Dr. Bianca Salvetti published her DNP Scholarly Project titled Web-based gender affirming treatment decision aid for youth and caregivers: A pilot study in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in July 2025. 

"This project was developed to help youth and caregivers better understand their treatment options in a format and reading level that is easier for most to comprehend and to facilitate shared decision-making," said Dr. Salvetti. "Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth and their families often face difficult decisions when considering gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. To support informed, collaborative decision-making, this pilot study assessed the effectiveness of a web-based decision aid designed for use in a pediatric gender care setting. Ten people, either youth between 13 and 25 who hadn’t started treatment yet or their caregivers, used the tool and were asked about what they learned, their thoughts on fertility, and how confident they felt about making decisions related to gender affirming care. While baseline knowledge scores were high and remained stable, the tool notably reduced participants’ decisional conflict. Subscale analyses revealed improved clarity and understanding among caregivers, though youth reported increased feelings of support post-intervention. Despite most youth not expressing a desire for biological children, all agreed on the importance of understanding potential fertility impacts. Eighty percent of participants found the decision aid helpful in guiding their decisions. These findings suggest that a web-based support tool may enhance decision-making confidence and clarity for both TGD youth and their caregivers. Further research with a larger, more diverse sample is recommended to validate and expand upon these outcomes."

"As restrictions on accessing care increase, this publicly available tool can provide youth and their families a way to have access to the most up to date information about gender affirming treatment options from a medical professional, written in a way they can understand," stated Dr. Salvetti.

Dr. Bianca Salvetti, DNP, CNS, CPNP, is a pediatric nurse practitioner, educator, and researcher devoted to historically underserved adolescents and young adults. She began her pediatric nursing career in Oklahoma and joined Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in 2006. After earning her PNP and CNS degree from UCLA in 2009, she discovered her passion for working with youth while training at CHLA’s Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine. In 2012, she joined the division to support youth living with HIV and contributed to research that helped secure FDA approval of HIV prevention for minors. In 2014, Dr. Salvetti became the sole Nurse Practitioner at CHLA’s Center for Transyouth Health and Development—one of the nation’s largest and longest-standing gender-affirming care programs for youth—where she delivered evidence-based treatment, lead innovative research, and trained healthcare professionals globally. As principal investigator, she led a nationally recognized web-based study on chest binding among gender-diverse youth, selected as one of the Journal of Adolescent Health’s Distinguished Dozen articles of 2021. 

She earned her doctorate of nursing practice from UCLA in 2022, focusing on a web-based decision aid for gender-affirming care, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at CHLA, researching chest dysphoria and decision-making needs. She serves as lead nursing faculty for CHLA’s Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) program—one of just seven in the country—mentoring graduate trainees in medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, and nutrition. Nationally, she is a passionate advocate for advancing health equity in pediatric care, serving as co-chair of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners’ DEI committee, where she was honored with the inaugural Diversity Champion Award. She also contributes as a board member of Trans Lifeline, a peer-led support line for gender-diverse youth. Through her clinical care, scholarship, and education, Dr. Salvetti remains deeply committed to advancing the physical and mental health of youth.

Congratulations, Dr. Salvetti!