The Support for Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals Seeking Vaginoplasty Study

About the STRIVE Study

The Support for Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals Seeking Vaginoplasty (STRIVE) study is the largest research study of its kind and has been designed in close collaboration with trans community members every step of the way.

Our goal is to transform the experience of those seeking vaginoplasty, ensuring that it’s supportive, empowering, informed, and fulfilling.

Origins of STRIVE

The Transgender and Nonbinary Surgery Allied Research Collective (TRANS-ARC) brought together a national group of transgender and nonbinary (trans) patients, caregivers, advocates, healthcare providers, researchers, device manufacturers, and other stakeholders in genital gender-affirming surgery outcomes.

In July 2021, TRANS-ARC convened a summit and developed a strategic plan for facilitating research from a patient-centered perspective. We started by identifying and prioritizing research topics and questions important to trans patients.

A priority that arose from the TRANS-ARC summit that led to STRIVE was the need for more research on peer delivered support and education for people seeking genital gender-affirming surgeries.

This led our team to design STRIVE, a study that asks: how does access to peer delivered education and support, or access to a peer who has experienced and learned from the journey the patient is embarking on, impact the patient’s experience and surgical outcomes?

With so many questions around surgery, how to prepare, what to expect, how to heal and navigate your life afterward—the value of being able to connect with someone who can speak to these questions from experience is evident.

The STRIVE study aims to prove this with data. We hope to set precedent for the funding and development of peer delivered support and education programs for trans people across the world.

Participation in STRIVE

The STRIVE study is enrolling 260 transgender and non-binary adults who are seeking vaginoplasty at select academic medical centers across the United States.

After enrolling in the study, STRIVE participants will be randomly assigned to receive the STRIVE intervention, a pre-operative virtual education and peer-support group provided by trans peer-support specialists trained in collaboration with Trans Lifeline, or the usual pre-operative care provided by the care team enhanced by the STRIVE educational materials (Study Flow Diagram).

The research team will survey STRIVE participants up to 6 times over the 24-month study participation period. Participants will be asked to complete surveys online or by phone or paper at:
1) Enrollment in the study
2) 6 months after enrollment
3) 12 months after enrollment

Participants who receive surgery during the 24-month study participation period will also be asked to complete surveys:

4) Before surgery
5) 6 months after surgery
6) 12 months after surgery

Participants will receive $40 for each survey they complete and an additional $15 for their final survey if they have completed all prior surveys for up to $135 or $255 (if they complete surgery during the 24-month study participation period) total compensation for participation. Compensation will be provided via prepaid debit cards that will be loaded throughout study participation.

A subset of participants will also be invited to complete a 1-hour interview about their experience with STRIVE at different times throughout the study. Participants will be compensated $100 for each interview.

What is the STRIVE Intervention?

The STRIVE Intervention consists of six 90-minute virtual group support and education sessions facilitated to pre-operative vaginoplasty patients by our Peer Support Specialists. These specialists are trans and gender diverse people who have experienced vaginoplasty and have completed a training process led by STRIVE staff. The session curriculum was collaboratively developed by a diverse team of trans people with personal vaginoplasty experience, expert clinicians in vaginoplasty care, and trans and gender diverse community leaders, including our partners at Trans Lifeline.

These six sessions provide participants with an opportunity to:

Learn coping strategies for dealing with the stressors of vaginoplasty
Identify and engage your social support network for help during planning & recovery
Gain practical advice on creating a comprehensive surgery & recovery plan
Exchange support and build community with other vaginoplasty patients, and
Reflect on how these skills can be applied beyond the vaginoplasty experience.

How Can I Get Involved?

Participation in the STRIVE study is limited to patients seeking gender-affirming vaginoplasty at participating medical centers who have been recommended for the study by their care team. The following centers are currently participating in the STRIVE study:

Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU)
New York University (NYU) Langone Health (Enrollment Opens Soon)
University of Utah Health (Enrollment Opens Soon)
Rush University Medical Center (Enrollment Opens Soon)
University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Health (Enrollment Opens Soon)
University of Minnesota M Health (Enrollment Opens Soon)
Temple Health (Enrollment Opens Soon)

In the future, we hope to be able to make STRIVE accessible to trans patients across the world, but currently, we are unable to accept self-referrals for enrollment. If you have questions about getting involved with the STRIVE Study, please email us at strive@ohsu.edu