Health Needs of Trans and Gender Diverse Adults in Australia: A Qualitative Analysis of a National Community Survey.

Sav Zwickl,Ada S Cheung,Daria Chetcuti,Max Rainier,Alex Wong,Ingrid Bretherton,Jeffrey D Zajac

doi:10.3390/ijerph16245088

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for trans and gender diverse (TGD) health services worldwide. Given the unique and diverse healthcare needs of the TGD community, best practice TGD health services should be community-led. We aimed to understand the healthcare needs of a broad group of TGD Australians, how health professionals could better support TGD people, and gain an understanding of TGD-related research priorities. An anonymous online survey received 928 eligible responses from TGD Australian adults. This paper focuses on three questions out of that survey that allowed for free-text responses. The data were qualitatively coded, and overarching themes were identified for each question. Better training for healthcare professionals and more accessible transgender healthcare were the most commonly reported healthcare needs of participants. Findings highlight a pressing need for better training for healthcare professionals in transgender healthcare. In order to meet the demand for TGD health services, more gender services are needed, and in time, mainstreaming health services in primary care will likely improve accessibility. Evaluation of training strategies and further research into optimal models of TGD care are needed; however, until further data is available, views of the TGD community should guide research priorities and the TGD health service delivery.

Highlights

With increasing visibility of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people and increasing demand for TGD health services worldwide [1,2], attempts are being made to design appropriate health services.Correspondingly, there has been an exponential rise in the number of research studies published in TGD health [3]
The TGD community has unique and diverse healthcare needs that are frequently coupled with societal discrimination and stigma, which may impact upon the trust of health professionals as well as overall health and well-being
A total of 964 responses to the survey were obtained; after excluding participants who did not identify as trans or gender diverse, those not living in Australia, and duplicate responses, there was a total of 928 eligible responses to the survey

Summary

Introduction

With increasing visibility of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people and increasing demand for TGD health services worldwide [1,2], attempts are being made to design appropriate health services.Correspondingly, there has been an exponential rise in the number of research studies published in TGD health [3]. With increasing visibility of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people and increasing demand for TGD health services worldwide [1,2], attempts are being made to design appropriate health services. The TGD community has unique and diverse healthcare needs that are frequently coupled with societal discrimination and stigma, which may impact upon the trust of health professionals as well as overall health and well-being. Best practice TGD health services should be community-led and co-designed with the TGD community [4]. Previous small surveys have suggested that increased education of medical practitioners was needed to better engage with gender diverse clients [5]. The TGD community is diverse, and small, focused consumer advisory groups may not necessarily capture the views of the broader

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Conclusion