64 Chapter 4 files, and the adolescents and their parents were invited by the involved clinician to participate. The study protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of the participating institutions. Written information was provided, and signed IC for participation was obtained from all participants and their parents. All adolescents visiting the clinics were eligible for study participation; there was no selection process. Not speaking Dutch and being cisgender were exclusion criteria. In this study, no distinction was made in describing the gender identity of the participants other than being transgender. The adolescents who participated in the study were, as recommended by the Standards of Care, at least at Tanner stage 2 (Coleman et al., 2012). The clinics’ protocols use PS until age 17 years to prepare for more definite affirming treatment by hormones and, in some individual cases, >17 years when creating rest and time for further gender-identity exploration are indicated. Seventy-four adolescents participated, whereas 206 eligible adolescents were not reached or did not want to or could not participate (figure 2). There were no significant differences between the participating and non-participating adolescents with regard to demographics (table 4). Figure 2. Flowchart of adolescent participation
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