National Nursing Week

4 WINNIPEg FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 When patients arrive at a hospital or medical office, it's routine for health professionals to ask questions about their age and medical history. T hey should also feel comfortable asking patients if they identify as male or female, says Fiona Smith, an RPN and instructor in the psychiatric nursing program at the University of Brandon's satellite campus in Winnipeg. "It may seem awkward to ask people what pronoun they prefer to use, or ask 'What can you tell me about your gender?' " Smith says. "But we can't assume that what we see is what we get with people." To help determine how prepared new health-care professionals really are to work with transgender people, and to treat them equally, Smith is researching nursing familiarity with transgender individuals as part of her PhD studies through the Applied Health Sciences program at the University of Manitoba. She recently conducted an online survey of nearly 450 nursing students across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., asking questions that measure their familiarity and comfort with people who identify as transgender, an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression doesn't match their biological sex. "There really hasn't been lot of knowledge about transgender persons. Some studies talk about how nurses can be hesitant to offend people by asking questions about gender, which perpetuates the invisibility of transgender people," Smith says. When she began the informal part of her research around families with gender- variant children, Smith looked at how often families felt they had to educate the health professionals they encountered along their child's journey. Her interest in the topic stemmed from previous research and work surrounding mental health issues in youth and the support needs of their parents. And it was something that touched her own life. "This was something I had thought was very rare until 2008, when three families in my natural social circle had a youth come out as transgender," she says. These families' experiences were similar to those of parents in her Master of Nursing study who had been seeking support for their depressed teens. Smith will spend this summer analyzing responses to survey questions that measure knowledge, familiarity, attitudes and how those attitudes influence behaviour. Questions ranged from 'Have you seen a film with a character who was transgender?' and 'Have you casually observed someone who is transgender?' to 'Is someone in your family transgender?' and 'Are you transgender?' She says part of her analysis will focus on "connecting these responses to whether higher levels of familiarity are perhaps linked to less negative attitudes towards transgender persons." She also asked the nursing students to respond to nine statements such as 'I would feel comfortable working with someone who is transgender,' 'I could have a friend who is transgender,' and 'I could marry someone who is transgender.' "That's kind of a negative measure, to look at people's measure of discomfort," Smith notes. "Then looking the other way, I asked some questions about how prepared they feel to work with people who are transgender, how well they know where to find resources, and whether their nursing education program has prepared them to work with transgender populations." Smith believes that attitudes of health-care professionals towards transgender people are progressing, and that's a step in the right direction. "I see a slow, steady progress. It's certainly something clinicians are increasing their interest in and engagement with. At the same time, whenever you have any kind of change coming, and in context of not having a lot of information, people will get scared." The important thing is for information to be gathered in a manner that's respectful for everyone, she says. "gaining more information will help practitioners who don't want to ask someone about their gender for risk of offending them to feel more comfortable broaching the subject," she says. "If we started incorporating just small things like asking everyone as a point of routine, 'How would you identify your gender?' and 'What pronouns would you prefer to use on the checklist?' these are small things that make a big difference, allow transgender people to become visible and allow us to develop an understanding and a measure of our understanding." ● Transgender Studies Research measures understanding in health care By Sherry Kaniuga - For the Free Press Smith says health practitioners have to be comfortable with questions of gender. Photo by Darcy Finley INCELEBRATIONOF NATIONALNURSINGWEEK, theCLPNMwouldliketorecognize theCLPNMwouldliketorecognize thededicationandcontribution thededicationandcontribution LPNsmaketothehealthand LPNsmaketothehealthand wellnessofallManitobans. wellnessofallManitobans. TheCLPNMistheregulatorybodythatgovernsthepracticeofstudentpracticalnurses,graduatepracticalnurses,andlicensedpracticalnursesinManitoba. " There really hasn't been lot of knowledge about transgender persons. Some studies talk about how nurses can be hesitant to offend people by asking questions about gender, which perpetuates the invisibility of transgender people." MAY 11 - 17, 2015 NURSING WEEK NATIONAL

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