A Qualitative Evaluation of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Patients' Experiences in Southern California's Inland Empire

Purpose: To evaluate negative and positive health care experiences within the racial-ethnically diverse transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) community in the Inland Empire, California.

Methods: Three focus groups were conducted with a racial-ethnically diverse sample of 20 TGNC-identified individuals in California's Inland Empire. The rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) technique was used to systematically analyze the qualitative data and identify salient themes.

Results: Key themes included the following: a lack of TGNC cultural competency among providers, interpersonal barriers to health care, perceived systemic barriers to health care, and the effects of improper care on TGNC patients' health. Lack of cultural competency included providers' conflations of gender and sexuality and unawareness of nonbinary gender identities. Interpersonal barriers included patient experiences of being misgendered, refused treatment, and referred to by their deadnames. Perceived systemic barriers included insurance coverage, transportation issues, and a lack of expedient care. The effects of improper care were highlighted by participants seeking alternative and sometimes unsafe forms of care when timely and appropriate care was inaccessible.

Conclusion: Participants recommended increasing representation of TGNC perspectives into provider trainings, involving providers in outreach with the TGNC community, and requiring letters of recommendation and certifications for providers to be deemed TGNC culturally competent as means of improving TGNC patient care.