The Trans Youth CAN! research team would like to provide an update on what we’re doing during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the safety of our participants and our project staff. We know this is a difficult and uncertain time. Our first priority is the physical and mental health of our participants, project team members, and staff. Keeping the project going and continuing with data collection is our second priority, and only if we can ensure that everyone is being safe.

We will continue as much as possible to keep data collection going, and to keep the project moving forward. To minimize the risk, and eliminate the need for in-person contact, all data collection will now be over the phone or online video calls. Although clinic visits are separate from the study, most clinic visits are now being completed over the phone or through online video calls so patients do not need to attend the clinic or hospital. As much as possible, all our project staff are working from home, and are not going in-person to the clinic or hospital/university campus.
The clinic-community events we anticipated having this summer will now be online webinars. This way, we are still getting important information out to the community and the public, but we are eliminating in-person contact for the time being.

We want to acknowledge all the hard work and changes to schedule that our clinic research assistants are undertaking to ensure that the project safely can continue. As well, we want to recognize the amazing work the physicians, clinicians, nurses, and public health professionals on our team are doing on the front lines of the pandemic, for which we are immensely grateful.

Finally, we also want to thank all our participants for continuing to contribute your personal information and experiences, it is because of you that our project is able to continue. Together, we will continue to work on getting study results out that will help improve care and support for trans and gender diverse youth and their families.

Stay healthy. Thank you very much,
The Trans Youth CAN! Research Team