Transphobic Attitudes of Physicians Who Play an Active Role in the Gender-Affirming Treatment in Turkey

Transgender people are exposed to many health inequality practices while receiving healthcare. In this study, we aimed to investigate the levels of transphobia among physicians who play an active role in the gender-affirming treatment (GAT) in Turkey. In this cross-sectional study, 530 physicians from the disciplines of psychiatry, endocrinology, gynecology, urology, and plastic surgery were assessed. Respondents completed a web-based survey consisting of sociodemographic data form and Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS) from May to June 2020. Among the 530 physicians, 126 were psychiatrists, 107 were endocrinologists, 119 were gynecologists, 111 were urologists, and 67 were plastic surgeons. We concluded that the transphobic attitude was the lowest in psychiatrists and the highest in urologists. In addition, we found that males were more transphobic than females (for GTS, p < .001; morality/shame and teasing, p < .001; for violence, p = .003), married individuals than single ones (for GTS, p = .012; morality/shame, p = .006), and residents than other academic status (for teasing, p = .024). Finally, we showed that transphobic attitudes are higher among the religious and those belonging to a religion people, respectively, and lower among the atheists and the deists. Our findings indicate that transphobia is quite common among physicians in Turkey other than psychiatrists who are more in contact with transgender people. It can be said that it may be important to establish more relationships with transgender individuals and develop policies regarding this situation in order to reduce the common transphobia among physicians.