Providers' Perspectives on Decision-Making About Care for Transgender Youth

Abstract

Background:

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth face health care decisions that are complicated by both social and medical aspects of gender care. Little is known about how providers support decision-making in this context or the gaps they perceive in decision support.

Objective:

To explore health care providers' perspectives on the decision-making processes in youth gender care.

Methods:

We interviewed health care providers (n=17) caring for TGD youth and asked about the nature of families' decision-making, providers' role in this process, and potential improvements to existing support systems. Two independent coders coded all responses which were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results:

From providers' perspectives, they serve as “guides” to families through a challenging decision-making process. Youth arrive educated and eager to begin treatment, but caregivers are more hesitant. Providers lack data to address parents' concerns, and struggle to support families through interpersonal conflict. All providers recognized a need to improve decision support for families.

Conclusions:

Providers described decision-making in this context as a multistep process where interpersonal conflict and limited data slow progress.

Practice Implications:

There is ample opportunity to leverage insights from adult and pediatric medical decision-making research to improve decision support for providers, TGD youth, and families.