In the face of adversity: healthcare navigation and strategies of resilience among transgender and nonbinary care-seekers

Abstract Transgender (trans) and nonbinary people face unique challenges and stigma-related barriers when accessing healthcare services. Yet, how trans and nonbinary care-seekers work to challenge and overcome healthcare adversity remains underexplored. I address this by bridging a strengths-based interview approach with the minority stress and resiliency framework to detail how trans men, trans women, and nonbinary individuals (n = 41) are developing strategies of resilience against entrenched healthcare barriers within Canada. Three main strategies of resilience emerged at the individual- and community levels: at the individual level, the educated self via knowledge acquisition empowered care-seekers to evaluate treatment options and edify providers on gender diversity; at the community level, within community supports worked to alleviate stressors that contributed to healthcare avoidance through the promotion of positive peer relationships, adversity-avoidance, and self-efficacy; additionally, positive healthcare experiences helped rectify feelings of uncertainty, instilling a sense of validation and agency within the healthcare process. Findings showcase how gender-diverse communities are actively working to provide solutions to improve their health outcomes. Broadly, I reveal how resilience can be co-created through a relational process of complex interactions with one’s social network and external resources, offering new insights into resiliency mechanisms among gender-diverse populations.