Category: research

Gradient pastel rainbow background. Boxes of various sizes containing text answering answering “What did we do?”, “New & Notable”, and “What did we learn?”, and “What is remote biological sample collection?”. Illustrations of donating blood and a couple. Title with citation: Experiences with Remote Biological Sample Collection Among LGBTQIA+ Participants Panyanouvong et al., Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health [2024]

Willingness of Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ communities to donate biological samples

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release from The Pride Study dated April 16, 2024:

Official Title

Our needs have been ignored for a long time: Factors affecting willingness of Black and Hispanic/Latinx sexual and gender minority communities to donate biospecimens

Community Title

Willingness of Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ communities to donate biological samples

What Did We Do?

We interviewed 22 LGBTQIA+ participants from The PRIDE Study who identified as Black and/or Hispanic/Latinx to understand what would influence their decision to donate biological samples (i.e., biospecimens, such as blood, hair, saliva, and urine) for substance use research. We did this because Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ people are underrepresented in substance use research.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This was one of the first studies to explore what affects willingness to donate biological samples among Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ communities. This is important because these communities have often been excluded from or mistreated in substance use research.

What Did We Learn?

We identified 8 themes around what influences Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ participants’ willingness to donate biological samples for substance use research: 1) community benefits; 2) personal benefits; 3) feeling that the community is being taken advantage of; 4) personal risks; 5) convenience; 6) trustworthiness of the research team; 7) perceived value in donating; and 8) biological sample collection being seen as more normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants were highly motivated to donate their biological samples to increase knowledge about the needs and improve the health of their communities. Most participants expressed concern about data security, privacy, and misuse. Many participants referenced past unfair and poor treatment that people from their communities have faced in health care and research.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities?

Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ people are motivated to donate their biological samples if researchers use ethical practices and explain the purpose of the study. Examples include protecting participant data and clearly communicating the steps involved in biological sample donation. Researchers can use the findings from this study to increase representation from Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ people and to reduce substance use among these communities.

What’s Next?

Researchers can apply the suggestions shared in the paper. For instance, researchers can build trust with Black and Hispanic/Latinx LGBTQIA+ communities and provide education about biological sample donation during the consent process. Future research should explore if following these participant recommendations leads to actual changes in biological sample donation.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Ceja, A., Bruno, V., Panyanouvong, N. L., Aguilar, J., Raygani, S., Lubensky, M. E., Dastur, Z., Lunn, M. R., Obedin-Maliver, J., & Flentje, A. Our needs have been ignored for a long time: Factors affecting willingness of Black and Hispanic/Latinx sexual and gender minority communities to donate biospecimens. Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health. 2024 March 22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1891/LGBTQ-2023-0022.

View the full paper at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32d9g3wc.

LGBTQIA+ People’s Experiences with Chronic Pain

LGBTQIA+ People’s Experiences with Chronic Pain

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release issued by The Pride Study on April 11, 2024:

Official Title

Localized and Widespread Chronic Pain in Sexual and Gender Minority People – An Analysis of The PRIDE Study

Community Title

LGBTQIA+ People’s Experiences with Chronic Pain

What Did We Do?

Chronic pain is defined as pain that a person experiences for three months or longer. Other studies have reported that up to 20% of American adults experience chronic pain, but this research has mainly been done with cisgender and heterosexual populations. The goal of our study was to identify and describe the experiences of chronic pain among LGBTQIA+ persons using data from 5,397 participants who completed The PRIDE Study’s 2022 Annual Questionnaire.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable? 

This is one of the first studies to explore if chronic pain is widespread among LGBTQIA+ persons and in which part(s) of the body they experience chronic pain.

What Did We Learn? 

The findings from this study highlight that chronic pain in certain areas of the body and having chronic widespread pain are commonly seen in LGBTQIA+ participants in The PRIDE Study. The most common locations of chronic pain in LGBTQIA+ participants are the neck, upper back, and lower back. Approximately one-third of participants who identified as non-binary, another gender identity, a transgender man, queer, asexual/demisexual/gray ace, and another sexual orientation reported having chronic widespread pain.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities?

The findings of this study show that there are increased numbers of LGBTQIA+ persons reporting chronic pain (approximately 55%) compared to other studies with cisgender and heterosexual persons (approximately 20%). Our findings also highlight that chronic widespread pain is present in increased numbers of LGBTQIA+ persons (approximately 15-37%) compared to other studies with cisgender and heterosexual persons (approximately 10%). Chronic pain is a leading cause of disability and decreased quality of life. It is important for healthcare providers to understand there is an increased presence of chronic pain in LGBTQIA+ persons so that they can provide better support and healthcare.

