Highs, Lows, and Hormones: A Qualitative Metasynthesis of Transgender Individuals' Experiences Undergoing Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy

Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) is a key therapeutic approach which aims to help trans and gender diverse (or simply "trans") individuals' transition from their sex-presumed-at-birth to their experienced gender identity. Previous reviews have focused on synthesizing quantitati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of homosexuality 2024-06, Vol.71 (7), p.1652-1683
Main Authors: Fowler, James A., Warzywoda, Sarah, Franks, Nia, Mendis, Marini, Lazarou, Mattea, Bisshop, Fiona, Wood, Penny, Dean, Judith A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Endocrine therapy
Female
Gender Identity
Hormone replacement therapy
Hormone therapy
Hormones
Humans
Male
Mental health
Navigation
Peer Group
qualitative
Qualitative research
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Social change
Social identity
systematic review
Transgender Persons
transition
Treatment methods
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Summary:Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) is a key therapeutic approach which aims to help trans and gender diverse (or simply "trans") individuals' transition from their sex-presumed-at-birth to their experienced gender identity. Previous reviews have focused on synthesizing quantitative experiences; however, a qualitative lens is important to understand the personal journey of GAHT. This review provides a qualitative meta-synthesis of the experiences of trans people around the world who have undergone GAHT to elicit contextualized understanding of the changes experienced. Systematic searches of eight databases identified an initial 2670 papers, refined to a final 28 papers. Overall, findings suggested that the GAHT journey is unique and elicited a myriad of changes which, whilst challenging at times, were life-changing and brought about positive psychological, physical, and social changes. Other themes explored GAHT not being treated as a fix-all for associated mental health issues, the rules that govern appraisal of physical changes, how privilege and social identity evolve, and the power of affirmation. This work offers important recommendations to improve the care offered to trans people undergoing GAHT. Namely, person-centered support is essential, and peer-navigation may be a useful future direction to explore.
ISSN:0091-8369
1540-3602
1540-3602
DOI:10.1080/00918369.2023.2186759