Spiritual Experiences of People with Gender Dysphoria

Subject Areas : Clinical psychology

Mehrdad Abdullahzadh ¹ (PhD candidate in nursing Tarbiat Modares University)
Nahid Heidari ² (Master’s degree in medical-surgical nursing Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University)

Received: 2022-01-08 Accepted : 2022-01-08 Published : 2021-09-23

Keywords: Spirituality, phenomenology, Gender Identity, gender dysphoria,

Abstract :

This  study aimed to investigate the spiritual experiences of people with gender dysphoria The search method was descriptive phenomenography in the forensic field of the south of Iran. 10 participants with Gender Dysphoria (4 biological females and 6 biological males) were selected by purposeful snowballing and were interviewed in-depth and semi-structured. Data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis technique. In axial coding, while comparing categories and codes with each other, their relationship was examined, and finally, the main theme of desire for spirituality followed by general categories titled Resort, Acceptance, Destiny, and Relaxation was extracted from data analysis. Results showed that the spiritual experiences of transgender people cover a wide range of principles. The participants in the study cited the feelings of insecurity, fear of loneliness, and Finding identity as their main reasons for paying attention to spirituality. Findings suggest that in addition to the physical need, the spiritual dimension of transgender people's lives must be carefully considered to ensure their individual and social health.

References:

Abedini, S., & Sepehrinia, H. (2016). Relationship between socio-cultural and family dimensions with perception of sexual identity before and after surgery in patients with gender identity disorder studied in Ardabil. Sociological Studies, 8(29), 21-38. [In Persian]

Askari, N., Nourian, M., & Abaeikoopaei, M. (2019). Synthetic research of the aesthetic education studies based on the dimensions of child development. Journal of Developmental Psychology: Iranian Psychologists, 16(62), 135-152. [In Persian].

Bower, K. L., Lewis, D. C., Bermúdez, J. M., & Singh, A. A. (2021). Narratives of generativity and resilience among LGBT older adults: Leaving positive legacies despite social stigma and collective trauma. Journal of Homosexuality, 68(2), 230-251.

Campbell, C.L., & Catlett, L. (2019). Silent illumination: A case study exploring the spiritual needs of transgender-identified elder receiving hospice care. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 21(6), 467-74.

Canoy, N., Thapa, S., & Hannes, K. (2019). Transgender persons' HIV care (dis)engagement: A qualitative evidence synthesis protocol from an ecological systems theory perspective. British Medical Journal Open, 9(1), e025475.

Carroll-Beight, D., & Larsson, M. (2018). Exploring the needs, expectations, and realities of mental healthcare for transgender adults: A grounded theory study on experiences in Sweden. Transgender Health, 1 (1), 88-104.

Charzyńska, E., & Heszen-Celińska, I. (2019). Spirituality and mental health care in a religiously homogeneous country: Definitions, opinions, and practices among Polish mental health professionals. Journal of Religion & Health, 59(1), 113-134.

Davy, Z., & Toze, M. (2018). What is gender dysphoria? A critical systematic narrative review. Transgend Health, 3(1), 159-69.

Emlet, C., Goldsen, K. F., Fabbre, V., Jung, H., & Kim, H. (2020). Historical and generational forces and gender differences in the iridescent life course of transgender older adults. Innovation in Aging, 4(Suppl. 1), 735.

Etengoff, C., & Lefevor, T. G. (2021). Sexual prejudice, sexism, and religion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 45-50.

Farahmand, M., & Danafar, F. (2018). A qualitative study of bigenders lived experience through family and social interactions. Journal of Social Problems of Iran, 9(1), 191-212. [In Persian].

Flake, D. (2020). Using religion to protect transgender employees from discrimination. US: University of Illinois Law Review.

Goh, J. N. (2021). Trans/imagining God: Articulations of individualized spirituality among Muslim and Christian transgender men. Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 11(1), 34-47.

Hamzehlouiyan, M., Besharat, M., Rahiminezhad, A., Zamanian, H., & Farahani, H. (2019). The role of meaning, peace and faith in quality-of-life dimensions of women with cancer. Journal of Developmental Psychology: Iranian Psychologists, 15(59), 237-248. [In Persian].

Heidari, N., Abdullahzadeh, M., & Naji, S.A. (2021). Lived religious and spiritual experiences of transgender people: A qualitative research in Iran. Sexuality & Culture 25, 417–429.

Huegerich, R. (2021). Sacred self-expression: Love and trans authenticity. Feminist Theology, 29(2), 170–186.

Huffman, J., M., Warlick, C., Fre, B., & Kerr, B. (2020). Religiosity, spirituality, gender identity, and sexual orientation of sexual minorities. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 6(4), 356–371

Hughto, J., Gunn, H. A., Rood, B. A., & Pantalone, D. W. (2020). Social and medical gender affirmation experiences are inversely associated with mental health problems in a US non-probability sample of transgender adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(7), 2635–2647.

Hunt, Q, A., Morrow, Q, J. & McGuire, J. K. (2019). Experiences of suicide in transgender youth: A qualitative, community-based study. Archives of Suicide Research, 24(sup2), S340-S355.

Kenaley, B. L., Gellis, Z. D., Kim, E. H., & Mclive-Reed, K. (2019). The influence of humor and spirituality on the resiliency of community-dwelling older adults. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl. 1), S940–1.

Kinitz, D. J., Salway, T., Dromer, E., Giustini, D., Ashley, F., Goodyear, T., Ferlatte, O., Kia, H., & Abramovich, A. (2021). The scope and nature of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression change efforts: a systematic review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 10(1), 14.

