Lampe Nik M, Pfeffer Carla A
Department of Mental Health Law & Policy, University of South Florida, 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MHC 2640, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA; Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, USA; School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, USA.
Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Mar;344:116572. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116572. Epub 2024 Jan 14.
Transgender, non-binary, and intersex (TNBI) older adults experience significant disparities in sexual and reproductive healthcare. Utilizing data from 50 semi-structured individual interviews with TNBI older Americans, we examine how TNBI older adults experience and mitigate inequity in sexual and reproductive healthcare. We explore elders' negotiation of inequity through what we term resourcefulness strategies - tactical processes involving marginalized communities obtaining and utilizing resources to minimize inequalities within and beyond healthcare settings. Resourcefulness strategies differ from resiliency insofar as they directly acknowledge the need for social privilege, capital, and resources - on a community level - to overcome difficult situations (e.g., inequalities in healthcare), rather than drawing upon individual coping strategies alone. Our analysis reveals medical providers' lack of cultural competency with TNBI communities and older adults as primary drivers of TNBI older adults' experiences of inequity within sexual/reproductive healthcare settings. Consequently, TNBI older adults aimed to minimize inequity in sexual/reproductive healthcare through particular resourcefulness strategies. Specifically, we found a bifurcation in respondents' strategies, wherein trans men engaged in health service avoidance while trans women and non-binary respondents engaged in health service self-advocacy. These strategies required respondents to assume primary responsibility for transforming (or avoiding) sexual/reproductive health services that were perceived as lacking or actively harmful. We argue that such approaches are neither effective nor structurally-sustainable for attaining older-age and TNBI-affirming, inclusive, and culturally-competent healthcare for TNBI older patients.
跨性别、非二元性别和双性人(TNBI)老年人在性健康和生殖健康护理方面存在显著差异。利用对50名美国TNBI老年个体进行半结构化访谈的数据,我们研究了TNBI老年人如何体验和缓解性健康和生殖健康护理方面的不平等。我们通过我们所称的足智多谋策略来探索老年人对不平等的应对——这是一种策略性过程,涉及边缘化社区获取和利用资源,以尽量减少医疗保健环境内外的不平等。足智多谋策略与复原力不同,因为它们直接承认在社区层面需要社会特权、资本和资源来克服困难情况(例如医疗保健方面的不平等),而不是仅仅依靠个人应对策略。我们的分析表明,医疗服务提供者对TNBI社区和老年人缺乏文化能力,这是TNBI老年人在性/生殖健康护理环境中经历不平等的主要驱动因素。因此,TNBI老年人旨在通过特定的足智多谋策略来尽量减少性/生殖健康护理方面的不平等。具体而言,我们发现受访者的策略存在分歧,其中跨性别男性采取避免健康服务的方式,而跨性别女性和非二元性别受访者则采取健康服务自我倡导的方式。这些策略要求受访者承担主要责任,以改变(或避免)被认为缺乏或有积极危害的性/生殖健康服务。我们认为,对于为TNBI老年患者提供适合老年人和TNBI群体、包容且具有文化能力的医疗保健而言,这些方法既无效也缺乏结构可持续性。