Exposure to Childhood Healthcare Discrimination and Healthcare Avoidance among Transgender and Gender Independent Adults during a Global Pandemic

Transgender and gender-independent individuals (TGI) encounter myriad barriers to accessing affirming healthcare. Healthcare discrimination and erasure exposure among TGI individuals is vital to understanding healthcare accessibility, utilization behaviors, and health disparities in this population....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-06, Vol.19 (12), p.7440
Main Authors: Mason, Kyle Liam, Smout, Shelby A., Wall, Catherine S. J., Coston, B. Ethan, Perrin, Paul B., Benotsch, Eric G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Avoidance
Childhood
Children
Commonality
Confidence intervals
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Discrimination
Exposure
Gender
Gender identity
Health care
Health services utilization
Medical research
Non-binary gender
Pandemics
Population
Statistical analysis
Stress
Terminology
Transgender persons
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Summary:Transgender and gender-independent individuals (TGI) encounter myriad barriers to accessing affirming healthcare. Healthcare discrimination and erasure exposure among TGI individuals is vital to understanding healthcare accessibility, utilization behaviors, and health disparities in this population. Exposure to gender identity-related healthcare discrimination and erasure in childhood may contribute to TGI adults’ healthcare utilization behaviors. The commonality of childhood exposure to gender identity-related healthcare discrimination and its relationship to healthcare avoidance during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic among TGI adults were explored. TGI adults aged 18 to 59 (N = 342) in the United States were recruited online during the summer of 2020. Among individuals who reported childhood exposure to gender identity-related healthcare discrimination, 51% reported experiencing two or more distinct forms of discrimination. Hierarchical logistic regression indicated that exposure to healthcare discrimination in childhood significantly increased the odds of healthcare avoidance during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, after accounting for demographic factors and self-reported COVID-19 symptoms (odds ratio = 1.30, 95% confidence interval = 1.10, 1.54). These findings suggest that childhood exposure to gender identity-related healthcare discrimination is a prominent barrier to the utilization of healthcare for TGI adults, even during a global pandemic.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph19127440