Discrimination, mental health and quality of life among the transgender population : a cross-sectional study

Abstract

The Transgender community experiences great forms of discrimination and stigma daily, especially in Eastern countries like Lebanon and little data is available on this population. This study aims to describe the transgender population and to study the various repercussions of psychosocial stressors on the health outcomes of the transgender population in Lebanon, and their quality of life. 47 participants were recruited from MOSAIC, an NGO for the protection LGBT+ individuals and were sent a survey via link through Whatsapp including 4 scales measuring quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale - WHOQOL-BREF), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire - PHQ9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder - GAD7) and substance use (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, and Eye opener - CAGE-AID) PHQ9 scores revealed 18% of participants showed severe depression, GAD7 scores showed that 29.2% have severe anxiety and scores on the WHOQOL show that 35.4% have poor quality of life. Scores on the CAGE scale indicate that 43.8% of participants require intervention for either drug or alcohol use. 66% of participants report having attempted suicide, which is particularly concerning. Analysis of the relationship between family acceptance and depression and anxiety (based on the results of PHQ9 and GAD7) yielded a statistically significant result confirming the correlation of these variables and corroborating the literature. Further statistical analysis was done to study the relationships between religion and family acceptance and the relationship between family acceptance and quality of life (based on the results of the WHOQOL). The differences between the discrimination against transmen and transwomen was also studied. Results of these analyses are not statistically significant. More research with a bigger sample is recommended to better understand the population.