Negotiated care practices

The experiences of young people who question their gender, their parents and the healthcare professionals who support them

Bibliographic Data

ID4598282
AuthorsChristine Jackson-Taylor (0000-0002-0650-191X), Christine Jackson‐taylor (University of York), Karl Atkin (0000-0003-1070-8670, University of York)
Year2025
Volume365
Pages117619
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117619
PMID39700571
OpenAlexW4405098220
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

Care, while having no clear boundaries, facilitates a nurturing that requires a disposition to act in another's interests. Care, however, is never disinterested and dividing practices vie with transformative potential, to define what is regarded as appropriate support. Current healthcare for young people who question their gender identity reflect this tension, particularly in the UK, where ideological inscriptions can subvert caring intent. In exploring this, our paper presents testimonial experiences from young people referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in England, their parents and clinicians responsible for their care. We consider how care is negotiated and (re)produced, by exploring how young people and their parents respond to gender questioning and seek resolution through their relationships with formal care providers. Using the work of Annemarie Mol, we provide an understanding of the creative calibration of elements that make up a situation, until they somehow fit and work, to define a caring environment characterised by complex, ambivalent and shifting tensions. Our conclusion assesses the possibilities for more inclusive caring practices, in which diversity of experience is acknowledged, along with the different ways that gender identity finds expression

Health care · Health professionals · Political science · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Nursing · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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