Kyngäs H. (2020). The application of content analysis in nursing science research. US: Springer.

Lassiter, J. M., Brewer, R., & Wilton, L. (2020). Toward a culturally specific spirituality for black sexual minority men. Journal of Black Psychology, 46(6–7), 482–513.

Levitan, N., Barkmann, C., Richter-Appelt, H., Schulte-Markwort, M., & Becker-Hebly, I. (2019). Risk factors for psychological functioning in German adolescents with gender dysphoria: Poor peer relations and general family functioning. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(11), 1487-1498.

Lobato, M. I., Soll, B. M., Brandelli Costa, A., Saadeh, A., Gigliotti, D.A.M., Fresán, A., Reed, G., & Robles, R. (2019). Psychological distress among transgender people in Brazil: Frequency, intensity, and social causation - an ICD-11 field study. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 41(4), 310-315.

Luvuno, Z. P., Ncama, B., & Mchunu, G. (2019). Transgender population's experiences with regard to accessing reproductive health care in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa: A qualitative study. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 11(1), 1-9.

MahdiNejad, J. E. D., Azemati, H., & Sadeghi Habibabad, A. (2020). Religion and spirituality: Mental health arbitrage in the body of mosques architecture. Journal of Religion and Health, 59(3), 1635-1651.

Mavhandu-Mudzusi, A. H., & Sandy, P. T. (2015). Religion-related stigma and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at a South African rural-based university. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(8), 1049-1056.

Merath, K., Kelly, E. P., Hyer, J. M., Mehta, R., Agne, J. L., Deans, K., & Pawlik, T. M. (2020). Patient perceptions about the role of religion and spirituality during cancer care. Journal of Religion and Health, 59(4), 1933-1945.

Mills., M., Stoneham., G., & Davies., S. (2019). Toward a protocol for transmasculine voice: A service evaluation of the voice and communication therapy group program, including long-term follow-up for trans men at the London gender identity clinic. Transgender Health, 4(1), 143–151.

Naeimi, S., Akhlaghdoust, M., Chaichian, S., Moradi, Y., Zarbati, N., & Jafarabadi, M. (2019). Quality of life changes in Iranian patients undergoing female-to-male transsexual surgery: A prospective study. Archives of Iranian Medicine, 22(2), 71-75.

Octavianna, Y., Sibarani, R., Situmorang, H., & Hasibuan, N. S. (2020). Traditional praying performance Martonggotonggo and dancing performance Marpaniaran for the women's health at the Toba Batak traditional wedding ceremony. Enfermeria Clinica, 30, 357-360.

Olson-Kennedy, J., Chan, Y. M., Garofalo, R., Spack, N., Chen, D., Clark, L., & Rosenthal, S. (2019). Impact of early medical treatment for transgender youth: Protocol for the longitudinal, observational trans youth care study. JMIR Research Protocols, 8(7), e14434.

Roel Lesur, M., Lyn, S., & Lenggenhager, B. (2020). How does embodying a transgender narrative influence social bias? An explorative study in an artistic context. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1861.

Roh, S., Lee, Y. S., & Park, S. Y. (2019). Role of religiousness and spirituality and social networks in determining depression among older Korean Americans. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl.1), S518-S518.

Srivastava, A., Saxena, M., Percher, J., & Diamond-Smith, N. (2019). Pathways to seeking medication abortion care: qualitative research in Uttar Pradesh, India. Plos one, 14(5), e0216738.

Suen, L. W., Lunn, M. R., Katuzny, K., Finn, S., Duncan, L., Sevelius, J., Flentje, A., Capriotti, M. R., Lubensky, M. E., Hunt, C., Weber, S., Bibbins-Domingo, K., & Obedin-Maliver, J. (2020). What sexual and gender minority people want researchers to know about sexual orientation and gender identity questions: A qualitative study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(7), 2301–2318.

Svob, C., Wong, L. Y. X., Gameroff, M. J., Wickramaratne, P. J., Weissman, M. M., & Kayser, J. (2019). Understanding self-reported importance of religion/spirituality in a North American sample of individuals at risk for familial depression: A principal component analysis. PLoS One, 14(10), e0224141.

Tasker, F., & Gato, J. (2020). Gender identity and future thinking about parenthood: A qualitative analysis of focus group data with transgender and non-binary people in the United Kingdom. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 865.

Valashany, B. T., Janghorbani M. (2018). Quality of life of men and women with gender identity disorder. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 16(1), 1-9.

Vigliotti, V., Taggart, T., Walker, M., Kusmastuti, S., & Ransome, Y. (2020). Religion, faith, and spirituality influences on HIV prevention activities: A scoping review. PloS one, 15(6), e0234720.

Yan, Z. H., Lin, J., Xiao, W. J., Lin, K. M., McFarland, W., Yan, H. J., & Wilson, E. (2019). Identity, stigma, and HIV risk among transgender women: A qualitative study in Jiangsu Province, China. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 8(1), 1-9.

Yetunde, P.A. (2020). Buddhist-Christian interreligious dialogue for spiritual care for transgender hospital patients. Buddhist-Christian Dialogue., US Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care, 1, 1–32.

Zamani, N., Zamani, S., Rajaeian, E., & Barzegar Mohamadi, R. (2020). Gender disparity and personality, psychological and social factors affecting it among people with gender identity disorder awaiting gender change. Pajouhan Scientific Journal, 18 (3), 34-45. [In Persian]

Zhang, Z., Solazzo, A., & Gorman, B. K. (2020). Education and health: The joint role of gender and sexual identity. SSM-Population Health, 12, 100668.