What’s Next? 

Future studies are planned to understand what factors lead to increased chronic pain and chronic widespread pain in LGBTQIA+ persons.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Chadwick AL, Lisha NE, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Lunn MR, Obedin-Maliver J, Flentje A. Localized and widespread chronic pain in sexual and gender minority people—an analysis of the PRIDE study. Pain Medicine. 2024 March 26; pnae023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnae023. Epub ahead of print.

View the full paper at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4p94g4wt.

Photo used courtesy of Gender Spectrum

Experiences of Conversion Practice by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release issued by The Pride Study on Wednesday, March 13, 2024:

Official Title

Inequities in Conversion Practice Exposure at the Intersection of Ethnoracial and Gender Identities

Community Title

Experiences of Conversion Practice by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

What Did We Do?

Conversion practices refer to organized attempts to change the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of people who are LGBTQIA+. Some examples include religious rituals and therapy intended to cause a person to associate negative thoughts with being LGBTQIA+. We looked at experiences of conversion practice in The PRIDE Study’s Lifetime Health and Experiences Questionnaire from 2019-2021 among LGTBQIA+ people. We asked participants if they had any conversion practice experiences in their lifetime, the age when they first experienced conversion practice, and the age when they last experienced conversion practice. We then looked at how experiences of conversion practice differed by race, ethnicity, and gender.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable? 

This is one of the first studies that looked at how experiences of conversion practice differ by race, ethnicity, and gender. We considered how different identities experience power and oppression and how this may have shaped the experiences of conversion practice for different LGBTQIA+ groups.

What Did We Learn? 

There were 9,274 LGBTQIA+ participants in the study. Of them, 5.7% of LGBTQIA+ participants reported any experiences with conversion practice in their life. On average, participants were 18 years old when they first experienced conversion practice and 21 years old when they last experienced it. This resulted in an average of 3 years between their first and last experience with conversion practice. A higher percentage of transgender and nonbinary participants reported conversion practice experiences, especially participants who are American Indian or Alaska Native and/or Middle Eastern or North African.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

Systems of power and oppression may likely shape differences in conversion practice experiences across LGTBQIA+ groups. This may be important for creating federal and local policies that ban conversion practice to protect LGBTQIA+ groups and reduce the harmful effects of such practices, especially for communities who may be affected the most.

What’s Next? 

We plan to look at how different experiences of conversion practice affect mental health. This involves understanding how practices targeting sexual orientation, gender identity, or both can impact mental health differently for LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Citation

Tran NK, Lett E, Flentje A, Ingram S, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Obedin-Maliver J, Lunn MR. Inequities in Conversion Practice Exposure at the Intersection of Ethnoracial and Gender Identities. Am J Public Health. 2024, March 13; 114 (4): 424-434. doi: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307580

A genderqueer person looking at their phone - Active Social Media Use and Health in the LGBTQIA+ Community

Active Social Media Use and Health in the LGBTQIA+ Community

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release issued by The Pride Study on Thursday, January 4, 2023:

Official Title

Active social media use and health indicators among sexual and gender minority adults

Community Title

Active Social Media Use and Health in the LGBTQIA+ Community

What Did We Do?

We looked at data from The PRIDE Study 2017 Annual Questionnaire around active social media use and health. To measure active social media use, we considered how participants rated their own use of social networking sites as active or passive and their frequency of commenting on friends’ posts or interacting with others. We examined whether people with more active social media use had better or worse health.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This was one of the first studies to measure how much LGBTQIA+ people use social media actively, not just how much time they spend on social media. Using social media actively might have different effects than just browsing.

What Did We Learn?

Individuals with more active social media use were more likely to feel depressed, smoke cigarettes, not sleep enough, and not get enough physical activity, compared to individuals with less active social media use.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

More active social media usage may play a role in experiencing poor health. While social media usage may also positively affect our health in other ways, being mindful of our social media use may be good for our health.

What’s Next? 

We don’t know whether more active use of social media worsens health, or whether people with poorer health use social media more actively. We want to survey LGBTQIA+ individuals over a longer period of time to examine this relationship more closely.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Vogel EA, Flentje A, Lunn MR, Obedin-Maliver J, Capriotti MR, Ramo DE, Prochaska JJ. Active social media use and health indicators among sexual and gender minority adults. LGBT Health.  Vol 0 Ahead of Print. December 28, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2023.0170

View the full PDF at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30w4w10n

Photo used courtesy of Gender Spectrum

Three friends of varying genders taking a selfie in a park with a polaroid camera - "How people prefer to be asked about their sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys"

How do people prefer to be asked about their sexuality & gender on health surveys?

