comparing models of care

Around Australia, gender services support trans young person and their families as they navigate and express their gender identity. This is called gender-affirming care and it can include: 

• support with social transition (changing how a young person expresses their gender) 

• medical supports (e.g. puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones) 

• psychological support and assessments 

• family support.  

Evidence says that gender-affirming care is the best approach to support the health and wellbeing of trans young people, but we want to know how services could be made even better for more trans young people and their families.  

We're focusing on gender-affirming care that is provided to by public health services to people under 18. These services are funded by the government and includes services at hospitals and in the community.  

Some non-public services, such as private GPs, may also provide gender-affirming care to young people, but we aren’t looking at these services in this project. 

There are guidelines for gender-affirming care that services are encouraged to follow, but public health services across the country each work differently:  

• some services are in a hospital, while others are in the community 

• some have short or long waiting times 

• some states have extra rules and restrictions about how they provide gender-affirming care.  

The way a service works is called a ‘model of care’.  

We want to understand ‘what makes a good model of care?’ to support all trans young people to:

• have access to the best possible support

• help services governments provide the fair, high-quality care. 

As part of this project, we want to know about the unique and shared experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.  

There might be some things that work for some families that are not as helpful for others. A family’s experience may be different if they:  

• live in a city or in the country 

• have a disability or chronic condition 

• are experiencing poverty 

• speak a language other than English at home. 

To understand what makes good services, our research has three parts: 

1. Interviews. We are doing interviews with trans young people, families and clinicians to more deeply understand the experiences that people have at services with different models of care 

2. Surveys and data. We are doing surveys and gathering data about different services to compare the experiences and outcomes for different models of care 

3. Costs and benefits. We are comparing the costs and outcomes at different services to identify fair and effective models of gender-affirming care 

Part 1. Interviews (qualitative study) 

With trans young people and families who have used gender services around Australia. Through these interviews, we are learning about their experiences at the services, what works well, what could work better, and their ideas about how future services could look. 

We are also talking with people who work at gender services around Australia. We’ll explore the stories that we hear from trans young people and families, to understand how clinicians make sense of and support trans young people.  

Part 2. Service surveys and data (quantitative study) 

With trans young people, families, and clinicians at gender services across Australia. These surveys will give us information about what parts of a service (e.g., peer navigation or no peer navigation) are connected to better outcomes and more positive experiences for families (e.g., greater satisfaction, less distress).  

Part 3. Costs and benefits (health economics study) 

Lastly, we'll explore the costs and benefits of different models of care. Knowing how to get the best outcomes for trans young people and families, while understanding the different costs of services, will help governments and funders to more fairly and effectively support access to gender-affirming care. 

You may be able to take part in one of our studies if you: 

• are a young person who uses or has used a gender service  

• are a family member of a young person who uses or has used a gender service 

• are a clinician at a gender service working with people under 18. 

If you have tried to use a gender service, but weren’t able to, we would also like to hear from you.  

We will soon be inviting young people, families, and clinicians from around Australia to be involved in online interviews. Please follow one of the links below to learn more and get in contact with the research team. 

<LINK COMING> 

We worked with our Youth Advisory Group to

ethics approval

All our research is reviewed by a Human Research Ethics Committee before we start. This helps make sure it is safe, ethical and follows national research guidelines.

responsibility to participants and youth advisors 

We stay accountable to trans young people by following the ‘ways of working’, involving peer researchers, and involving youth advisors as decision-makers in each study. We are committed to continue working with peer researchers and youth advisors to: 

• make sure we are researching the right things (our aims) 

• do the research safely and effectively (our methods) 

• understand and interpret the results appropriately (our findings) 

• communicate what we find responsibly (dissemination) 

feedback and complaints

Research participants and youth advisors can provide feedback about their experience at any time. They can complete a feedback form or contact a Research Lead or ARCTYC’s Program Coordinator with feedback, concerns, or complaints.