“You Have to Wait a Little Longer”: Transgender (Mental) Health at Risk as a Consequence of Deferring Gender-Affirming Treatments During COVID-19

Miesen, Anna I. R. van der; Raaijmakers, Daphne; Grift, Tim C. van de

doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01754-3

Cited by 109 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Scientific contributions address, among other things, the importance of HIV, PEP, and PrEP care during the COVID-19 pandemic (Alpalhão & Filipe, 2020 ; Junejo et al, 2020 ; Sun et al, 2020 ). They point to the discrimination of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people by national COVID-19 measures (e.g., in Peru) (Perez-Brumer & Silva-Santisteban, 2020 ) and explain the multiple (mental) health challenges of TGNC individuals when their gender-affirming treatment is deferred during COVID-19 (van der Miesen, Raaijmakers, & van de Grift, 2020 ). Another important research topic is the new COVID-19 stigma and how to combat it (Logie & Turan, 2020 ).…”

Section: Covid-19 Effects On Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Affecting Our Sexualities? An Overview of the Current Media Narratives and Research Hypotheses

2020

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Section: Covid-19 Effects On Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Affecting Our Sexualities? An Overview of the Current Media Narratives and Research Hypotheses

2020

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“…Beginning in March 2020, healthcare systems in the U.S. ceased providing nonessential (i.e., non-emergent) healthcare services to combat the spread of COVID-19 (COVIDSurg Collaborative, 2020). This move may have further restricted access to gender-affirming medical care; such interruptions in gender-affirming care may increase psychological distress among TGNB people (Flaherty, Sharma, Crosby, & Nuara, 2020;van der Miesen, Raaijmakers, & van de Grift, 2020).…”

Section: Access To Gender-affirming Medical Care During Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Individuals Engaged in a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Kidd

Jackman

Barucco

et al. 2021

Journal of Homosexuality

115

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While the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, no empiric US-based research has focused specifically on transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB) people. We examined the pandemic's impact on an established longitudinal cohort of TGNB individuals (N = 208) by administering an online survey between March-June 2020. We used multivariable linear regression to examine reduced LGBTQ/TGNB community support and disruptions in gender-affirming health care as predictors of psychological distress during the pandemic. We found that the pandemic exacerbated ongoing mental health disparities for TGNB individuals. Furthermore, reduced LGBTQ/TGNB support was associated with increased psychological distress during the pandemic. Interruption and/or delay in gender-affirming health care was not associated with increased psychological distress during the pandemic. Special attention is needed to address the unique ways in which TGNB individuals were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes increasing access to LGBTQ/TGNB community support and addressing long-standing health disparities.

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“…There is very limited data at time of writing about the impact of COVID-19 on the broader LGBTQ+ community, and on TGGD people specifically, with most evidence coming from reports of voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. These reports highlight disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the LGBTQ+ community, and show that TGGD people report an increase in domestic violence and difficulties accessing sexual health services and gender-affirming medical treatment [44 45], which is thought to pose a particular risk for the mental health of transgender people awaiting such procedures [46].…”

Section: Implications Of the Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mental health and experiences of discrimination of LGBTQ+ people during the COVID-19 pandemic: Initial findings from the Queerantine Study

Kneale

Bécares

2020

Preprint

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Objective: To assess mental health status and experiences of discrimination among a sample of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer people (LGBTQ+, the + including those who don't identify with any such label) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional web-based survey. Setting: Responses were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic between April 27th and July 13th. Participants: 398 LGBTQ+ respondents forming an analytical sample of 310 in the main models. Methods: We used a combined measure of gender identity or expression and sexual orientation as the main explanatory variable. We assessed mental health with the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), and with the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D-10). We measured experiences of discrimination with a battery of questions that asked respondents whether they had experienced a set of discriminatory experiences because of their LGBTQ+ identity during the coronavirus pandemic. Experiences of discrimination was considered a mediating factor and examined both as an outcome as well as an explanatory variable. Models were adjusted for a range of demographic and socioeconomic variables. Results: The prevalence of depression and stress were both high, with the majority of the sample exhibiting significant depressive symptomology (69%). Around one-in-six respondents reported some form of discrimination since the start of the pandemic because they were LGBTQ+ (16.7%). In regression models, the average score for perceived stress increased by 1.44 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.517-2.354) for those who had experienced an instance of homophobic or transphobic harassment, compared to respondents who had not. Similarly, the odds of exhibiting significant depressive symptomology (CES-D-10 scores of 10 or more) increased three-fold among those who had experienced harassment based on their gender or sexuality compared to those who had not (OR: 3.251; 95% CI: 1.168-9.052). These marked associations remained after adjustment for a number of socioeconomic and demographic covariates. Cis-female respondents who identify as gay or lesbian had the lowest scores for perceived social or depressive symptoms; conversely transgender and gender diverse individuals had the highest scores. Conclusions: We found high levels of stress and depressive symptoms, particularly among younger and transgender and gender diverse respondents. These associations were partially explained by experiences of discrimination which had a large, consistent and pernicious impact on stress and mental health.

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“You Have to Wait a Little Longer”: Transgender (Mental) Health at Risk as a Consequence of Deferring Gender-Affirming Treatments During COVID-19

Cited by 109 publications

References 28 publications

How Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Affecting Our Sexualities? An Overview of the Current Media Narratives and Research Hypotheses

How Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Affecting Our Sexualities? An Overview of the Current Media Narratives and Research Hypotheses

Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Individuals Engaged in a Longitudinal Cohort Study

The mental health and experiences of discrimination of LGBTQ+ people during the COVID-19 pandemic: Initial findings from the Queerantine Study

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