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release issued by The Pride Study on Monday, November 13, 2023:

Official Title

Asking sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys: Findings from cognitive interviews in the United States across sexual orientations and genders

Community Title

How people prefer to be asked about their sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys

What Did We Do?

We interviewed 44 diverse participants about how they prefer to be asked about sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys. Participants included 14 cisgender heterosexual people and 30 LGBTQIA+ people and ranged in age from 18-82. Also, 64% of participants indicated that their race or ethnicity was either: Asian; Black, African American, or African; Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish; or had two or more races/ethnicities. Interviews were 60 to 90 minutes and included giving feedback on various versions of survey questions.

Note: Participants for this study were not recruited from The PRIDE Study. However, this study was the first part of a series that later included participants from The PRIDE Study and was inspired by The PRIDE Study participants.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable? 

This was one of the first studies that explored how both cisgender heterosexual people and LGBTQIA+ people want to be asked about sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys and how these groups compare. We had a diverse group of participants by age, sexual orientation and gender identity, race and ethnicity, and from rural, urban, and suburban settings across the U.S.

What Did We Learn?

We identified four major themes that are important to consider when asking about sexual orientation and gender identity: 1) purpose for asking, 2) context of information collection, 3) distrust of the government, and 4) fear. While many participants were open to sharing sexual orientation and gender identity information on a federal health survey, all participants questioned the survey’s purpose and expressed distrust of the government. However, only LGBTQIA+ participants said they might change their answers depending on the survey context. Many said they would be more willing to share this information in a personal medical context or for a local community survey rather than a federal health survey. Further, only LGBTQIA+ participants expressed fear for their safety when sharing this information.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

When taking a federal health survey, some LGBTQIA+ people may have different reasons for being fearful compared to cisgender heterosexual people. Additionally, there may be common concerns across LGBTQIA+ and cisgender heterosexual people about sharing sexual orientation and gender identity information on health surveys. Therefore, taking a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to asking about sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys may not be ideal.

What’s Next? 

Additional research is needed to further explore how LGBTQIA+ people feel about sharing sexual orientation and gender identity information on surveys. Research should look at the reasons why people may change their answers in different survey contexts or not answer these questions at all.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Pho A.T., Bates N., Snow A., Zhang A., Logan R., Dastur Z., Lubensky M.E., Flentje A., Lunn M.R. & Obedin-Maliver J. Asking sexual orientation and gender identity on health surveys: Findings from cognitive interviews in the United States across sexual orientations and genders. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health. 2023 September 29; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2023.100344.

Photo used courtesy of Gender Spectrum

Testosterone, Sexual Health, and Pain During Sex among Transgender Men, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse People | photo of a nonbinary person injection testosterone into their thigh (from gender spectrum)

Testosterone, Sexual Health, and Pain During Sex among Transgender Men, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse People

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research that came out earlier this month (September, 2023) from the Pride Study:

What Did We Do?

We looked at sexual health experiences data from The PRIDE Study’s Annual Questionnaires from 2019-2021 provided by transgender men, nonbinary, and gender diverse people who were assigned female sex at birth (AFAB). We also looked at how these sexual health experiences were different or similar among people who were currently using testosterone and those who were not.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable? 

Our study is one of the largest to look at the relationship between testosterone use, sexual health, and experiences of genital pain during sex among transgender men, nonbinary, and gender expansive people AFAB.

What Did We Learn? 

There were 1,219 participants in this study. 49% of participants were using testosterone and 42% had never used testosterone. Many (65%) reported having any genital pain during sex in the past 30 days (from when they completed the survey). Compared to people who never used testosterone, individuals who were using testosterone had a higher interest in sexual activity and a higher ability to orgasm. People who were using testosterone were also more likely to report genital pain during sex. We did not see a relationship between current testosterone use and satisfaction with sex life, ability for genitals to produce their own lubrication, or orgasm pleasure.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

Testosterone usage for the purpose of affirming one’s gender can be associated with both positive and negative sexual health experiences. Testosterone likely impacts sexual health experiences in complex ways. For example, testosterone may play a role in genital pain during sex for some individuals. At the same time, testosterone may play a role in increased gender affirmation and improved mental health that may be related to more positive sexual experiences.

