Wellbeing, gender diversity & speech pathology
Description: Gender diverse people, who do not identify with their gender category presumed at birth, might experience discomfort with the sound of their voice. Additionally, their psychological wellbeing, closely connected to a person’s view of their own identity, is often reduced. A primary goal of gender affirming healthcare is to support clients’ psychological wellbeing. Speech pathology practices that assist the client to alter their voice to develop a desired gender presentation have been shown to have positive effects on client satisfaction with voice, their confidence and participation. However, gender diverse clients may still have reduced psychological wellbeing. Assisting gender diverse people to transform a negative view on their identity into a positive one could have a positive impact on their psychological wellbeing. Gender affirming speech pathology care could therefore benefit from focussing on what shapes gender diverse clients’ identity in a broader sense, i.e., in addition to gender, to support clients’ psychological wellbeing. This study aims to explore psychological wellbeing and the role of identity in a gender affirming speech pathology context.
Dates
State ongoing
Start 2022-11-01
End 2025-06-30
Form updated 2024-04-26
Report authors
Julia Tanase
Location
Australia
Aims
What enables gender diverse people, who seek support from a speech pathologist, to experience their identity as positive?
What do gender diverse people, who seek support from a speech pathologist, experience as (not) valuable in a speech pathology setting?
How do speech pathologists see their role in supporting gender diverse clients’ psychological wellbeing and perspective on identity?
Keywords
speech pathology
gender diversity
wellbeing
identity
voice
Category
research
Inputs
individual
Julia Tanase
Task: conducts research, writes thesis
Compensation: other(La Trobe University Scholarships)
group of individuals
Community advisory group consisting of gender diverse people (3)
Task: Consultation with the PhD researcher in different stages of the project about the appropriateness of study material and relevance of project contents
Recruitment: Personal contacts
Communication: Online meetings, written feedback
Barriers: Financial compensation of community advisory group members is limited due to limited funding
Compensation: paid
other resources