Transgender people in Swedish healthcare: The experience of being met with ignorance

Abstract

In meetings with healthcare professionals, transgender people are often met with ignorance. The meetings tend to focus more on the person’s gender identity rather than reasons for the contact and therefore may be perceived as being offensive to that person. The aim of the study was to describe transgender people’s experiences in their meetings with healthcare professionals. Fourteen transgender persons were interviewed in this descriptive qualitative study. The semi-structured interviews were audiotaped. Data were collected during January–February 2015 and analysed using content analysis. Three themes were identified: ‘Experience of treatment by healthcare professionals’, ‘Expectations of meeting with healthcare professionals’ and ‘Consequences of meetings with healthcare professionals’. Findings revealed that healthcare professionals do not always respect the patient’s gender identity. This could lead to their avoiding contact with healthcare services. More education/training of healthcare personnel for the treatment of transgender people seeking care is requested.