1. Patients' perspectives on informational needs surrounding gender affirming vaginoplasty
- Author
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Alexandra Millman, Armin Gabela, Omer Acar, and Luca Morgantini
- Abstract
Purpose: Gender-affirming vaginoplasty lacks universally adopted guidelines for perioperative management. With this study, we sought to determine what information patients seek through their surgical journey, as well as the methods by which they prefer to receive this information. Methods: An anonymous survey was emailed to 30 patients who underwent gender-affirming vaginoplasty between September 2018 and September 2020. The survey was composed of Likert-scale items that explored the importance of various topics. Patients were also asked from whom and how they received information on specific topics, as well as where they would prefer to get it from. Descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analyses were used to analyse responses. Results: Seventeen individuals completed the questionnaire (56.6% response rate). All topics received an average rating of moderately important or higher (≧ 3 out of 5 on the Likert scale). Of 30 pre-operative topics queried, participants preferred to receive information in written form for 29 topics (97%), and from the surgeon for 27 topics (90%). Thematic analysis revealed five main themes: recovery process, satisfaction, trust in healthcare providers, information delivery, and neovaginal dilation and depth. Conclusion: Individuals undergoing gender-affirming vaginoplasty have extensive informational needs and seek this information from their surgical team directly with a combination of written resources and verbal discussion. Participants were especially interested in the importance of neovaginal dilation and being aware of possible complications. Additionally, the importance of cultural competence and building trust with healthcare professionals were key findings in this study, echoing a call for more inclusive providers.
- Published
- 2023