Source / Discoveries
Treharne GJ, et al. Family practice. 2022; doi: 10.1093 / fampra / cmac005.
Discoveries: Researchers do not provide relevant financial disclosures.
Transgender people who said they received primary care that provided them with support were more likely to report better mental health, according to research published in Family practice.
However, only about half of the transgender people who participated in the study said they had the support of a primary care physician.
“The findings of this study reinforce the urgent need to provide transgender people with high-quality and routine primary care for gender affirmation,” Rona Carol, Dr, a general practitioner and senior lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and colleagues wrote.
The study included 948 transgender people aged 14 to 83 in New Zealand who graduated in 2018 Counting Ourselves a survey. Participants were recruited through links established with transgender communities and social media advertisements. They were asked two sets of questions about their experience in nursing - one about negative experiences of nursing and the other about experiences with PCPs that provide support - as well as questions about non-suicidal self-harm and suicidal ideation.
Only about 57% of participants said they felt treated the same as other patients when they consulted PCP for non-transgender needs, according to the results. A smaller percentage - 48.2% - said their PCPs support their needs in terms of gender-affirming care.
Negative experiences in health care were associated with higher rates of psychological stress, non-suicidal self-harm and suicide, while positive experiences were associated with lower rates of psychological stress and non-suicidal self-harm, according to Carol and colleagues. Each additional support experience with PCP resulted in an 11% reduction in the probability of suicide attempt, while each negative health experience was associated with a 20% increase in the probability of suicide attempt.
In addition, 47% of participants stated that they must educate a health care provider to receive appropriate care, and about 43% said that their PCP is willing to be educated about gender-affirming care. Less than a quarter of participants said their PCPs know a lot about gender-friendly care.
Carroll He said that PCPs do not have to be transgender health professionals, but “they have to understand some basics and then respect them”.
“If you don’t know something, tell the patient, ‘I’m not very familiar with it, but I’ll find out,'” she told Healio.
The findings of this study confirm the need for PCPs to support transgender health care, says Carol.
“If we can try to create positive and supportive experiences, even if we don’t know all the answers, it seems that it will be useful for people’s mental health,” she said.
The health care of transgender people is not routinely taught in general practice training in New Zealand, and the level of training and education that PCPs receive may lag behind that in other countries, Carroll said. She suggests that transgender people work together with PCP as teachers.
“Have community members help with some of the experiences,” Carol said. - by Allison Flynn Becker
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