Caregiver perspectives on receiving gender-affirming care with their transgender and gender diverse adolescents via telemedicine.

Telemedicine may help improve access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adolescents. Parents or guardians (i.e., caregivers) of TGD adolescents play a critical role in supporting TGD adolescents in accessing this care. The purpose of this study was to explore caregivers' perspectives regarding their adolescent receiving pediatric gender-affirming care via telemedicine to help providers and health systems optimize this modality for future care delivery. Caregivers (n=18) of TGD adolescents ages 14-17 participated in semi-structured, individual interviews that were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. Caregivers cited participating in visits from their home environment, decreased anxiety, COVID safety, ability to have more family members attend, no transportation demands, and effective delivery of care as advantages of telemedicine. Disadvantages included dysphoria or discomfort with self-image, impersonal provider-patient interactions, video teleconferencing fatigue, difficulty with portal navigation, connectivity issues, and lack of privacy. Caregivers largely deferred to their child's preference regarding the choice of visit modality, but many reported a preference for the first to be conducted in-person, and follow-up and less complex visits via telemedicine. Health systems should consider these perspectives as they adapt telemedicine infrastructure to better meet the needs of patients and their families.

Mental Health of Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Gender Dysphoria.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Youth with either autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or gender dysphoria (GD) alone have also been shown to be at greater risk for mental health (MH) concerns; however, very little research has considered how cooccurring ASD and GD may exacerbate MH concerns. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between ASD, GD, and MH diagnoses (anxiety, depression, eating disorder, suicidality, and self-harm) among US adolescent populations. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a large administrative dataset formed by 8 pediatric health system members of the PEDSnet learning health system network. Analyses included descriptive statistics and adjusted mixed logistic regression models testing for associations between combinations of ASD and GD diagnoses and MH diagnoses as recorded in the patient's electronic medical record. RESULTS: Based on data from 919 898 patients aged 9 to 18 years, adjusted mixed logistic regression indicated significantly greater odds of each MH diagnosis among those with ASD alone, GD alone, and cooccurring ASD/GD diagnoses compared with those with neither diagnosis. Youth with cooccurring ASD/GD were at significantly greater risk of also having anxiety (average predicted probability, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.68-0.81) or depression diagnoses (average predicted probability, 0.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.43) compared with youth with ASD alone, GD alone, or neither diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Youth with cooccurring ASD/GD are more likely to also be diagnosed with MH concerns, particularly anxiety and depression. This study highlights the need to implement developmentally appropriate, gender-affirming MH services and interventions for youth with cooccurring ASD/GD.

Adolescent and Caregiver Perspectives on Receiving Gender-Affirming Care in Primary Care.

BACKGROUND: Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) adolescents experience barriers to receiving gender-affirming care. Delivering services in the pediatric primary care setting may help facilitate improved access. With this study, we aimed to explore TGD adolescents' and caregivers' experiences receiving primary care services and their perspectives regarding gender-affirming care delivery in pediatric primary care. METHODS: TGD adolescents aged 14 to 17 and caregivers of TGD adolescents currently receiving gender-affirming medical care participated in 1-hour-long, semi-structured, individual, virtual interviews. Each interview was recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were then individually coded, and themes were generated iteratively by using a reflexive thematic analysis framework. Recruitment of each group continued until thematic saturation was reached. RESULTS: A total of 33 participants (15 adolescents and 18 caregivers) completed interviews. Adolescent participants (mean age of 15.7 years) predominantly identified as transmasculine or trans male (73%), and caregiver participants were predominantly mothers (83.3%). Four themes were identified, which included (1) barriers, such as microaggressions and poor psychosocial support, (2) benefits, such as existing trusted relationships with primary care providers (PCPs) and convenience, (3) improvement strategies, such as training and interdisciplinary collaboration, and (4) opportunities for integrating primary care and specialty gender-affirming care. CONCLUSIONS: TGD adolescents and their caregivers reported previous negative interactions with PCPs; however, some desired to receive gender-affirming care in this setting, citing increased convenience, efficiency, and availability. Participants highlighted an ongoing need for further work to provide resources, education, and training to PCPs and their staff and improve PCP-to-specialist communication and collaboration.