Improving the screening experience for trans clients

Breast cancer develops in 1 in 7 people that were assigned female at birth in Victoria. People that were assigned male at birth have a lower risk, but their risk increases when they are on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for 5 years or more. Trans women, and also trans men and non-binary people that haven’t had top-surgery, are a priority group for us as they experience several barriers to breast and chest screening.

Talking to members of these communities and really listening to their stories, is helping us improve their screening experience. Consumer engagement has been an important tool in developing our program since 1996, and it’s embedded in every level of our organisation. Our consumer’s voices actively shape our strategic priorities, policies and service delivery.

‘Out and proud’ trans woman Brenda Appleton, has been screening with our program for 15 years. Since 2015, she has played an active role in our Consumer Network in its current form and previous ones. “I transitioned nearly 30 years ago and after a period of time of being on feminine hormones my GP suggested that it was time to start having breast screens.” Brenda explains.

Brenda looks back on her first screening experience and continues “It took a lot of courage to do it, as it was not at all common for trans women to have breast screens at that time.”

It is well documented that many trans and gender diverse people have experienced discrimination in health care. They may have been misgendered and mistreated, or have a fear of outing themselves, causing anxiety to access health care services. These experiences create barriers to accessing routine health management services like our screening program.

Brenda says “My experience with BreastScreen Victoria has been very positive. I think the level of awareness of reception staff and those doing the mammograms is very helpful. They set me at ease and are very reassuring. It’s why I’m happy to be involved now and have been for quite a while.”

Brenda has done more than her part in the past decade, providing training and consultancy services, being part of campaigns and assisting with our Rainbow Tick accreditation. She is one of the co-authors of the 2019 report: ‘Developing trans and gender diverse services at BreastScreen Victoria’, which outlined our Trans and Gender Diverse policy. Brenda has been training and educating our staff in how to offer a trans inclusive service. “It wasn’t hard work, I’ve always found BreastScreen Victoria responsive and wanting to get to best-practice; very much setting the standard in Australia for all state-based organisations.” Brenda reflects.

In addition to helping us create trans and gender diverse inclusive policies and educating our staff, Brenda has participated in several promotional campaigns, including our Beautiful Women campaign and the Screen with Pride campaign.

“I have never had a negative experience, which gives me a very sound basis to continue to encourage people to screen. If I can help others to have the confidence to screen, I’m happy to do so.” Brenda concludes.

Our services are proudly Rainbow Tick accredited and available for women and trans and gender diverse people aged 50 to 74 without breast symptoms.

We recommend a breast/chest screen for the following people: 

Cis women

Trans women who have been on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for 5 years or more

Trans men that have not had top surgery

Gender diverse/non-binary people that were assigned female at birth and have not had top surgery
Gender diverse and non-binary people that were assigned male at birth and that have been on HRT for 5 years or more.

Click here for more information about breast and chest screening.

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Improving the screening experience for trans clients

Improving the screening experience for trans clients

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