Target Diverse Community
Discussion On Culturally Safe Health Care For The Transgender Groups?
A quality health care is one of the fundamental rights of every individual, regardless of the cultural background, race or socio-economic status. However, in reality, the health inequalities across different cultural groups are alarming. There has not been enough conscious effort to establish culturally safe health care services in order to facilitate health inequality across populations (Coleman et al. 2012). There are various kinds of barriers to delivering culturally competent health care to the diverse populations, and when it involves sexually diverse populations, the disparities escalate multiple folds. For instance, considering the LGBT population, this acronym covers a diverse health group, where a myriad of inequalities exists within the context of quality health care delivery to such a diverse population. It indicates the need for proper strategizing to eliminate or overcome those barriers. This assignment will focus on the different elements of culturally competent health care for one component of the LGBT communities and will reflect on different barriers and strategies to overcome those barriers.
We have to consider that the LGBT cpmmuni8ty is a culturally diverse community; it encompasses all different kinds of races, ethnicities, religions and cultures. In this reflective assignment I will focus on the transgender community and health care disparities they experience. The transgender can be defined as an umbrella term that encompasses a number of individuals with diverse sexual orientations (Adler, Hirsch & Mordaunt 2012). The transgender communities include trans-women who are male to female in sexual orientation, the trans men who are female to male in sexual orientation, and the genderqueer individuals. These communities are not only far from the societal norms or expectations; they are from differential ethnic or cultural backgrounds. This minority group is often the victims of being ridiculed, isolated and often face discrimination and harassment in the society which in turn leads to negative health outcomes. There are a variety of challenges in providing equal health care access to this culturally diverse health groups (Coleman et al. 2012)
Any kind of disparity, be it racial, cultural or related to sexual orientation in the health care sector, leads inevitably to compromised health outcomes and low health qualities across the population. The only solution to this predicament is practising the culturally competent health care services (Adler, Hirsch & Mordaunt 2012). For instance, in the case of my chosen health diversity group of the transgender group, there are various limitations to the delivery of quality health care to this group.
Barriers to Health Care Equality
The first and by far the strongest barrier to equal health care delivery to the aboriginal population is the societal discrimination or the stigmatizing that these unfortunate individual. By definition the term transgender refers to the individuals whose gender identity is not completely congruent with their assigned sex at the time of birth. And like the anything that breaks the regular pattern of the society, the phenomenon of transgender is treated with hostility and sometimes even pity in our society. If we consider the global statistics, 65% of the transgender men and women have reported being victims of bullying and discrimination when they sought out health care facilities (Chapman et al. 2012). Another statistics suggest that 19% of the nation’s total hatred and violence victims have been transgender individuals. With the alarming disregard in the society for the health and wellbeing of the transgender individuals, the health care inequality is an inevitable aftermath.
From my own experience, I have noticed transgender people being treated as a taboo from childhood and even in my career as a health acre professional i have noticed in many instances nurses refusing to care for the transgender men and women and even when they are forced to care for them, the caring attitude and approach lacked compassion and equality at large. This is one of major reasons why the transgender individuals avoid health care facilities and end up having an alarmingly high risk factor for HIV, Cancer and other chronic or infectious diseases (Chapman et al. 2012).
Another very substantial barrier to quality health care in transgender groups that I have experienced is the lack of health literacy. Firstly, it has to be understood that the transgenders mostly live with societal isolation and they are not accepted in the society as any normal individual. The fear of societal harassment and bullying resist them from availing any societal facilities and they end up lacing a proper education (Coleman et al. 2012). The societal isolation is another contributing factor to the absolute lack of health literacy in the transgender, due to which they often to not recognize the early signs and symptoms of the diseases and end up prolonging seeking out help from the health care facilities.
This particular element acts as a barrier to health equality across all the populations, and the transgender groups are no exception to this particular rule. I have experienced that the transgender populations live with extremely low income at the most of the times, and with the lack of financial support they avoid health care or treatment at large, and they mostly cannot afford the expensive treatment protocol that they desperately need. I would also like to mention that they transgenders living with low socioeconomic status are never aware of the health care benefits they are eligible to under the LGBT health and safety scheme of the governments, which further deteriorates their chances of availing the immediate care plan (Gates 2011).
Societal Discrimination
As mentioned above, one of the most important factors in delivering quality health care to minority groups depends heavily upon the attitude of the health care provider towards the patient. Although, I would also mention that the traditional values and preconceptions of the health care professionals clash horribly with the health care needs of the transgender population (Müller 2013). However, from my experience with the transgender health groups, I have discovered a strong relationship between the health care providers and the patient and patient family can overcome the barriers to a large extent. Hence, I have improvised my attitudes accordingly to ensure better health outcome. The positive impact of my compassionate and perseverant professional attitude has helped me better understand the needs of my patients. It helped me serve them better. However, the only negative impact had been the lack of knowledge about the specific health care needs of the transgender communities.
