[New care models for transgender people in the Spanish Health System: demands, controversies and reflections.]
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Health care for transgender people in Spain has been progressively established since 1999 when the first multidisciplinary unit for the treatment of sex reassignment was created in Andalusia. In this document, the social changes, the demands and debates of users and professionals, the new models of health care for trans people, and reflections on the current situation, have been analysed. The social openness in Spain regarding sexual and gender diversity has evolved quite positively. The health demands of the transgender users are not uniform and do not always match with the criteria of the professionals. In some Spanish regions, health care is distancing itself from the internationally recommended multidisciplinary model. The new healthcare models have been established under the aegis of primary care and/or endocrinologist in the area, without a required psychological assessment. The main contributing factors for this change of model have been the pressure from some associations with demands for "depathologization" and "decentralization". The professionals of gender units, while recognizing the need for a broader vision of trans reality, warn of the risk of treating trans people without the involvement of mental health specialists or by professionals in proximity with little experience. Moreover, the decentralization would not allow acting on large cohorts, which hinders the advance of knowledge and contrasted evaluations with neighbouring countries. In summary, the new health models, although intended to facilitate care through proximity, do not guarantee improvements in quality and difficult to make a comparative evaluation of the results.
Source: PubMed
Authors: Esther Gómez-Gil, Isabel Esteva de Antonio, María Fernández Rodríguez, Maricruz Almaraz Almaraz, Felipe Hurtado Murillo, Marcelino Gómez Balaguer, Nuria Asenjo Araque, Mireia Mora Porta, Irene Halperin Rabinovich, Rosa Fernández García, Ángel Luis Montejo González, Grupo Gidseen
Institutions: Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Consorci Institut D'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi I Sunyer, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Hospital Universitario San Agustín, Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Universidade da Coruña, Universidad de Salamanca, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca, Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición
Language: Spanish
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3103992632