NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: health care, health care evaluation, transgender, gender diverse

Objective(s): Research Goals 1. To evaluate the existing Health Care for Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Nonconforming People: Guidelines for the Northwest Territories. 2. Based on feedback from both patients and providers, to develop recommendations to improve this document and reduce barriers to accessing gender affirming and transition-related care in the Northwest Territories.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5875. Research Goals 1. Evaluate the existing Health Care for Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Nonconforming People: Guidelines for the Northwest Territories. 2. Based on feedback from both patients and providers, develop recommendations to improve this document and reduce barriers to accessing gender affirming and transition-related care in the Northwest Territories. This study will utilize two-hour focus groups facilitated by a queer/non-binary identified facilitator (the primary researcher) with support from staff from the Northern Mosaic Network. All focus groups/interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed verbatim by the facilitator, and then coded for themes. Both the primary researcher and an assistant (from the Northern Mosaic Network) will participate in the coding process. Coding will follow an iterative process wherein primary themes are identified in the first review of the transcripts, followed by secondary themes, and potentially tertiary themes. Further, specific recommendations on how the guidelines can be improved will be extracted from the transcripts. Focus groups will be conducted both in person and virtual via a University of Manitoba sponsored Zoom account. The primary researcher will travel to the Northwest Territories for in person focus groups. In the interest of providing an avenue for participation for patient participants who would not be safe to participate in a focus group, an online survey instrument will be provided as well as the option to instead participate in a one-hour one-on-one interview. The survey instrument will ask for written responses to the same questions posed to the focus groups. The interview guide for the one-on-one interviews will also be the same as the focus group questions. The interviews will be conducted by the primary researcher. These options for confidential participation are crucial for this population, as some may not be able to safely discuss their identity and experiences verbally. Provider participants will be recruited through the Trans+ Healthcare Conference hosted by the Northern Mosaic Network. The goal of this conference would be to provide Northwest Territories healthcare providers with a professional development opportunity to increase their knowledge about best practices for providing care to Two Spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and trans people. The proposed dates for this conference are June 18-19, 2024, in Yellowknife. Northern Mosaic Network will arrange the venue, speakers, roundtable, and other conference logistics. However, healthcare providers would be expected to use their own professional development funds to cover conference fees and arrange for their own travel and accommodations. Potential speaker topics include anatomical inventories for digital healthcare records, best-practices in trans+ health care for primary care providers and providing trans+ healthcare in pharmacy. Providers would also be asked to participate in a focus group to provide their feedback on the Guidelines. Access to an online survey version of the provider focus group questions will be made available for those who wish to participate but are not able to attend the conference. Member checking will be conducted by means of participants in the focus groups/one-on-one interviews will be provided with copies of the transcripts for the group/interview they participated in. Participants in the study will also be provided with the opportunity to review the drafted revisions to the recommendations to ensure that the recommendations meet their needs and expectations. The project has anticipated knowledge translation products: 1. A peer-review paper, in an open access journal. 2. A plain-language community report. 3. Recommendations for the Government of Northwest Territories. 4. Two systems Navigation Resources for the existing guidelines, one for patients and one for providers. The Northern Mosaic Network will be a contributor to all knowledge translation products and will have direct input on how the outcomes are presented, in addition to the academic team members. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: July 25 - December 18, 2024