Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Mar 16, 2026
Date Accepted: Jul 29, 2026
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Protocol for the development and validation of the Professional Readiness in Diversity and Equity (PRIDE) Scale
ABSTRACT
Background:
Providing culturally competent care to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) people remains a critical challenge in health and social support care, as LGBTQI+ patients continue to experience stigma, discrimination, and inadequate provider knowledge. These barriers can negatively impact healthcare outcomes, leading to delayed treatment, mistrust, and unmet medical needs within LGBTQI+ communities.
Objective:
The aim of the study is to develop and psychometrically validate a new multi-national instrument designed to assess healthcare professionals’ LGBTQI+ attitudes, awareness, general skills, and knowledge as well as examine LGBTQI+ workplace affirmative policies, support, and climate.
Methods:
A cross-sectional multi-center, multi-country scale validation study using a web-based survey was administered to healthcare professionals and trainees in Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom between October 2024 and December 2025. The final primary survey comprised 39 test items. A convenience sampling approach was adopted and complemented by snowball recruitment.
Results:
A total of 1339 eligible people completed the survey. Data analysis has started, and results will be reported in the summer of 2026. It is anticipated that the PRIDE scale will emerge as a reliable and valid tool for assessing healthcare professionals’ LGBTQI+ attitudes, awareness, general skills, and knowledge as well as examining LGBTQI+ workplace affirmative policies, support, and climate. The instrument may also serve as a useful outcome measure in research evaluating professional practice and development.
Conclusions:
The development and validation of the new PRIDE scale represent a significant advancement towards improved cultural competence of healthcare professionals. Validating the scale in both English- and Italian-speaking populations will support the development of international interventions and, ultimately treatment outcomes for LGBTQI+ people. The PRIDE Scale has the potential to exert a far-reaching impact on the delivery of clinical care and public health services worldwide.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.