TGD reflections on alcohol counseling and recommendations for providers

What is it about?

We interviewed 18 transgender and gender diverse adults to understand how best to deliver an existing brief motivational intervention for alcohol use. Results of qualitative interviews highlight the importance of cultural humility and provide guidance on how to modify feedback and discussion of low-risk drinking guidelines when delivering alcohol counseling to transgender and gender diverse adults.

Featured Image

Photo by Lena Balk on Unsplash

Photo by Lena Balk on Unsplash

Why is it important?

There are questions that have not yet been answered about how alcohol impacts health in transgender people. Currently, drinking guidelines are generally based on “sex” differences, where “sex” is used both in a biological sense (i.e., as a variable based on genetic differences between females and males) and its cultural meaning. This conflation of sex and gender, based on societal expectations that a person’s gender and sex align, leads to assumptions about a person’s hormonal environment, body size, and muscle composition that are known to influence alcohol-health risks. National drinking guidelines are based on these assumptions, limiting their utility and validity for transgender and gender diverse individuals. Given the lack of appropriate data and guidelines for delivering alcohol interventions with transgender and gender diverse populations, it is important to ask community members how to address current gaps.