It is important that a high percentage of participants reported experiencing genital pain during sex because it can have an impact on their well-being and quality of life. However, there are not any treatments for genital pain during sex that have been evaluated specifically for transgender men or nonbinary and gender diverse people AFAB.

What’s Next? 

Our long-term goal is to identify effective and acceptable ways to treat or prevent genital pain during sex among transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people and to make treatments accessible. Future studies will focus on: learning more about people’s preferences for potential treatments, the ways that people using testosterone address genital pain symptoms, and what they find to be most effective. Lastly, we plan to look at how genital pain during sex impacts the overall quality of life, well-being, and relationships for transgender men, nonbinary, and gender diverse people AFAB.

Action Steps: 

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation:

Tordoff DM, Lunn MR, Chen B, Flentje A, Dastur Z, Lubensky ME, Capriotti M, Obedin-Maliver J. Testosterone Use and Sexual Function among Transgender Men and Gender Diverse People Assigned Female at Birth. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2023 September 9; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2023.08.035 (article will be live in the near future)

View the full PDF at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bz2x0j6

Survey: Experiences with Religion for LGBTQ+ Individuals

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

UCONN UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT PARTICIPANTS NEEDED I'm recruiting LGBTQ+ young adults for my dissertation on religious experiences. If you WERE RAISED in a religion that does not support LGBTQ+ people, please complete the screener to see if you qualify. Qualified respondents: • Will be invited to a virtual 45 to 60 minute interview • Receive a $40 Amazon gift card Click the link below or scan the QR code to learn more and complete the screener: https://bit.ly/48qAWK4 IRB: Contact: veronica.hanna-walker@uconn.edu

What is the purpose of this study?
The purpose of the study is to better understand (1) LGBTQ+ young adults’ decisions about continuing their association with the religion from their childhood; (2) these adults’ thoughts on what would have helped them in deciding whether to continuing associating with this religion; (3) how their family influenced and/or helped with their decisions about their childhood religion.

What will you have to do if you agree to be in the study?
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to complete an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of questions about your age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, religion, as well as your email address and phone number so we may contact you to invite you to participate in the study if you qualify. This survey will take 5 to 10 minutes.

If you are eligible to participate in the study, you will be invited to be interviewed within 7 to 10 days of taking this survey.

If you’d like to participate, click here.

Society’s attitudes and negative healthcare experiences among transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people

Society’s attitudes and negative healthcare experiences among transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research from The Pride Study published August 24, 2023.

What Did We Do?

We looked at reports that rated a state or area on their environment for LGBTQIA+ people, which we used to represent their local society’s attitudes. We then looked to see if those attitudes were related to any negative healthcare experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people that were reported in The PRIDE Study 2019 Annual Questionnaire.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable? 

This study was among the first to test how existing research measures may reflect society’s attitudes about transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people and how they are related to experiences in healthcare.

What Did We Learn? 

We did not find a relationship between these existing research measures of society’s attitudes about transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive people and negative healthcare experiences. However, we found that 18% of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people reported a negative experience in healthcare during the past year and 12.5% had a negative experience in mental healthcare. This is important because mental healthcare experiences are not usually looked at separately from the rest of healthcare experiences.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

Transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people had negative experiences in both mental healthcare settings and in general healthcare settings. However, society’s attitudes, as measured in our study, were not related to these experiences.

What’s Next? 

Society’s attitudes about transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive people are not well measured in research. Understanding how the community experiences those attitudes is important. Until this improves, other factors that may affect experiences in healthcare should be looked at to improve the experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Clark KD, Lunn MR, Bosse JD, Sevelius JM, Dawson-Rose C, Weiss SJ, Lubensky ME, Obedin-Maliver J, & Flentje A. Societal stigma and mistreatment in healthcare among gender minority people: a cross-sectional study. Int J Equity Health. 2023 Aug, 24; 22(1):162. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01975-7

Access to Healthcare Issues for LGBTQIA+ People with Disabilities

Access to Healthcare Issues for LGBTQIA+ People with Disabilities

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research from The Pride Study published July 21, 2023.

What Did We Do?

There is limited knowledge about the barriers that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experience while accessing healthcare. Among participants in The PRIDE Study who reported that they live with a disability, we looked at responses from The PRIDE Study’s 2019 Annual Questionnaire regarding access to healthcare (such as having a primary care provider, having health insurance, etc.), delaying healthcare, and insurance coverage.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This is one of the first studies about the barriers to healthcare experienced by the LGBTQIA+ disability community.

