Transgender EuroStudy – Legal Survey and Focus ... - ILGA Europe

Transgender EuroStudy:
Legal Survey and Focus on the
Transgender Experience of Health Care
The Focus Groups
Additional data was gathered using focus groups as, given the short time frame for this research
report, it allowed a large amount of data to be collected over a short period of time. This qualitative
detail about participants’ experiences while accessing healthcare adds a more personal dimension to
the quantitative data. Translators from seven countries visited the UK for a training session on
conducting the focus groups. This included how to recruit for the focus groups and the sensitivities of
researching people who are part of a vulnerable group. The translators were given a short list of
open–ended questions to use as a guide when conducting the focus groups and were asked to write a
short piece about the composition of the focus group in terms of age and gender, how they identified
and how much trans-related healthcare they had accessed.
Interpretation and Analysis
The survey was launched online in early October 2007, the focus groups were conducted in
October and the healthcare analysis began in late November. The systems engineer built a programme
which would collate the results across the countries as well as on individual countries. Participants
who had not accessed medical treatment for gender reassignment were screened out – as otherwise
their ‘negative’ answers to questions regarding treatment would affect the statistics.
The ‘Benchmark’ System
We built a code for analysing the statistics using an ‘Acceptable Baseline’ measurement for some
answers. Many questions were multiple choice; some answers were coded as Acceptable Baseline (AB)
responses. For example, with the question below we chose the second answer as AB; this ‘benchmark’
was the minimum or best that trans people should expect when accessing healthcare:
When you first talked to a doctor or psychiatrist about your
transition, how did they respond
Was informative and helpful
Wanted to help but lacked information
Did not appear to want to help
Refused to help
Best practice
Acceptable baseline
Not acceptable
Not acceptable