Mental health and psychological outcomes of gender-affirming care in transgender and gender diverse adolescents : a narrative literature review
Ruuska, Kisse (2024)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024100526098
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024100526098
Tiivistelmä
Some gender diverse people experience gender dysphoria, which sometimes leads to subsequent mental health issues. Studies on adults and adolescents have suggested improvements in various mental health and psychological outcomes after gender-affirming care that aims to alleviate gender dysphoria. Despite these promising results, the effectiveness of gender-affirming care on adolescents has been subject to debate.
The objective of this narrative review was to find out if gender-affirming care influences various mental health and psychological outcomes in gender diverse adolescents, and what factors may affect the treatment outcomes.
The aim of this review was to combine existing knowledge and thus increase the understanding of gender diversity, treatment options and timing of treatment in the field of health care. With a scarcity of existing educational material on the subject, the results of this review can be used for educational purposes, such as for students in nursing, midwifery, medicine, psychology and social sciences.
This review received mentoring support from the Sukupuolen moninaisuus voimavarana project conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
The results suggested that gender-affirming care has an overall positive effect on the mental health and psychological functioning of gender diverse adolescents. The most effective treatment methods were hormonal treatments and gender-affirming surgery. No interventions usually ended up in the exacerbation of symptoms. Best results were reached with early intervention, the use of a multidisciplinary team, and individualized treatment plans. Resilience and parental support were further found to support positive changes, while long-term psychiatric comorbidities negatively affected them. Psychosocial support was found to play a role in the success of treatment especially for those with pre-existing psychiatric comorbidities. Future studies should aim to replicate these findings with larger and more diverse samples, include comparison groups, and further study which factors predict a good response to treatment.
The objective of this narrative review was to find out if gender-affirming care influences various mental health and psychological outcomes in gender diverse adolescents, and what factors may affect the treatment outcomes.
The aim of this review was to combine existing knowledge and thus increase the understanding of gender diversity, treatment options and timing of treatment in the field of health care. With a scarcity of existing educational material on the subject, the results of this review can be used for educational purposes, such as for students in nursing, midwifery, medicine, psychology and social sciences.
This review received mentoring support from the Sukupuolen moninaisuus voimavarana project conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
The results suggested that gender-affirming care has an overall positive effect on the mental health and psychological functioning of gender diverse adolescents. The most effective treatment methods were hormonal treatments and gender-affirming surgery. No interventions usually ended up in the exacerbation of symptoms. Best results were reached with early intervention, the use of a multidisciplinary team, and individualized treatment plans. Resilience and parental support were further found to support positive changes, while long-term psychiatric comorbidities negatively affected them. Psychosocial support was found to play a role in the success of treatment especially for those with pre-existing psychiatric comorbidities. Future studies should aim to replicate these findings with larger and more diverse samples, include comparison groups, and further study which factors predict a good response to treatment.