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Transgender and gender diverse veterans' access to gender-related health care services: The role of minority stress.

Powell HA, Stinson RD, Erbes C. Transgender and gender diverse veterans' access to gender-related health care services: The role of minority stress. Psychological Services. 2022 Aug 1; 19(3):455-462.

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Abstract:

Although Veterans Affairs (VA) directives and initiatives have sought to ensure an affirmative environment for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) veterans, barriers to care persist, including enacted/anticipated stigma as well as providers' lack of knowledge regarding specific health concerns of the TGD community. These barriers are significant in light of prior research, which has demonstrated a relationship between fears of transphobic discrimination and avoiding or delaying health care engagement. The present study seeks to explore the relationship between perceptions of providers' competence with TGD patients, veterans' minority stress, and veterans' treatment engagement in gender-related services. To this end, analyses were performed on data collected from 42 TGD veterans. Results suggest that perceptions of providers' competence are positively correlated with engagement in gender-related services. Global gender minority stress was not related to engagement, but the discrimination subscale was significantly correlated with engagement. When entered into a simultaneous regression, both the discrimination subscale and provider competence significantly predicted engagement. Results require replication in larger, more diverse samples, but suggest improving provider competence may bolster engagement for TGD veterans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).




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