Measuring Explicit Prejudice and Transphobia in Nursing Students and Professionals

Abstract

Trans* people frequently report attitudes of prejudice/transphobia in health professionals.Conversely, health professionals indicate the lack of adequate training to care for these peopleand its impact on the quality of care provided. Objective: Our objective was to evaluate theexplicit prejudices/transphobia of health students and professionals and compare them with thegeneral population in Tenerife. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out withthe Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS) and the Negative Attitude towards Trans* peopleScale (EANT) with a total of 602 participants. Results: We found a low mean level of explicitprejudice/transphobia, with little/no differences between occupation groups. Explicit transphobia wascorrelated with being a man, less educated, and heterosexual, and not personally knowing a trans*person. Men and women were less transphobic about trans* people whose identities coincided withtheir own. Conclusion: All participants showed a low mean level of explicit transphobia. This resultis not incompatible with unconscious prejudice, which may translate to discriminatory behaviors.Interventions to change negative attitudes are still needed, since even a small percentage of transphobichealth professionals could exert a considerable negative impact on health care. In professionalswithout transphobic attitudes, the barriers identified by trans* people might be a problem due to thelack of specific training