attitudes than the other groups, and that the mean of this group differed significantly from the mean of the other groups (p<0.05). While no significant difference was observed between professional experience and attitude towards homosexuality; it was stated that even if the relationship between ethnicity, religious belief and sexual orientation and this attitude was significant, this relationship would not be healthy due to the unbalanced distribution of subgroups and insufficient number of participants. Conclusion: According to the participants' gender, age, marital status, having children or not, having taken gender-related courses/training during their education life and having experience working with applicants with different sexual orientations; significant differences were observed in attitudes towards homosexuality (p<0.05). The average of women, singles, those without children, those taking gender-related courses/training and those having experience working with applicants with different sexual orientations was higher than the other groups. It was suggested that gender, homosexuality etc. trainings should be included more in medical school curriculums and that such studies should be conducted on larger sample groups. Keywords: Homosexuality, resident physician, intern.