Tēnā koe,

My name is Katie McMenamin and I am a researcher for the Health & Research Collaborative (HARC) in Whanganui.

You are invited to take part in a study on the needs of transgender adults, youth, and parents of transgender children within primary healthcare services. Whether or not you take part is your choice. If you don’t want to take part, you don’t have to give a reason, and it won’t affect the care you receive. If you do want to take part now, but change your mind later, you can pull out of the study at any time.  

This Participant Information Sheet will help you decide if you’d like to take part. It sets out why we are doing the study, what your participation would involve, what the benefits and risks to you might be, and what would happen after the study ends. We will go through this information with you and answer any questions you may have. You do not have to decide today whether or not you will participate in this study. Before you decide you may want to talk about the study with other people, such as family, whānau, friends, or healthcare providers. Feel free to do this.

If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to sign the Consent Form that has been sent out with this information sheet. You will be given a copy of the Participant Information Sheet to keep.

This document 4 pages long, including the Consent Form.  Please make sure you have read and understood all the pages.

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Voluntary participation and withdrawal from this study

Taking part in this study is voluntary. You can choose not to take part at all or to withdraw from the research at any time, without experiencing any disadvantage. You can ask to have your information excluded from any write-ups for up to one month after the interview.

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What is the aim of the project?

This study hopes to understand the issues for transgender adults, youth and their whānau/family around health and wellbeing within primary care and how the system could be improved for you. In other words, what things within primary care are working well for you and what things would you like to see happen or change?

By taking part, you will help us to understand the strengths and resources necessary to help transgender people manage their health well.

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Who can take part in the study?

There are two parts to this research. You have been invited because you identify as transgender or because you are a parent or caregiver of a transgender child. You are encouraged to bring people you consider to be whānau, who may have been part of your experience, along to the interview, as their kōrero or ideas around this topic are also valued and important.

We will also be talking to doctors and other primary care staff to understand the issues around how to support transgender adults, youth and their whānau well.

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What will my participation involve?

If you agree to take part, you will have an interview at a place of your choice. This can be in-person or on zoom. My research partner and I will ask you questions about your experience of primary care/general practice services, what you found helpful, and things that might make your experiences of primary care even better. The interview will take between 30-60 minutes. I will voice record the interview with your permission and it will be typed up later. You will be welcome to see a copy of what I have written if you would like to. Neither the recording nor the written record (the transcript), will be heard or seen by anyone at your medical centre. It will only be used to help me remember what you have said and to help me make sure that my interpretation of your message is accurate.

You will receive $20 for taking part to help with petrol or other costs you might have from giving up your time.

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What will happen to the information I give?

This research is confidential. This means that I will be aware of your identity, but the information from all of the interviews will be combined, and neither you nor your whānau will be able to be identified in any reports, presentations, and publications.

A maximum of three researchers will read the notes or transcript. The interview transcripts, summaries and any recordings will be kept secure and destroyed on 31st October 2029.

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What are the possible risks of the study?

The main thing to be aware of is that, if this has been an emotional or difficult journey for you, talking about your experiences may bring up unexpected or overwhelming emotions. If this happens, you are welcome to take a break at any stage or you may choose to stop the interview. There will be some information available about who you can contact if this happens and you feel you need to talk to someone after the interview is over.

Although efforts will be made to protect your privacy, absolute confidentiality of your information cannot be guaranteed. Even with coded and anonymised information, there is no guarantee that you cannot be identified, as the transgender community is small.  The risk of people accessing and misusing your information (e.g. making it harder for you to get or keep a job) is currently very small, but may increase in the future as people find new ways of tracing information.

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What are the possible benefits of this study?

The information from the study will be used to help the practitioners and services developing a transgender clinical pathway for the Whanganui region understand the issues and ensure that the things that work well are available to all transgender people in the Whanganui region. The findings may be used in journal publications, conference presentations, and for educating health professionals around supporting transgender people on their journey to their authentic selves.

If you accept this invitation, what are your rights as a research participant?

You do not have to accept this invitation if you do not want to. If you do decide to participate, you have the right to:

• choose not to answer any question
• withdraw from the study before or during the interview, and withdraw your data for one month after the interview
• ask any questions about the study at any time
• read over and comment on a written transcript of your interview
• be able to read any reports of this research by emailing the researcher to request a copy

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If I have any questions or problems, who can I contact?

Dr Katie McMenamin (she/her)

Kairangahau | Equity Health Researcher

Health and Research Collaborative (HARC)

Waea | Phone |  0274 641 007

Īmera | Email katie.mcmenamin@harc.org.nz

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