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The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community

BACKGROUND: Trans and gender diverse individuals (people who identify with a gender different to what was presumed for them at birth) are one of the most medically and socially marginalized groups in our community. The COVID-19 pandemic may compound preexisting depression and thoughts of self-harm o...

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Autores principales: Zwickl, Sav, Angus, Lachlan M., Qi, Alex Wong Fang, Ginger, Ariel, Eshin, Kalen, Cook, Teddy, Leemaqz, Shalem Y., Dowers, Eden, Zajac, Jeffrey D., Cheung, Ada S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10373614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37519916
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1890659
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author Zwickl, Sav
Angus, Lachlan M.
Qi, Alex Wong Fang
Ginger, Ariel
Eshin, Kalen
Cook, Teddy
Leemaqz, Shalem Y.
Dowers, Eden
Zajac, Jeffrey D.
Cheung, Ada S.
author_facet Zwickl, Sav
Angus, Lachlan M.
Qi, Alex Wong Fang
Ginger, Ariel
Eshin, Kalen
Cook, Teddy
Leemaqz, Shalem Y.
Dowers, Eden
Zajac, Jeffrey D.
Cheung, Ada S.
author_sort Zwickl, Sav
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Trans and gender diverse individuals (people who identify with a gender different to what was presumed for them at birth) are one of the most medically and socially marginalized groups in our community. The COVID-19 pandemic may compound preexisting depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide. AIM: We aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between 1st May 2020 and 30th June 2020, amidst strict Australia-wide social restrictions. Australian trans people aged ≥16 years were eligible to participate. Survey questions explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on living situation, employment, financial situation, and healthcare. Logistic regression to assess negative impacts due to COVID-19 on depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide (measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) are presented as odds ratios (95% confidence interval)). RESULTS: Of 1019 participants, 49.6% reported experiencing financial strain, 22% had reduced working hours, and 22.4% were unemployed (three times the national rate). Concerningly, 61.1% experienced clinically significant symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥10), considerably higher than pre-COVID rates for the trans community and over twice the national rate. Moreover, 49% reported thoughts of self-harm or suicide (over three times the national rate) which was more likely if a person experienced cancelation or postponement of gender-affirming surgery (OR 1.56 (1.04, 2.35)), financial strain (OR 1.80 (1.36, 2.38)), or felt unsafe or afraid in their household (OR 1.96 (1.23, 3.08)). DISCUSSION: Given rates of clinically significant depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide are far higher in trans people than the general population, specific strategies to improve mental health in the trans community during the COVID-19 pandemic must be made a priority for policymakers, researchers, and health service providers to prevent suicide. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1890659
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spelling pubmed-103736142023-07-28 The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community Zwickl, Sav Angus, Lachlan M. Qi, Alex Wong Fang Ginger, Ariel Eshin, Kalen Cook, Teddy Leemaqz, Shalem Y. Dowers, Eden Zajac, Jeffrey D. Cheung, Ada S. Int J Transgend Health Articles BACKGROUND: Trans and gender diverse individuals (people who identify with a gender different to what was presumed for them at birth) are one of the most medically and socially marginalized groups in our community. The COVID-19 pandemic may compound preexisting depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide. AIM: We aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between 1st May 2020 and 30th June 2020, amidst strict Australia-wide social restrictions. Australian trans people aged ≥16 years were eligible to participate. Survey questions explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on living situation, employment, financial situation, and healthcare. Logistic regression to assess negative impacts due to COVID-19 on depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide (measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) are presented as odds ratios (95% confidence interval)). RESULTS: Of 1019 participants, 49.6% reported experiencing financial strain, 22% had reduced working hours, and 22.4% were unemployed (three times the national rate). Concerningly, 61.1% experienced clinically significant symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥10), considerably higher than pre-COVID rates for the trans community and over twice the national rate. Moreover, 49% reported thoughts of self-harm or suicide (over three times the national rate) which was more likely if a person experienced cancelation or postponement of gender-affirming surgery (OR 1.56 (1.04, 2.35)), financial strain (OR 1.80 (1.36, 2.38)), or felt unsafe or afraid in their household (OR 1.96 (1.23, 3.08)). DISCUSSION: Given rates of clinically significant depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide are far higher in trans people than the general population, specific strategies to improve mental health in the trans community during the COVID-19 pandemic must be made a priority for policymakers, researchers, and health service providers to prevent suicide. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1890659 Taylor & Francis 2021-03-11 /pmc/articles/PMC10373614/ /pubmed/37519916 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1890659 Text en © 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
spellingShingle Articles
Zwickl, Sav
Angus, Lachlan M.
Qi, Alex Wong Fang
Ginger, Ariel
Eshin, Kalen
Cook, Teddy
Leemaqz, Shalem Y.
Dowers, Eden
Zajac, Jeffrey D.
Cheung, Ada S.
The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title_full The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title_fullStr The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title_full_unstemmed The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title_short The impact of the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian trans community
title_sort impact of the first three months of the covid-19 pandemic on the australian trans community
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10373614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37519916
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1890659
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