Taking up the challenge of trans and non-binary inclusion in midwifery education: Reflections from educators in Aotearoa and Ontario Canada.

Perinatal services are being challenged to acknowledge that not all pregnant and birthing people are women and to ensure the design and delivery of services that are inclusive of, and deliver equitable outcomes for, trans, non-binary, and other gender diverse people. This is posing unique challenges for midwifery with its women-centred philosophy and professional frameworks. This paper presents the critical reflections of midwifery educators located in two midwifery programmes in Aotearoa1 and Ontario Canada, who are engaged in taking up the challenge of trans and non-binary inclusion in their local contexts. The need to progress trans and non-binary inclusion in midwifery education to secure the human rights of gender diverse people to safe midwifery care and equitable perinatal outcomes is affirmed. We respond to an existing lack of research or guidance on how to progress trans and non-binary inclusion in midwifery education. We offer our insights and reflections organised as four themes located within the frameworks of cultural humility and safety. These themes address midwifery leadership for inclusion, inclusive language, a broader holistic approach, and the importance of positioning this work intersectionally. We conclude by affirming the critical role of midwifery education/educators in taking up the challenge of trans and non-binary inclusion to ensure a future midwifery workforce skilled and supported in the provision of care to the growing gender diverse population.

Infusing Diversity and Equity Into Clinical Teaching: Training the Trainers.

Clinical instructors in health care disciplines are charged with engaging students in experiential learning wherein respect and cultural sensitivity is applied. This article reports on the results of 3 diversity workshops conducted for clinical preceptors and field instructors from various disciplines. The workshops were developed in response to students' growing concerns that their academic learning experiences were negatively affected by dissatisfying management of differences between students, faculty, and preceptors with respect to ethno-racial group membership, socioeconomic level, and degree of privilege and power. The workshops included a didactic session that presented basic principles of social and health equity followed by small-group reflection about various ethical and moral dilemmas that were presented in clinical education scenarios. Examples of discrimination on a variety of levels were addressed in these workshops, including race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, religion, body size and appearance, ability, age, socioeconomic class, religious faith, and gender. The group exercises and discussion from these sessions provided valuable insight and approaches to difficult but common areas of discomfiture encountered in the clinical teaching setting. This article presents the findings from participants of these diversity workshops in order to encourage the application of equity principles into clinical teaching in midwifery and other health care education contexts.