Educational preparedness to care for transgender and gender diverse adults: Perspectives of mental health professionals.

Ensuring that mental health professionals are appropriately trained to provide affirming and sensitive care to transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adults is one mechanism that may reduce the marginalization sometimes experienced by TGD adults in mental health contexts. In this study, mental health professionals (n=142) completed an online survey documenting the sources and types of training received to provide TGD-sensitive care; and, shared a self-assessment of their comfort, competence, and ability to provide TGD-sensitive care. Findings revealed that the majority of the mental health professionals in the study (approximately 81%) received specific training to work with TGD clients from a variety of sources. These mental health professionals also self-reported high levels of comfort, competence, and ability to offer TGD-sensitive care which were statistically significantly associated with the number of hours of TGD-specific training they had received.

Transgender and Gender Diverse Community Perspectives on Barriers and Benefits of the Psychosocial Assessment for Gender-Affirming Medical Care.

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals often must undergo a psychosocial assessment and receive a letter of support from a mental health care provider to access gender-affirming medical care (GAMC). This study describes TGD individuals' perceptions of barriers and benefits of the assessment process and uses thematic analysis to explore TGD individuals' opinions on how mental health care should or should not be related to gender-affirming medical care. Two hundred and eighteen TGD participants completed an online survey. Participants endorsed benefits and negative impacts associated with the psychosocial assessment and provided qualitative responses to explain their support or opposition to involvement of mental health care and assessment in accessing GAMC. Nearly all participants identified both benefits (e.g., "experienced validation") and barriers (e.g., "experienced an increase in psychological distress") to the psychosocial assessment. Results are considered in the context of the historical marginalization and gatekeeping of TGD people by the medical system.