UW–Madison’s Budge, Tebbe to build better understanding of social support for transgender, nonbinary individuals


By Laurel White

Building a better way to measure and understand social support systems for transgender and nonbinary individuals is at the heart of a new research project co-led by a School of Education faculty member. 

Photo of Stephanie Budge
Budge

Stephanie Budge, a professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology, and Elliot Tebbe, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the five-year project. The research will aim to create a brand new tool for measuring social support for transgender and nonbinary individuals and put that tool into practice to shed light on how social support relates to coping, distress, and well-being. 

Budge says current understanding of the intricacies of social support for these populations is limited. 

“We know from research and data that social support is important,” she says. “We’re really trying to think about some of the priorities right now for trans and nonbinary communities, and somewhere we think there’s a big gap is an understanding of what social support looks like for them.”

Together, the researchers will work with community partners across the country to shape the project and recruit participants. That work will include a strong focus on finding representatives from diverse communities. Current partner organizations include the Center for Black Equity and Capitol Ballroom Council in Washington, DC; Diverse & Resilient in Milwaukee; Diversity Center of Oklahoma; The Center (Pride Center San Antonio); LA Gender Center; and Transhealth in Massachusetts. 

The project will also have two advisory boards: a community advisory board of transgender and nonbinary community members to provide feedback on methodology, and a scientific advisory board of scientists who specialize in research with transgender and nonbinary people.   

“We want to make sure this project is rooted in community desires and knowledge,” Budge says. 

Once up and running, the project will begin by following the daily social support practices of 170 transgender adults. Budge says the goal is to have transgender individuals report how they’re using social support or how they think about social support every day for two weeks. Data collection will include interviews, daily dairies, and focus groups. Ultimately, as the project grows, the team expects to test social support with 1,000 transgender and nonbinary people. 

Budge and Tebbe previously collaborated on a project that aimed to make psychotherapy more accessible to people of color who are Two Spirit, trans, and nonbinary by providing free psychotherapy and investigating what makes psychotherapy most effective and accessible for those populations. 

Broadly, Budge’s research focuses on improving access to mental health care for transgender and nonbinary communities, well-being for LGBTQ populations, and psychotherapy process and outcomes. She recently co-authored a study that found patients who cry during psychotherapy sessions and receive high-quality support from their therapists report greater improvement compared to those who don’t cry.

Budge says she’s excited by the new project’s prospects to create new behavioral health interventions and ways to support trangender and nonbinary individuals. She also points out that participating in the project itself could provide meaningful support to some.

“If you’re in a group that’s marginalized or experiences oppression, you can feel a lack of control — but a way to cope or manage is to take action, be involved, try to make a change,” she says. “I love community-based participatory research. We’re helping do something that creates meaning for people.”

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