Collaborative American Psychological Association (APA) Webinar.

The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care 8 (SOC8) recommends that client’s undergoing gender-affirming surgeries have an assessment (depending on the surgery) from healthcare providers experienced in gender care (Coleman et al., 2022). A letter of support is typically required before the provision of transitional medical interventions and for insurance coverage. This presentation provides a brief ethics overview, emphasizing the guiding principles of the American Psychological Association guiding principles (APA; as also discussed by Beauchamp & Childress, 2019) to utilize as a framework for evaluating ethical questions in assessment with transgender and non-binary clients. The SOC 8 (Coleman et al.,). The current state of affairs are discussed, with a focus on areas of perceived tension with regard to assessment as well as it’s usefulness (Allen et al., 2021; Brown et al., 2020). Specifically, aspects such as models of informed consent (Ashley et al., 2021), surgical preparedness, and evaluation challenges in transgender health (e.g., long wait times, scope of practice for the mental health professional are discussed).