Following five-years of rigorous scientific effort by more than 120 health care clinical and academic professionals across the globe, led by Dr. Eli Coleman, Dr. Asa Raddix and Dr. Jon Arcelus from IDIBELL and Nottingham University, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has released the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8 (SOC8). This guide provides clinical guidance for health care professionals to assist transgender and gender diverse people with safe and effective pathways to achieve lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, and to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.
The Standards of Care 8 represents the most comprehensive set of guidelines ever produced to assist health care professionals around the world in support of transgender and gender diverse adults, adolescents, and children. The field of transgender medicine is evolving rapidly, responsive foremost to the needs of patients and their families and guided by objectivity, compassion, and consensus. For this reason, these guidelines are flexible to include all global health needs.
The SOC8 guidelines committee consisted of multidisciplinary subject matter experts, health care professionals, researchers and stakeholders with diverse perspectives and global geographic representation. Consensus of final recommendations were based upon extensive reviews of the literature.
In December 2021, a draft of the SOC8 was released to the public for review and comment. WPATH received thousands of comments on the guidelines. All were read and taken into consideration during the editing phase of SOC8.
The authors worked tirelessly, as volunteers, to ensure that their chapters were representative, balanced, and contained the most current scientific data and clinical experience available. “Watching with great pride and respect as the entire SOC8 revision committee worked in a collaborative way to develop these robust, and revised guidelines was a phenomenal experience,” said Dr. Jon Arcelus, specialist in transgender health, principal investigator at IDIBELL, and Professor in Mental Health and Wellbeing at Nottingham University, UK.
“We are not starting from scratch. We are building upon decades of research and clinical experience. We hope it serves the quality of care for transgender people,” adds Dr. Arcelus.
Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8
A total of 18 chapters were developed as part of the SOC-8. They contain recommendations for health care professionals who provide care and treatment for TGD people. Each of the recommendations is followed by explanatory text with relevant references.
General areas related to transgender health are covered in the chapters Terminology, Global Applicability, Population Estimates, and Education. The chapters developed for the diverse population of TGD people include Assessment of Adults, Adolescents, Children, Nonbinary, Eunuchs, and Intersex Individuals, and people living in Institutional Environments. Finally, the chapters related to gender-affirming treatment are Hormone Therapy, Surgery and Postoperative Care, Voice and Communication, Primary Care, Reproductive Health, Sexual Health, and Mental Health.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
Transgender healthcare is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field. In the last decade, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number and visibility of transgender and gender diverse people seeking support and gender-affirming medical treatmentin parallel with a significant rise in the scientific literature in this area. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is an international, multidisciplinary, professional association whose mission is to promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health. One of the main functions of WPATH is to promote the highest standards of health care for TGD people through the Standards of Care (SOC).
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).