Evaluating Desire for and Provision of Gender Affirming Medical Care in the Nonbinary Community: Patient and Gender-Affirming Medical Provider Perspectives

• Main Author: Regan, Katelyn R
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2024
• Subjects: Gender studies; Medicine; Public health
• ISBN: 9798381722826

Current guidelines for gender-affirming care established by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH; Coleman et al., 2022) and the Endocrine Society (Hembree et al., 2017) aim to create standards of care (SOC) that guide physicians in the best practices for caring for transgender and gender expansive individuals. These protocols affirm binary transgender individuals who align with the identity of man or woman (binary transgender identities) with little guidance for how to work with patients who identify outside of the binary. For individuals who identify as non-binary or genderqueer (NBGQ), certain body changes outlined in this progression might feel empowering, but others may not be in line with their gender identity (Puckett et al., 2018). There is a lack of information in the scientific literature about gender-affirming medical care for NBGQ individuals (Murawsky, 2023). This dissertation utilized a multi-phasic approach to first document NBGQ individuals’ access to desired gender-affirming medical care via semi-structured interviews (Phase I), and second to assess the knowledge and comfort of gender affirming medical providers in providing gender care to this population via an online survey (Phase II). Phase I’s NBGQ participants had heterogeneous desires for gender care that at times did not align with SOC and reported many barriers to accessing care. Phase II’s medical participants were comfortable offering medical care to NBGQ patients, had less reported knowledge of NBGQ patient needs, follow the established SOC closely, but are willing to practice outside of SOC if their patients request it of them.