Chaplyn Georgia, Saunders Liz A, Lin Ashleigh, Cook Angus, Winter Sam, Gasson Natalie, Watson Vanessa, Wright Toussaint Dani, Strauss Penelope
School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands, Australia.
Int J Transgend Health. 2023 Feb 17;25(1):19-35. doi: 10.1080/26895269.2023.2177921. eCollection 2024.
Many trans young people seek mental health support and gender-affirming medical interventions including puberty suppression, gender-affirming hormones and/or surgeries. Trans young people and their parents face multiple barriers in accessing gender-affirming care and mental health support, however little is known about the parent perspective on accessing services for their trans child.
This study aimed to understand the experiences of parents accessing medical and mental health services with and for their trans children within Australia.
Using data from Trans Pathways, a large mixed-methods cross-sectional study, we examined the experiences of parents (N = 194) in Australia accessing primary care, psychiatry, therapy/counseling, mental health inpatient, and gender-affirming medical services with/for their trans children (aged 25 years or younger). Qualitative data on service experiences were thematically analyzed. Quantitative analyses included frequency of access to services, wait times, service satisfaction, and mental health diagnoses of the parents' trans child.
Services were mostly first accessed when the young person was between 12 and 17 years of age, with primary care physicians being the most accessed service. Parents reported that some practitioners were respectful and knowledgeable about gender-affirming care, and others lacked experience in trans health. Across all services, common barriers included long wait times, complicated pathways to navigate to access support, as well as systemic barriers such as sparsity of gender speciality services. Across services, parents reported feeling as though they do not have the necessary tools to best support their child in their gender affirmation.
This study highlights the crucial need for systemic changes in the processes of accessing gender-affirming care and mental health support to enable access to appropriate and timely care. These findings also indicate the importance of improving individual practitioner knowledge around trans health, to enhance the support provided to trans young people and their parents.
许多跨性别青少年寻求心理健康支持以及性别肯定医疗干预，包括青春期抑制、性别肯定激素治疗和/或手术。跨性别青少年及其父母在获得性别肯定护理和心理健康支持方面面临多重障碍，然而对于父母在为其跨性别子女获取服务方面的观点却知之甚少。
本研究旨在了解澳大利亚父母陪同跨性别子女并为其获取医疗和心理健康服务的经历。
利用“跨性别途径”这一大型混合方法横断面研究的数据，我们调查了澳大利亚194名父母陪同25岁及以下跨性别子女获取初级保健、精神病学、治疗/咨询、心理健康住院治疗以及性别肯定医疗服务的经历。对有关服务经历的定性数据进行了主题分析。定量分析包括获取服务的频率、等待时间、服务满意度以及父母跨性别子女的心理健康诊断情况。
大多数服务是在青少年12至17岁之间首次获得的，初级保健医生是最常接触的服务提供者。父母报告称，一些从业者对性别肯定护理表示尊重且知识渊博，而另一些则缺乏跨性别健康方面的经验。在所有服务中，常见障碍包括等待时间长、获取支持的途径复杂，以及诸如性别专科服务稀缺等系统性障碍。在各项服务中，父母表示感觉自己没有必要的工具来最好地支持孩子的性别肯定。
本研究强调了在获取性别肯定护理和心理健康支持的过程中进行系统性变革以确保获得适当及时护理的迫切需求。这些发现还表明了提高个体从业者关于跨性别健康知识的重要性，以加强对跨性别青少年及其父母的支持。
