title: "It's Part of Me, Not All of Me": Young Women's Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis Related to Diverse Sex Development.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand young women's experiences of receiving a diagnosis related to diverse sex development.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative narrative analysis of interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  Karolinska University Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine women (aged 20-26 years) with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, XY or XX gonadal dysgenesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semistructured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  A narrative approach was used to analyze the interviews. This involved identification of individual narratives of receiving the diagnosis, as well as identification of key issues that were common across interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analysis showed how participants' prediagnosis life experiences framed how medical information was perceived upon diagnosis. All participants had been informed about their condition before the study, but not all remembered the name of their diagnosis. Participants described positive characteristics of health professionals, such as being flexible and able to adapt to patients' individual needs. Clinicians' strategies, such as normalizing patients' experiences, were usually perceived as supportive, but were not always considered helpful. After the diagnosis, participants were worried about potential social, practical, and philosophical issues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research highlighted the importance of clinicians taking an exploratory and individualized approach to the sensitive process of disclosing a diagnosis related to diverse sex development to young adults. There are various strategies health professionals can use that might help young people to develop their knowledge about their condition: (1) repeating information to help the patient remember; (2) using language that is not too medicalized; and (3) communicating in a way that is meaningfully connected to patients' everyday lives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: tove.lundberg@psykologi.uio.no.
authors.forename: Tove
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lundberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roen
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Angelica L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hirschberg
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center and Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frisén
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D013734:Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D023961:Gonadal Dysgenesis, 46,XX / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D006061:Gonadal Dysgenesis, 46,XY / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Androgen insensitivity syndrome; Diagnosis; Disclosure; Disorders of sex development; Gonadal dysgenesis; Intersex conditions; Narrative analysis; Patient-centered care; Young adult