The gender affirmation process and health impacts of transgender people

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/ce.v30i0.96228pt

Keywords:

Transsexualism, Transgender Persons, Health Services for Transgender Persons, Access to Health Services, Health Vulnerability

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the impact of the gender affirmation process on the health of the transgender population.

Method: Transversal and quantitative study, conducted with transsexual individuals from Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil, between January and September 2023, using sociodemographic and health instruments. The analysis was done using Principal Component Analysis and descriptive statistics.

Results: Of the 58 participants, 51.7% had side effects during hormone therapy, highlighting headache and elevated blood pressure. About 41.0% performed hormone therapy without the supervision of a qualified healthcare professional. Transsexuals and non-binaries were 16 times (p=0.0002) more likely not to perform the cytopathological examination. These data reinforce the vulnerability scenario of the population in the health context.

Conclusion: The study demonstrated that institutional barriers drive the transgender population away from health services, generating limitations in access to preventive care with an emphasis on hormone therapy.

Author Biographies

Jessy Tawanne Santana, Tiradentes University

Nurse. Master in Health and Environment. Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Indianara Gois Cardoso, Tiradentes University

Nursing student. Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Vitória Teresa Pinto de Oliveira, Tiradentes University

Nursing student. Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Rubens Riscala Madi, Tiradentes University

Biologist. PhD in Parasitology. Professor at Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Manuela de Carvalho Vieira Martins, Tiradentes University

Nurse. Master in Health and Environment. Professor at Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Cláudia Moura de Melo, Tiradentes University

Biologist. PhD in Parasitology. Professor at Tiradentes University, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.

Downloads

Published

2025-07-14

How to Cite

Santana, J. T., Cardoso, I. G., de Oliveira, V. T. P., Madi, R. R., Martins, M. de C. V., & de Melo, C. M. (2025). The gender affirmation process and health impacts of transgender people. Cogitare Enfermagem, 30. https://doi.org/10.1590/ce.v30i0.96228pt

Issue

Vol. 30 (2025)

Section

Research

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Jessy Tawanne Santana, Indianara Gois Cardoso, Vitória Teresa Pinto de Oliveira, Rubens Riscala Madi, Manuela de Carvalho Vieira Martins, Cláudia Moura de Melo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Cogitare Enfermagem reserves the right to make normative, orthographic, and grammatical changes to the published article to maintain the cultured standard of the language, while respecting the authors' style.

The published study is the sole responsibility of the author(s), and Cogitare Enfermagem is exclusively responsible for evaluating the manuscript as a scientific publication vehicle. Revista Cogitare Enfermagem is not responsible for any violations of Law No. 9,610/1998, the Brazilian Copyright Law.

Cogitare Enfermagem allows the author to hold the copyright of articles accepted for publication, without restrictions.

The articles published are licensed under the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0 - The attribution adopted by Cogitare Enfermagem is permitted:

  • Share - copy and redistribute the material in any media or format.
  • Adapt - remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
  • Attribution - You must give proper credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made. You may do this in any reasonable way, but not in a way that suggests that the licensor endorses it or approves of its use.
  • No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing something that the license allows.