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Genital surgery satisfaction survey

Please circulate this to ALL trans people who have have had genital surgery

Has genital surgery improved the quality of your life, and helped to resolve the gender conflicts you experienced?

An increasing number of health-care providers are reviewing the question of whether they should continue to provide funding for genital surgery for trans people, and frequently complain that the surveys conducted to date have not demonstrated any conclusive evidence of the success of such surgery.

We are aware that a fully scientific survey of surgery outcomes would be quite a complicated process, and we are working to initiate such a project. However, in the meantime it would be very helpful to Health Authorities and insurers deciding how to allocate their budgets (and to trans people seeking treatment) to be able to cite a recent survey which provides a preliminary answer to the fundamental question:

whether surgical treatment which trans people have received has improved the quality of their lives and helped to resolve their gender conflicts.

That is, after all, the purpose of such surgery: to help trans people to lead happier and more fulfilled lives.

If YOU are a transsexual or transgendered person who has had genital surgery, PLEASE take a few minutes to complete and return this form; if you know other trans people, please tell them about this survey and either give them the URL of this page (http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/631) or pass them copy of this survey form on to them. We want this survey to include as many people as possible, from wherever in the world … and the more responses we have, the more useful the data will be.

(If you have not had genital surgery, please DON’T complete this survey form.  The information we aim to collect in this particular exercise can only be supplied by those who have had genital reconstruction surgery.)

The information we receive will be kept in strictest confidence, and will be used ONLY to compile a set of statistics: no details of any individual will be published or circulated to anyone other than the two vice-presidents of Press For Change who are organising this survey.

By providing this information, you will help ALL trans people to show what the REAL picture is of the success of genital surgery … and help us all to move beyond the myths and uncertainties which complicate the work of those managing the funding of healthcare as well the lives of those seeking it.

The easiest way to complete the questionnaire is probably to download the plain-text version and either return it by email or print it out and return it by post … but we’ve also reproduced the questions below as a form which you can fill in, in case you prefer doing it that way.

Whatever you tell us will be treated as confidential. No names will be mentioned in any reports.  No information will be given to any third party. Only statistics, general observations and anonymous quotes will be used in the report.

The closing date for receipt of completed forms is 15th May, 1999.

Name
(required)

The email sent by this form will be copied to the address you supply here, so that you have a record of what you wrote.
Email address
(required)

Q1. Please supply futher contact details: either a postal address, or a telephone number.  (This will be treated in confidence, and viewed ONLY by the two vice-presidents of PFC who receive the completed forms. We will not contact you through these details, and the purpose is merely to allow us to check that we’re not counting duplicate returns.
Answers to this question will NOT be made available as part of the statistical data).

Q2. Please state the city or county where you live, or the country if outside the United Kingdom. (The purpose of this question is to allow us to analyse returns to see if there are any regional variations in the data).

Q3. What age are you?

 under 20   21-25   25-30   31-35   36-40
 41-50   51-60   61-70   over 70

4. Did you transition from male-to female or from female-to-male?
male-to-female      female-to-male

5. What surgical procedure(s) did you undergo?
(Please tick one or more as appropriate):

 orchidectomy  vaginoplasty
 penectomy  phalloplasty/metadioaplasty
 Other (please specify)

6. In which year did your genital surgery take place?

7. In which country did your surgery take place?

8. Have you been offered counselling after your surgery?
(please provide brief details)

9. Have you ever received counselling after surgery?
(please provide brief details)

10. Have you ever knowingly contributed to a survey on surgery outcomes?
(please provide brief details)

11. Is the psychologist or psychiatrist primarily involved in your care (or the institution they work in) engaged in research into the satisfaction rate of genital surgery for trans people?
(please provide brief details)

12. Are you happier with your life following the treatment you have received?
Please tick one:

 much happier   somewhat happier   about the  same
 less happy   much less happy 

13. If you are not happier, please summarise in no more than 25 words why this is so. (e.g. Unsatisfactory surgical result, discrimination by others, failure of expectations, etc.)

14. If you had your time again, would you opt for genital surgery again (rather than seeking another way of dealing with your gender issues)?
Please tick one:

 definitely no   probably no   not sure
 probably yes   definitely yes 

15. Would you be willing to participate in a more detailed survey in the future if the purpose were to establish the effectiveness of the treatment?
 yes   no

Many thanks for your time.

Please take a moment to check back through your answers before sending them … and please don’t forget to tell others about this survey!


 
  
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