Experiences of Children with Gender Dysphoria/Gender Incongruence and their Parents with the Health Care System in Germany

The aim of the study is to describe experiences within the health care system of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria/gender incongruence (GD/GI) as well as their parents in Germany. The findings are intended to improve health care of children and adolescents with GD/GI and their families and have been incorporated into the development of the new S3 Guidelines "Gender Incongruence and Gender Dysphoria in Childhood and Adolescence: Diagnosis and Treatment". A total of 78 people, 35 children, adolescents, and young adults (621 years) with GD/GI as well as 33mothers and 10 fathers, were interviewed. Seventeen semistructured individual interviews and five focus groups were conducted. Many of the participants reported waiting times of several months or years as well as inadequately trained doctors and therapists. A trans*identity, especially amongst smaller children and their parents, was often dismissed by health care providers, as a temporary phenomenon or an imagination of the child or the parents. Trans*ident children, adolescents and young adults as well as their parents were rarely perceived as experts in their own right. Recommendations for an affirmative care of trans* children and adolescents are formulated.