The Experience of Health Professionals in Healthcare Services for Transgender and Gender-Diverse People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people continue to experience substantial barriers to accessing and receiving appropriate, equitable, and gender-affirming healthcare. Although the perspectives and experiences of TGD individuals have been increasingly incorporated into healthcare policy and practice, the perspectives of healthcare professionals involved in their care remain comparatively underexplored. This systematic review and meta-synthesis aim to synthesize and reinterpret findings from primary qualitative studies on healthcare professionals’ experiences of providing care to TGD people. The search was conducted without date restrictions, covering studies indexed from database inception through 2025. Searches in eight databases—LILACS, PsycINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, EMBASE, SciELO, and Web of Science—identified 1953 studies, of which 32 met the inclusion criteria. These were coded and analyzed using thematic synthesis, and methodological rigor was assessed via the CASP Qualitative Checklist. The meta-synthesis revealed four descriptive themes, which culminated in the analytical theme: “Professionals adrift: More than goodwill is needed to create exemplary services.” The findings suggest healthcare professionals often feel uncertain about addressing TAD-specific needs, influenced by individual and systemic factors. Incorporating gender/sexuality topics broadly into healthcare curricula is essential to improve service delivery, extending beyond specialized TAG-focused services. As a limitation of this meta-synthesis, most of the included studies were conducted in the Global North, which may constrain the transferability of the findings to other sociocultural contexts, particularly those in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Understanding healthcare professionals’ perspectives, attitudes, perceptions, practices, and challenges is essential for identifying barriers to care delivery and informing the development of responsive and collaborative healthcare practices.