We have received this request from Maggie Martin. She explains what she is looking for. Please help her if you can.

My name is Maggie and I am a Masters student at the University of York studying Social Policy. In order to complete my postgraduate degree, I am to undertake a dissertation. The topic I have chosen for this research is: what are the barriers preventing trans and gender non-conforming folk from accessing long-term nursing care? I chose this topic for a couple of reasons. One: I am a part of the LGBTQ community and want to know how to make nursing care more accessible and inclusive for us as we age, and two: I’ve worked in long-term nursing care for the last 6 years of my life, which has left a profound mark on me.

I am writing you today to ask if you may know people or groups that would be interested in participating. I am currently looking for five trans and/or gender non-conforming elders to participate in a 30 min to hour-long interview. The interview will be relatively unstructured with some pointed questions, but I want to let the participant lead the interview as much as possible. This will be completely anonymous, and participants will be given a random number for data purposes.

The aims of this study are to:

-   Determine what trans and gender non-conforming folks perceive as barriers to long-term nursing care

-   Determine what folks working in long-term nursing care perceive (or don’t) as barriers for trans and gender non-conforming folks

-   Investigate discriminatory attitudes and assumptions about trans and gender non-conforming elders within the long-term nursing care community

-   Investigate discriminatory practices and policies at local and national levels

-   Investigate policy changes that could be made in this area via data analysis

As a social policy student, I want to understand what trans and gender non-conforming folk feel keeps them from accessing this service so that we can one day introduce and implement policies that fit the individual needs of this population.

If you are keen to help, please email me or call me at 07888 605497 to discuss the study further. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,

Maggie Martin