Barriers to accessing health care among transgender individuals

Key take-home messages

• Transgender individuals require health care that addresses their unique health concerns, including transition-related medical procedures and mental health.
• Poor health outcomes are disproportionately experienced by transgender individuals, and certain socio-economic factors can increase the likelihood of poor health outcomes.
• Due to combined layers of stigma associated with transgender identity, transgender individuals face unique challenges in accessing quality health care. Barriers to care can also intersect, and act on multiple levels.
• Best practices to address barriers to care for transgender individuals include policy change, additional education for health care providers, involvement of transgender individuals in research and program development, implementation of best practices , and changes to health survey forms.

• Determinants of Health
  • Social support
  • Health services
  • Stigma/discrimination
  • Abuse
• Population(s)
  • Transgender communities
• Substance Use
  • Alcohol
  • Nonmedicinal drugs