“I had to teach my own doctor what this was about”: Information sharing barriers and information evaluation of Finnish transgender people

Abstract

Although research shows that transgender people face information barriers when seeking gender-affirming care, few studies have investigated their experiences of information sharing and evaluation during patient provider interactions. Focusing on information triangulation and cognitive authorities, this interpretive phenomenological study analyzed data derived from interviews with 19 transgender individuals from Finland using qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that transgender people face several information sharing barriers when seeking gender-affirming care. Barriers were categorized to an atmosphere and transphobia, a lack of information, and the healthcare system itself. Transgender individuals use several information sources to gain information about gender-affirming care. Different information sources can have different authority roles. Based on these roles, information sources can be triangulated to gain information with which to make health-related decisions. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications for library and information science scholars attempting to reduce barriers to health information.