All-Ireland Student Psychology Congress Josh Hernon Presentation (2024)

Transgender individuals face unique and multifarious health needs, yet the Irish healthcare system still falls behind international standards of gender-affirming care. Similarly, transgender patients seem to display distinct healthcare-seeking behaviours, and strategically interact with healthcare systems in response to barriers. No qualitative study has explored adult transgender healthcare navigation in Ireland; therefore, the current study applies a participatory research approach to enhance our understanding of these experiences. 

Due to initial low recruitment rates and research interest, convenience sampling methods were used to recruit from advocacy groups. Increased interest within online fora allowed for purposeful and maximum variation sampling to account for a wide range of ages and gender identities to illustrate diverse experiences. Six transgender participants with experience interacting with Irish gender care participated in semi-structured interviews on perceived barriers and facilitators of access to care. An iterative integration of reflexive thematic analysis and the voice-centred relational method were used to qualitatively analyse raw interview data. 

Three emergent themes were generated that encapsulated participants’ healthcare journeys: accepting existing barriers, driving your own healthcare journey, and looking to the future of trans healthcare. Community connectedness and support was identified as a cross-cutting theme across these central themes. Findings suggest that transgender individuals in Ireland engage in dynamic, arduous struggles accessing gender-affirming care and adapt tactically to receive appropriate treatments. Systemic and interpersonal implications are discussed, indexed by the gender minority stress model.