Estratégias de Coping utilizadas por pessoas transgêneras na infância frente à vivência de violência

Abstract

Introduction: Transgenderism is an umbrella term that encompasses the countless possibilities of identifying with a gender other than the one assigned at birth. Transgender people are the target of marginalization and stigmatization, facing various humiliating situations, experiencing this transphobia in different environments, whether among family members or in the school environment. However, there are elements internal and external to individuals that serve as tools for self-defense, protection, or even coping with the various situations called coping or “coping strategies”. Objective: To analyze the coping strategies used by transgender people in childhood when facing the experience of violence. Methodology: qualitative study that used the oral history method through individual interviews under the support of Folkman's theoretical-philosophical framework; Lazarus. Data collection was carried out in a public outpatient service between March and June 2022, with 21 self-declared transgender people. The project was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee under opinion n° 5,242,557. The interviews were submitted to Bardin's thematic content analysis technique. Results: two categories emerged: 1) Experiences of violence in childhood by transgender people: trans people suffered violence in childhood such as: psychological, sexual, bullying (motivated by gender, racial and fatphobia violence), physical violence and neglect; and 2) Coping strategies used in childhood by trans people: social support, escape-avoidance, withdrawal, confrontation, self-control and problem solving. Final considerations: this study lists that trans people experienced stressful situations in childhood and to face these situations they resorted to coping strategies. The research may contribute to subsidize child care policies, and may serve as a guide in the future training/preparation of the multidisciplinary team. In addition, the results of this study will be published in order to contribute to the technical/scientific knowledge of all who need it, preserving the veracity of the information and without any manipulation, omission or distortion of data by the author. In addition, the study will contribute to the deconstruction of social stigmas and the fight against prejudice and other types of violence.