Post print (author accepted) manuscript made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy.As increasing numbers of transgender people access mental health services, so with this comes
the requirement that mental health professionals are capable of providing inclusive and informed
care. In Australia, mental health nurses play a key role in the mental health workforce, and are
increasingly likely to engage with transgender people across a range of practice contexts.
The research reported in this paper sought to explore the experience, knowledge and
attitudes of a sample of Australian mental health nurses with regards to working with
transgender people. A total of 96 mental health nurses completed a survey that included an
attitudinal measure and a measure of clinical knowledge. Our findings indicated that a majority
of the sample had worked with a transgender client before, but only a minority had undertaken
training in working with transgender clients. Training was related to more positive attitudes; and
both training and experience were related to greater clinical knowledge. Female and/or older
participants had greater clinical knowledge, whilst more religious participants had less positive
attitudes. The paper concludes by commenting on the dearth of competency and practice
documents specific to mental health nurses working with transgender people, and it outlines
the Australian standards that would mandate their development
