Effectiveness of Interventions for Transgender Prejudice Reduction: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Transgender people often experience discrimination and prejudice and these experiences have increased in recent years in countries such as the United States (e.g., increases in anti-transgender bills targeting gender affirming care). Past research has examined interventions to decrease transgender prejudice. In the current meta-analysis, we aimed to better understand the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing transgender prejudice, both overall and by intervention types (e.g., education, contact). We separated analyses based on research designs – i.e., pretest/posttest single group (PPSG) as well as pretest/posttest with control (PPWC) and posttest only with control designs (POWC). After screening, 35 PPSG studies with a total of 3,331 participants met the criteria and were included in the analyses. Additionally, 35 PPWC/POWC studies were combined and there was a total of 8,359 participants who met the criteria and were included in the analyses. We also conducted subgroup analyses on intervention types when there were at least five studies. We found that implementing interventions reduced transgender prejudice both compared to other conditions (via PPWC/POWC designs) and between time-points (via PPSG designs). Across both study design types, contact interventions were the only intervention type that significantly decreased transgender prejudice. These results suggest that interventions should continue to be implemented to reduce transgender prejudice and that researchers should aim to include some form of contact into their interventions.