Transgender and Gender Diverse People’s Fear of Seeking and Receiving Care in Later Life: A Multiple Method Analysis

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current research is to understand concerns about receiving care in a sample of transgender, gender nonbinary, and gender diverse (TGD) adults across the lifespan. A total of 829 participants, predominantly from the United States and Canada, aged 18–70, completed the Trans Metlife Survey on Later-Life Preparedness and Perceptions in Transgender-Identified Individuals (TMLS) section on caregiving and are included in this study. We found middle-aged adults, people of Color, and people living with a disability reported the highest level of concern for their ability to function independently because of financial resources, physical concerns, cognitive impairment, or a lack of someone to care for them. Researchers found five overarching thematic categories: (a) No concerns, (b) Anticipated discrimination, (c) Loss of control, (d) Quality of life, and (e) General concerns. Practice implications include recommendations for practitioners to develop care plans with TGD residents and clients to learn the best strategies for affirming their gender identity (e.g., clothing preferences) and to assist TGD residents and clients with the completion of advance directives to allow them to outline their end-of-life care plan, including instructions for gender affirmative care in the event of incapacitation (e.g., dementia, stroke).

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• caregiving
• end of life
• LGBT
• transgender
• TGNC
• qualitative methods
• transphobia
• long-term care

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the people who completed Trans Metlife Survey on Later-Life Preparedness and Perceptions in Transgender-Identified Individuals (TMLS).

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the author’s institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or competing interests to report.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.