Sex and gender dimensions in nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy education : a scoping review

Start of the introduction

This scoping review is intended to be the first step in a larger project: P7 – Sex and gender integration in the bachelor curricula of nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. The goal of this project is to increase awareness and competency in sex and gender health issues in these three curricula: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and nursing. This main objective is justified in several ways, namely:

"Providing just and individualised care and treatment represents a moral mandate as part of the social contract for healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and nurses. The professional competencies profiles issued by the Conference of Rectors of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (hereafter UAS) do not include sex and gender as a criterion which needs to be considered in professional practice (Ledergerber et al., 2009). However, it is emphasized that preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, palliative, and rehabilitative measures must ground on scientific knowledge. It is beyond any doubt that sex and gender affect all these measures. While the dimensions of sex and gender are considered and made explicit within the curriculum of medicine (PROFILES) this is not the case for other healthcare professions." (Project submitted to swissuniversities, p. 3)