ABSTRACT
Objective:
to understand what undergraduate Nursing students from a university in southern Brazil know about trans people.
Method:
a descriptive study with a qualitative approach based on interviews conducted with 19 undergraduate Nursing students enrolled from the eighth to the tenth period of the course. Data collection took place in October and November 2021. Three thematic categories emerged from the thematic analysis, namely: the undergraduate course has to speak about this!; I don't know what it is about; and What is known and said about trans people.
Results:
the students showed insecurity in the care of trans people because this content is not regularly taught in the curriculum. They denote not knowing how to welcome, care for, respect specificities and treat them by their social name, as well as difficulties taking care of this population group, both in the present time and in the future. In addition to that, few of them had the opportunity of undergoing this experience in the academic practice fields. The content is taught in a single academic discipline that deals with sexuality in general.
Conclusion:
lack of knowledge about sexual diversity is a limiting factor in the health care provided to this population group. Certain weakness is identified in the teaching-learning process when not relating the reality of the trans population to their health demands.
DESCRIPTORS:
Nursing; Higher education students; Transsexuality; Sexuality; Education in nursing; Transgender people; Gender diversity; Gender