Implementing the Systematic Collection of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Information in a Community Mental Health Setting

BACKGROUND: Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) information is becoming part of client demographic information collected in many healthcare settings. Inclusion of these data with regularly collected demographic information is becoming mandatory for compliance with federal programs. Collecting SOGI information is not always easy to implement and requires customization to a particular healthcare institution’s processes. METHODS: This quality improvement (QI) project included establishing SOGI questions in a standardized format, client surveys for feedback, an educational intervention with staff, and simple quantitative analysis with t tests. IMPLEMENTATION: This QI project used the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) method of planning and implementing change. The SOGI questions were introduced at a single outpatient mental health clinic of a statewide private, not-for-profit agency in the southeastern United States. This project consisted of four complete PDSA cycles, with unique changes to the collection process between each. These included informational statements on client forms, ongoing supervised and unsupervised data collection at the clinic, and a staff training regarding both the collection of SOGI data and serving the LGBTQ community in outpatient care. RESULTS: PDSA Cycle 3 to PDSA Cycle 4, which consisted of an education intervention for staff, showed the most consistent t-statistics. All questions have effects going in the appropriate direction and three results were statistically significant with p values < 0.05. These results indicate that the staff training was successful in improving the client experience answering SOGI questions. The pilot program established an effective model for implementing SOGI questions in this setting and will gradually be expanded to local clinics, then to the entire state-wide agency.Doctor of Nursing Practic