The effects of brief informational interventions on Ohio-based medical professionals’ attitudes toward gender-affirming care

Purpose This study aimed to examine current attitudes of Ohio-based medical professionals toward transgender patients and gender-affirming care (GAC), any treatment or intervention that affirms an individual’s gender identity, assess the efficacy of three brief informational interventions designed to improve attitudes and willingness to provide care, and determine if the effectiveness of the interventions differed based on clinicians’ political affiliation.Methods Across two time points in 2024, we recruited 240 licensed health care professionals (HCPs; physicians, physicians’ associates, and nurse practitioners) in Ohio. At Time 1, participants reported baseline attitudes about administering GAC to patients. One week later (Time 2), participants received one of three brief, written educational intervention conditions that contained information regarding the effectiveness of GAC for adult patients using either statistical, narrative, or mixed framing. Following the intervention, participants responded to the same questionnaires implemented at Time 1. A series of repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted evaluating outcomes on all measures.Results Scores on the outcome variables improved after exposure to the interventions. The observed improvements did not differ based on which intervention framing participants received. However, political affiliation also related to all outcome domains and interacted with the interventions such that improvements were not observed for political conservatives.Conclusion These findings highlight the important role that individual political beliefs may play in shaping clinical decision-making around GAC and demonstrate that interventions aimed at improving outcomes for transgender participants may not be effective for political conservatives. Future work should develop tailored interventions that address concerns about GAC among conservatives.