What Did We Learn? 

In our study, we found that about 31% of LGBTQIA+ people lived with a disability. This was higher than national estimates of about 25%. LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to have a primary care provider compared to their non-disabled peers. However, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experienced more barriers to healthcare. Specifically, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to delay seeking care, to not have health insurance, and to be unable to obtain care. When we looked at these barriers by different disability groups (physical, mental, intellectual, etc.), they were relatively similar. This tells us that many LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities may experience some sort of healthcare barrier.

We found that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities delayed seeking care because of mistreatment or disrespect they experienced from providers. They were also denied care or given lower quality medical or mental healthcare compared to those without disabilities.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

The findings of this study suggest that barriers to healthcare are happening more often for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers. This means that increasing culturally sensitive training for healthcare providers is necessary to improve the quality of care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities. The results showed that addressing appointment availability, the cost of care, insurance coverage, and transportation issues are important items for those who make healthcare policy to focus on. This may improve care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities.

What’s Next?

The results of this study can help identify improve public health and healthcare systems by improving access and the quality of care for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Future work should explore the different experiences of separate groups of people in the LGBTQIA+ disability community. It would also be important to analyze the relationship between health insurance and experiencing barriers to care.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Lamba S, Obedin-Maliver J, Mayo J, Flentje A, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Lunn MR. Self-Reported Barriers to Care among Sexual and Gender Minority People with Disabilities: Findings from The PRIDE Study. AJPH. 2023 July, 20: e1-e10. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/epdf/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307333

 

PS: Want to contribute to research specifically for the disability community around sex? I’m collecting data! This survey is open through the end of July 2023.

The Trans Community & Negative Experiences in Healthcare

The Trans Community & Negative Experiences in Healthcare

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research from The Pride Study published at the end of May 2023:

What Did We Do?

We surveyed people who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender-expansive (TGE) and assigned female at birth to learn about their experiences with healthcare providers (such as doctors, nurses, and other people who work in healthcare settings).

Participants reported on interactions they had with a healthcare provider in the last year from a list of 16 different types of experiences (such as negative effects from a provider’s opinions about their gender identity or sexuality and a provider asking inappropriate questions about their gender identity). We looked at how different characteristics (such as age, race, or education level) might relate to reporting negative experiences. We also looked at whether receiving gender-affirming care (such as hormones or gender-affirming surgery) and being out as TGE to healthcare providers might relate to having negative experiences.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This is one of the first studies with a large number of participants to look at the relationship between receiving gender-affirming care and negative interactions with healthcare providers.

What Did We Learn?

Most of the participants (70%) reported at least one negative experience with a healthcare provider in the past year. The most common experiences were being negatively affected by a provider’s opinions about LGBTQIA+ identities and having to educate a healthcare provider about TGE identities to receive proper medical care.

We compared the experiences of TGE people who received gender-affirming care with TGE people who had not received gender-affirming care. The people who received gender-affirming care were more likely to report negative experiences with healthcare providers. They also reported a higher number of negative experiences for 15 out of the 16 experiences included on the survey. Among people who did not receive gender-affirming care, those who were out about their TGE identity to their healthcare provider were more likely to report negative experiences.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities?

Our findings support increasing and improving training about TGE identities among healthcare providers to help reduce bias. Experiences with healthcare providers may be improved by changes to the medical system, such as more inclusive data collection options in medical records and better insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.

Our findings do not mean that coming out as TGE to your healthcare provider or receiving gender-affirming care means you are in any way responsible for any negative experiences you may have.

What’s Next?

We hope to use these findings to raise awareness about the quality of healthcare for TGE people. We also want to use this research to encourage healthcare providers to improve their understanding of TGE identities and gender-affirming care. Future research can explore how these findings might change over time. Additional research can focus on participants with a diverse range of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as the majority of the people in this study had health insurance and high levels of education and identified as white.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Inman EM, Obedin-Maliver J, Ragosta S, Hastings J, Berry J, Lunn MR, Flentje A, Capriotti MR, Lubensky ME, Stoeffler A, Dastur Z, Moseson H. Reports of negative interactions with healthcare providers among transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people assigned female at birth in the United States: results from an online, cross-sectional survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 May, 31; 20 6007. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20116007

 

PS: Want to contribute to research specifically for the disability community around sex? I’m collecting data! This survey is open through the end of July 2023.

Photo used courtesy of Gender Spectrum