PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of head position on unfamiliar listeners’ perception of vocal masculinity. METHOD: Twelve cisgender women were recruited as speaking participants in this study. Participants were recorded reciting two voiced sentences at eight time points with varying head positions including baseline, flexed, and extended. Voice samples were cropped and fundamental frequency (fo) was resynthesized to control for any changes in fo across conditions. Twelve cisgender adults were recruited as listening participants. Listeners were presented with 144 paired comparisons of speaker samples and were prompted to select the sample that sounded more masculine in each presented pairing. Ratings of masculinity were analyzed using Thurstone’s law of comparative judgment. A repeated measures one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess the effect of head positioning and repetition, followed by Dunnett’s post hoc tests for significant factors. RESULTS: The ANOVA showed a statistically significant effect of head position on listener perceptions of masculinity. Dunnett’s post hoc tests revealed a statistically significant effect of the flexed position and no statistically significant effect of the extended compared to the neutral condition. CONCLUSION: Speakers’ voices in the flexed head position were perceived as most masculine by unfamiliar listeners. Overall, the results of this study support the use of head posture manipulation to achieve increased vocal masculinity, which adds to the limited research related to voice masculinization strategies for those seeking gender-affirming voice care.

No description available.

Recent years have seen an unprecedented paradigm shift wherein pathologizing approaches to caring for trans children have been contested by efforts to accept and affirm trans children as their self-determined gender. This has resulted in a mainstreaming of gender affirming and de-pathologizing approaches to caring for trans children. While gender affirming care undoubtedly benefits many trans children, this research analyzes the ways in which practices and delivery of gender affirming care can be exclusionary of children who do not fit within a normative, binary, medicalized, white, and middle-class conceptualization of trans childhood. Applying critical social citizenship as a theoretical framework, this research argues that care for trans children is shaped through a complex interweaving of normative liberal citizenship regimes, professional and social care practices, and relational care practices that seek to recognize and create space for children to belong as their self-determined gender. Using a community-based research methodology to engage with trans youth and supportive parent caregivers around their experiences of care, this study sought to a) better understand how the contested landscape of care impacts the lives of trans children and b) offer possibilities for transforming care for trans children. Centring the voices and experiences of trans youth and parents, this research argues that trans children face exclusions and barriers when accessing care. This research then discusses what relational care practices, as shared in participant narratives, offer for envisioning care possibilities that centre trans children’s agency and gender self-determination. The outcome of this research is a vision of care for trans children that is rearticulated through a critical theorization of trans children’s citizenship. / Graduate

No description available.

INTRODUCTION: Neovaginoplasty, is a gender affirming surgery provides a way for transfeminine persons to remove masculine appearing genitalia and replace with a more gender congruent appearance. As of 2019 “bottom” surgery was reported in transgender and non-binary persons at a rate of 4-13% with prevalence increasing rapidly (Nolan et al., 2019). The benefits of combined general and epidural anesthesia for neovaginoplasty has been well described (Salgado et al., 2019). In this study we examined dosing strategies for epidural infusions at our institution for patients undergoing neovaginoplasty. METHODS: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at our institution. Non-experimental retrospective chart reviews were conducted and all trans-gender patients who underwent neovaginoplasty procedures between 2014-2019 and were over the age of 18 at the time of chart review were included. Patient demographics including age, ethnicity, BMI were collected as well as comorbidities, history of hormone use, DVT, and nausea. Lumbar Epidurals were placed preoperatively and dosed after incision. Epidural start and stop times were collected along with pain scores measured on a visual analogue scale, and blood loss was recorded. RESULTS: The final cohort consisted of 154 cases that matched the eligibility criteria of this study. About half of these patients, 49.3%, spent 2-4 hours in the PACU after their procedures. The most common ASA status was 2. As expected, an overwhelming number of patients, 141 of 154 (91.6%) reported using hormone therapy. Epidural infusion duration prior to first pain score assessment was 0 to 701 minutes. Median epidural infusion duration was 285 minutes. Patients whose epidural was begun early had an average pain score of 5.06/10 (+2.11). Epidurals which were started late had an average pain score of 5.16/10 (+3.04). Maximum EBL noted for all cases was 450 mls. CONCLUSION: Overall, pain score was not significantly impacted by epidural start time post incision. Average initial pain scores were high in both cohorts, despite good pain relief on postoperative day 1. Observed EBL for these procedures was low at our institution, with no patients requiring blood transfusion. Central sensitization may play a large role in the initial pain scores and PACU length of stays for neovaginoplasty patients. Our future protocols will move towards dosing epidurals prior to incision for these procedures.