According to the recent statistics, 29% of the entire transgender population face difficulties while describing the health care professionals the specific health care issues of the transgender communities. The health care professionals are often not aware of the specific needs and requirements of the transgender individuals. In my own opinion, one of the major health care concerns for the transgender communities are HIV and other such infectious diseases, and the lack of any knowledge in the transgender communities make it even more difficult for the transgenders to receive the care that they desperately need. And when the health care professionals do not have the knowledge and expertise in caring for the transgenders, health care disparities increase multiple folds (Reitman et al. 2013).
Despite the conspicuous hardships and limitations associated with the health care delivery of the transgender communities the need for health care equality across all sectors of the society is paramount. Therefore, there has to be culturally safe health care practices that can cater to the health care needs of the transgender communities. I think the health care providers must understand the living standards of the transgenders before he or she can attempt to care for the transgender patients (Riggs, Ansara & Treharne 2015). The professional attitude and the interpersonal relationship is one of the most important factors for creating a culturally safe health care practice for the transgender patients. The factors that I will include into the culturally safe practices for my care plan include:
- A compassionate and welcoming environment for the patients
- Open interpersonal communication
- Assistance of language interpreters
- Better understanding and incorporation of the transgender cultural beliefs
- Extensive patient education
- Better understanding for the health care needs for the transgender communities.
Lack of Health Literacy
In my professional life as a health care service provider, I have understood that the most of the challenges associated with the transgender population are the lack of knowledge and health literacy and the societal stigmatization that they encounter at every step of the way. What they need is a proper health care advocacy so that they can understand their rights and can avail the health care services that they deserve. If I had to become a health care provider advocate for the transgenders, I would ensure that the trans men and women of my chosen diverse group location knew about the health care benefits they are eligible to under government-sponsored schemes such as free of cost vaccination, medicines and primary health care services (Shields et al. 2012). Apart from that, I would also like to ensure that the cultural safety of the transgenders, regardless of their racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds, are maintained at all costs, and they are not subjected to any activity in the treatment plan that has the potential to question their cultural beliefs. Furthermore, I would also like to ensure that the trangenders had the aid of cultural safety officers in health care facilities so that the culturally competent health care services are provided to them in all circumstances (Smith et al. 2014).
Conclusion:
In a concluding note, I would like to mention that there are some barriers to the health care accessibility to ethnic groups like the transgenders of Australia, and these limitations continue to impact the health outcome for these groups negatively. Although, as I have discussed in my reflection, all these barriers can be overcome, both the health care providers and the society need to cooperate with each other so that cultural competency can be restored within health care and the transgenders can receive the services they deserve without compromising their dignity, identity and cultural beliefs.
References:
Adler, R.K., Hirsch, S. and Mordaunt, M., 2012. ‘Voice and communication therapy for the transgender/transsexual client: A comprehensive clinical guide’. Plural Publishing.
Chapman, R., Wardrop, J., Freeman, P., Zappia, T., Watkins, R. and Shields, L., 2012. ‘A descriptive study of the experiences of lesbian, gay and transgender parents accessing health services for their children’. Journal of clinical nursing, 21(7?8), pp.1128-1135.
Chapman, R., Watkins, R., Zappia, T., Nicol, P. and Shields, L., 2012. ‘Nursing and medical students’ attitude, knowledge and beliefs regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents seeking health care for their children’. Journal of clinical nursing, 21(7?8), pp.938-945.
Coleman, E., Bockting, W., Botzer, M., Cohen-Kettenis, P., DeCuypere, G., Feldman, J., Fraser, L., Green, J., Knudson, G., Meyer, W.J. and Monstrey, S., 2012. ‘Standards of care for the health of transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people, version 7’. International Journal of Transgenderism, 13(4), pp.165-232.
Gates, G.J., 2011. ‘How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?’.
Müller, A., 2013. ‘Teaching lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health in a South African health sciences faculty: addressing the gap’. BMC medical education, 13(1), p.174.
Reitman, D.S., Austin, B., Belkind, U., Chaffee, T., Hoffman, N.D., Moore, E., Morris, R., Olson, J. and Ryan, C., 2013. ‘Recommendations for promoting the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents: A position paper of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine’. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(4), pp.506-510.
Riggs, D.W., Ansara, G.Y. and Treharne, G.J., 2015. ‘An evidence?based model for understanding the mental health experiences of transgender Australians’. Australian Psychologist, 50(1), pp.32-39.
Shields, L., Zappia, T., Blackwood, D., Watkins, R., Wardrop, J. and Chapman, R., 2012. ‘Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents seeking health care for their children: a systematic review of the literature’. Worldviews on Evidence?Based Nursing, 9(4), pp.200-209.
Smith, E., Jones, T., Ward, R., Dixon, J., Mitchell, A. and Hillier, L., 2014. ‘From blues to rainbows: The mental health and well-being of gender diverse and transgender young people in Australia’. Australian Research Centre i
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