Dignified care begins with understanding
Background
Many older transgender people have lived most of their lives in a time when their identity was questioned or silenced. This can make encounters with health and social care particularly sensitive. At the same time, some individuals in later life may no longer be able to express who they are and are therefore entirely dependent on staff seeing, acknowledging and respecting their identity.
For this reason, Transammans – a non-profit organization working to strengthen the rights and living conditions of transgender people – wanted to develop a web-based training course for professionals in health and social care. The aim was to strengthen the profession in offering respectful, legally grounded and empathetic care in meetings with older transgender people.
The challenges
Credibility
In a project with such high ambitions, credibility is central. The content must be based on real events and reliable sources, grounded in lived experience and representing the breadth of the trans umbrella. This required thorough research and close collaboration with reference participants and experts from Transammans.
Understanding
At the same time, we needed to create understanding of the vulnerability many transgender people face without getting lost in theory or legal detail. Concepts such as legal gender, gender affiliation and gender identity are made accessible by linking them to situations from participants’ everyday work.
Tone and visuals
Another important balance concerns tone, address and visual expression. The training should strengthen, not oversimplify or reproduce stereotypes. This demands conscious design choices, linguistic precision and thoughtful visual storytelling.
The solution
TicTac was involved throughout the journey, from developing content and cases to designing and producing the training in Articulate Storyline. Finally, it was packaged in our LMS, Skillhabit.
In workshops with Transammans’ reference group, we gathered authentic stories from older transgender people. These formed the foundation of the cases we developed, illustrated and filmed. They became the core of the training, creating understanding and empathy while contributing credibility and real-world relevance.
Two cases were developed into scripts and storyboards for interactive films in which professional actors portray the scenarios. Each film is based on a trans perspective and is aimed either at healthcare professionals or social care staff, with situations drawn from their everyday practice. Participants can pause at critical moments, reflect and answer questions directly linked to what is happening.
To deepen reflection and enable more nuanced reasoning, we complemented the films with recorded feedback in which representatives from the reference group and Transammans expand on and comment on participants’ reflections.
To make complex concepts more concrete, we used gamification. In an interactive module, participants test their perspectives, challenge gender norms and clarify the difference between legal gender, gender affiliation and gender identity.
We also developed a visual expression using paintings, both abstract and figurative, combined with photographic realism. Through the paintings, we portrayed people, bodies and situations without reinforcing stereotypes or binary gender norms. Colour and motifs convey emotions that can otherwise be difficult to capture.
The result
The result is an engaging web-based training course with experience-based storytelling, high interactivity and a clear visual expression, delivered through Skillhabit, enabling distribution, sales and follow-up of results.
The training encourages participants to reflect on their knowledge of trans identities, legal frameworks and professional responsibility, norms and everyday interactions, and how these may affect being transgender later in life. It also provides concrete tools and support for continued development in daily work and at organizational level.
We are proud to have contributed to greater understanding of older transgender people’s situation while also contributing our expertise in creating engaging and pedagogically sound learning solutions.
“I am so happy to have had the team from TicTac by my side throughout the entire process. You have truly contributed enormously with your expertise, creativity, flexibility and your calm, patient and professional approach in every situation.”
Ready to take your learning to the next level?
Get in touch
View more cases
