Year of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Name

Clinical Psychology

Department or School/College

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Bryan N. Cochran

Commitee Members

Chris Fiore, Holly Schleicher, Jennifer Waltz, Jennifer Bell

Keywords

Affirmative Care, Health, Healthcare, Training, Transgender, Transgender Health

Abstract

Objectives: Transgender individuals, often highly stigmatized and discriminated against, face challenging barriers regarding seeking routine- and transition-related physical and mental health care (James et al., 2016). What has been consistent throughout time is that contact as an intervention (i.e., personal contact, contact with educational materials, and/or contact with general media outlets) has been found to be associated with improved attitudes toward and knowledge of marginalized communities (Braun et al., 2017; Click et al., 2019; Reed, 2018; Stroumsa et al., 2019). The aim of the current study was to explore the impact contact with a transgender-affirmative care training may have on healthcare workers’ and trainees’ attitudes toward and knowledge of routine care and transition support for transgender individuals.

Methods: Healthcare workers and trainees were recruited for participation through their workplace. Participants attended either an in-person (i.e., Study 1) or virtual (i.e., Study 2) training on transgender-affirmative care, and completed a pre- and post-training survey, as well as a 3-month follow-up survey. The surveys were comprised of a general demographic questionnaire, an Awareness of Transgender Topics Measure, the Anti-Transgender Prejudice Scale (Reed, 2018), and open-ended response options.

Results: Analyses revealed partial support for two of the three hypotheses for Study 1 and 2. Independent-samples t-tests comparing means for the dependent variable of anti-transgender prejudice by prior contact at the pre-training survey measurement did not yield significant differences. However, when samples were combined, analyses did reveal significant differences. Paired samples t-tests comparing the means for dependent variables of anti-transgender prejudice and awareness of transgender topics by time (i.e., before and after the training) partially revealed significant differences. Participants’ immediate post-training measurement, when compared to their pre-survey measurement, demonstrated a significantly lower average rating on the ATPS and higher average rating on the ATTM, but this was not consistent for immediate post-training measurements compared to their 3-month follow-up measurement. However, scores at the 3-month follow-up did demonstrate a general decrease in prejudice and increase in knowledge compared to baseline measurements.

Conclusion: The findings from the current study, despite the limitations, support the need for continued education on transgender topics, as well advocating for an increase in personal, educational, and general media contact as it relates to transgender individuals and/or their unique v experiences, to improve the attitudes toward and knowledge of routine care and transition support for transgender individuals.

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