This reception study, drawing on Robert White’s culturalist approach to religious media and Jane Mansbridge’s oppositional consciousness, explores the meaning-making process of Queer Christians in Sweden about Parvez Sharma’s A Jihad for Love. The study argues that against a background where Muslims and Queer Muslims facing multiple forms of othering in Western mainstream media, queer-affirming Muslim alternative media can be a precursor to interfaith encounter and interreligious dialogue between Queer Christians and Queer Muslims. The results show that A Jihad for Love potentially increased the imagination and political interest of Queer Christians in Sweden in Queer Muslim lives. Finally, this study contributes to the reception of queer-affirming Muslim alternative media which has long been neglected and offers interesting insights about Queer Christian conceptualization of freedom, tolerance, secularism, religion and media in Swedish society.   Keywords: A Jihad for Love, religious media, queer affirming alternative Muslim media, Queer Muslims, Queer Christians, Sweden, interfaith dialogue, secularism

<p>HT 2017</p>

The documented experiences and perceptions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients receiving hospice or palliative care gives merit to the need for the implementation of LGBT affirming environments in hospice care settings. The guidelines for creating these affirming environments are described in this paper. Applying the Donabedian (1988) model of structure, process, and outcome this thesis project analyzes identified interventions relevant to the implementation of LGBT affirming environments in hospice care settings. Utilizing a formal PICO questioning method, a search strategy was devised and studies were identified based on established criteria. The results suggest that there is a paucity of data in relation to the implementation of LGBT affirming environments in hospice care settings. In an effort to assist in identifying existing interventions that have not been studied this project also includes a recommended survey tool to measure the active efforts of hospice organizations to implement LGBT affirming environments.

The transgender and gender diverse (TGD) patient population consists of a diverse group of people with unique needs who have, unfortunately, been underserved by the medical community. These individuals share a disproportionate burden of discrimination and disease when compared to cisgender persons. However, despite this, they continue to receive inequitable treatment, and transgender health topics still comprise just a small portion of medical education training. While efforts to improve awareness and training regarding transgender health care needs are underway, these take time to gain traction. It also relies heavily on changing medical providers’ own biases. Telemedicine has been proposed as a way to potentially bridge the gap and increase the access and availability of quality, informed medical care to this community. Although telemedicine has demonstrated its ability to do this in other areas of medicine, the existing research on whether it has the capacity to do so for transgender health care delivery is scant. The majority of the existing literature on the topic consists of retrospective qualitative feedback provided during a time where telemedicine was still emerging as a commonplace medium through which medical care is provided. Therefore, this thesis proposes to perform a randomized controlled trial investigating whether instituting a hybrid telemedicine approach has the capability to expand the accessibility of specialty transgender health care services as compared to fully in person medical care while maintaining a high standard of health care quality and patient satisfaction. This study would have the capacity to help inform future health care policy and provide support for continued telemedicine offerings and reimbursement moving forward.

<p dir="ltr">This thesis outlines a comprehensive training program designed to equip mental health professionals with the knowledge, skills, and cultural competency necessary to provide gender-affirming mental health services to transgender veterans. Included in this training is an overview of the literature documenting the severe mental health disparities experienced by this population through a minority stress framework, unique challenges and needs commonly faced by transgender veterans, and barriers to receiving culturally competent and effective mental health services. Guidelines for the provision of gender affirming therapy for transgender veterans are offered, in addition to opportunities for self-of-therapist reflections, discussions, and activities around these topics.</p>