(De-)centralized health care delivery, surgical outcome, and psychosocial health of transgender and gender-diverse people undergoing vaginoplasty: results of a retrospective, single-center study

PURPOSE: Previous research on genital gender-affirming surgery lacked to build a framework that took various surrounding factors into account. E.g., transgender health care services are delivered in both centralized (by one interdisciplinary institution) and decentralized settings (by different medical institutions spread over several locations). The present study investigated the effects of different structural and clinical aspects of gender-affirming genital surgery on psychosocial outcomes. METHODS: We surveyed former transgender and gender-diverse people who completed a vaginoplasty between 2014 and 2018. 45 participants were included in the study. We calculated hierarchical linear regression analyses to assess the relationship between psychosocial outcome measures (gender congruence, mental health, quality of life) and different aspects of gender-affirming genital surgery (e.g., setting of service delivery). To address shortcomings regarding the small sample size, we applied a rigorous statistical approach (e.g., Bonferroni correction) to ensure that we only identify predictors that are actually related to the outcomes. RESULTS: A non-responder analysis revealed no systematic bias in the recruitment procedure. Treatment satisfaction was a significant predictor for gender congruence. Moreover, we found the setting of service delivery (centralized, decentralized) to predict psychological health and the physical health dimension of quality of life. The effect sizes of our models were moderate to high, and models explained up to 26% of the total variance with a power up to 0.83. CONCLUSION: The present study is an exploratory attempt into the manifold relationships between treatment-related factors (e.g., aesthetic outcome), the setting of service delivery, and their effects on gender-affirming genital surgery. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00345-023-04348-5.