Listening to Transgender Patients and Their Providers in Non-Metropolitan Spaces: Needs, Gaps, and Patient-Provider Discrepancies
Abstract
:1. Introduction
“It’s hard to even trust that your provider needs to know what they need to know so you can just trust and be a patient, for once”Provider and transgender patient
1.1. Provider Knowledge and Training
1.2. Diversity of TGNC Individuals
1.3. Local TGNC Health Conference
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Setting
2.2. Study Participants
2.3. Procedures
2.4. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Providers
“I really liked the ‘true to life ‘experiences that a lot of the trans patients talked about. I thought that was very powerful and for someone who doesn’t work in the trans community every day. I think that is an excellent learning tool, to get that feedback.”
“I think trans people coming to the conferences and seeing how many health professionals really care about this and really want to learn more about this I think might kind of help them see that, you know, like, it’s not always going to be a negative experience, and that it’s something that we health professionals are really, like, trying to work on so that we can provide better care for them. So, I think it would be nice to have that interaction between trans patients and health professionals.”
“I would have loved to have had somebody who has already created within their clinic some real gender-neutral or gender-inclusive ‘languag-ing’. Like I would have loved if someone said, ‘So our doors say this. Our actions say this. Our intake form says this. Our people that answer the phones say this.’ Like, I would have written it down verbatim and used it…I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. I just want you to tell me what your wheel looks like, and I’ll copy it.”
“I am ready to see patients for other endocrine problems, but I am not doing transgender care. I don’t think I am trained enough or have learned enough to do transgender care. So, I want that to be done by people who have a special interest and are capable.”
3.2. Patients
“Bring in somebody who is an expert in insurance who can talk about policies. Because that seems to be where most of the folks I know run into difficulties–getting a straight answer from their insurance provider. They tell you one thing and then you work on that for a while, and then, when the time comes [for a procedure], they’re like, ‘Oh, no; that’s not the thing you’re supposed to do.’”
“Panera Bread covers facial feminization surgery. So now my dream job is to get a job at Panera Bread eventually. Because that’s the surgery I need the most, because that’s the one I think will affect my life in the most positive ways and help my mental wellbeing. That one’s not covered by insurance in 99.999 percent of cases.”
“When someone comes out as trans, and they make the decision to transition-their life is going to go through hormonal changes, social changes. They’re going to lose family and friends. They’re going to make new family and friends. People try to revolve around homeostasis… but all these changes have to occur. You wouldn’t be at that point to transition if you weren’t suffering from some sort of dysphoria in your life, whether it has to do with your gender or something.”
“Part of me wanted to see if I needed to plan to go halfway across the nation, or whether it may be a possibility to have [surgery] around here. I remember coming home and telling my mom, like, ‘Hey, there’s a place that’s really close. We could just drive and come back, and I would be able to recover where I’m comfortable.’ And then now it’s just a matter of having the money ready and making the appointment. So that’s really good to know.”
4. Discussion
4.1. Key Patient Findings
4.2. Key Provider Findings
4.3. Implications for Practice
4.4. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Teti, M.; Bauerband, L.A.; Myroniuk, T.W.; Koegler, E. Listening to Transgender Patients and Their Providers in Non-Metropolitan Spaces: Needs, Gaps, and Patient-Provider Discrepancies. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 10843. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010843
Teti M, Bauerband LA, Myroniuk TW, Koegler E. Listening to Transgender Patients and Their Providers in Non-Metropolitan Spaces: Needs, Gaps, and Patient-Provider Discrepancies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(20):10843. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010843
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeti, Michelle, L. A. Bauerband, Tyler W. Myroniuk, and Erica Koegler. 2021. "Listening to Transgender Patients and Their Providers in Non-Metropolitan Spaces: Needs, Gaps, and Patient-Provider Discrepancies" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 20: 10843. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010843
APA StyleTeti, M., Bauerband, L. A., Myroniuk, T. W., & Koegler, E. (2021). Listening to Transgender Patients and Their Providers in Non-Metropolitan Spaces: Needs, Gaps, and Patient-Provider Discrepancies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20), 10843. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010843