Publications

EPATH aims at fostering the European knowledge and skills in transgender care and research. To help researchers we have issued or contributed to the following publications:

Language guidelines

Since 2017 EPATH has issued guidelines for abstract submissions for its conferences. These guidelines have been published in the International Journal for Transgender Health as: Walter Pierre Bouman, Amets Suess Schwend, Joz Motmans, Adam Smiley, Joshua D. Safer, Madeline B. Deutsch, Noah J. Adams & Sam Winter (2017). Language and trans health, International Journal of Transgenderism, 18:1, 1-6, DOI: 10.1080/15532739.2016.1262127.

Submissions to EPATH conferences and other activities must follow these guidelines, and the language used is part of the evaluation criteria used by the review platform. For those new in this field, we kindly refer to the useful APA’s guidelines for talking about gender with inclusivity and respect.

Clinical Position Statement

There is a general lack of recommendations for and basic information tailored at sexologists and other health-care professionals for when they encounter trans people in their practice. EPATH members are advised to consult the Standards of Care developed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) or the Endocrine Society guidelines, but they require updating because of the important change in the classification system that most European health services will be using. As we know, the newly accepted diagnosis “gender incongruence” (GIC) has been moved out of the mental health chapter in the new edition of the ICD (ICD-11). Several EPATH members are currently involved in the upcoming 8th version of the Standards of Care from the WPATH. Meanwhile, to offer some guidance, we have contributed to the ESSM Position Statement, which was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine as: T’Sjoen, G., Arcelus, J., De Vries, A. L. C., Fisher, A. D., Nieder, T. O., Özer, M., & Motmans, J. (2020). European Society for Sexual Medicine Position Statement. Assessment and Hormonal Management in Adolescent and Adult Trans People, With Attention for Sexual Function and Satisfaction. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 17(4), 570-584. doi:10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.01.012.

Research policy

Research on gender diverse people has been historically contentious and has not always been undertaken with the intention of assisting the people being researched. In order to be respectful of gender diverse people, EPATH members and those who engage with the Association when planning research on trans issues are advised to follow the EPATH Research Policy (PDF).