The Trans Primary Care Guide: A Community-Based Approach to Developing a Web-based, Illustrated Resource for Primary Health Care Providers (Preprint)
BACKGROUND There is a large gap in educational and training resources on trans-sensitive care in health professional curricula. In-person continuing medical education training sessions are often limited by time, place, and instructor availability. Web-based technologies offer the potential to easily reach primary care providers across the province. However, existing online training resources are lengthy in content, lack visual communication strategies, and do not encompass the multitude of different transition options sought by trans individuals. OBJECTIVE This article describes a community-based, participatory approach to the design and development of a web-based, illustrated resource guide with non-sequential access to medical and basic care protocols and guidelines to improve primary care providers' knowledge and confidence in caring for trans clients. METHODS The design and development of the Trans Primary Care Guide was informed by a participatory design research strategy focused on iterative improvement of the resource through iterative review by an advisory committee, formative evaluations with trans participants and primary care providers, and usability testing. RESULTS A web-based, illustrated resource (Trans Primary Care Guide) was developed to educate primary care providers on the health care needs of trans and gender-diverse people. CONCLUSIONS Successful implementation of the web-based resource was in part due to the utilization of design strategies to help primary care providers contextualize trans-competencies, the community-academic partnership and due to the early engagement of trans participants to ensure that information is gender affirming and culturally specific to regional community needs. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable.