(PS1-C63) Intersectionality of Mental Health Focused Research with Transgender and Gender Diverse Adults in the United States: A Systematic Review

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) communities are heterogenous communities that can sometimes be treated as homogenous groups for the sake of research. Often, the intersectionality of identities, including for individuals who hold multiple marginalized identities, are not considered within a research context, which may lead to misrepresentation of the TGD community in research. This systematic review evaluated research from 2018 to 2020 on mental health outcomes for transgender and gender diverse adults. Research was rated on the degree of intersectionality demonstrated by the authors to determine the extent to which recently published research considered multiple marginalized identities within their research samples. Additional factors explored included the extent to which TGD communities were involved in the research process and the diversity of representation of TGD experiences in the research samples to assess for major trends across research in this field. PRISMA guidelines were followed.  

The initial search returned 6,903 unique papers. The final dataset consisted of 83 studies which met all inclusion criteria. Studies were rated based on an intersectionality rating scale and a community involvement rating scale. One-way ANOVA and Chi-Square analyses were performed to determine if any differences in research sample demographics existed between studies based on their rated intersectionality and community involvement. Most studies were rated as having medium attention to intersectionality and most research had minimal TGD community involvement. Studies rated as having high levels of intersectionality were found to also have high levels of community involvement. Studies with higher ratings of intersectionality tended to have samples which were more racially diverse. Findings show that research on TGD mental health published in recent years was most frequently rated as having medium attention to intersectionality, which indicates that these studies identified intersectionality within their research sample but did not perform analyses in an intersectional manner. Moving forward, the field should consider methods of incorporating intersectional frameworks when developing their data collection and analysis methodologies, which will allow researchers to generate research that reflects the diversity of TGD experiences in the United States. Health disparities are exacerbated for individuals who hold multiple, marginalized identities, and within the current socio-political environment it is increasingly important to ensure that research captures and reflects intersectional identities and marginalization.