Category: research

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

Are you disabled / chronically ill and pregnant?

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The follow is a call for research participants to test a tool. I’m not involved, but it popped up on my radar, but I’m sharing here.

Brandeis University, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and others have worked together to develop a new tool – an Accessible Pregnancy Action Plan. This tool would help pregnant people with disabilities think about what they need during pregnancy, during birth, and after having their baby.

They are looking for people between 12 and 36 weeks along in their pregnancies who have disabilities / chronic illnesses and also use English or American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.

Participants will work on their Action Plan with a peer facilitator, who is also a parent with a disability. These meetings will take place over Zoom. There will be between 2 and 4 meetings.

Most participants will complete the intervention in two sessions. They will be paid $50 per session. Participants who complete the program will also be compensated an additional $50.

Learn more about the study and take the screener here.

screener poster (has all the same information as in the Brandeis link)

Survey: Talking to HCPs and Access 2023

Survey: Talking to HCPs and Access

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

Back in 2016, I collected some initial information about how people felt they could talk to healthcare providers (HCPs) about sexual health and function, sexual orientation, and gender. Then, in the fall of 2019, I conducted a more extensive survey. I’m still working on the results of that survey.

With the changes occurring in the last few years, though, I wanted to collect information again. Allow me to introduce you to the new 2023 survey.

This survey asks the same questions as before, such as “Have any of your physicians or other healthcare providers talked to you about sex or sexual issues?” It also has a section about how recent anti-equity efforts, such as rampant transphobia, have affected these conversations.

This survey is open as of May 28, 2023, and will close at the end of the day on July 31, 2023. It is only open to US residents aged 18 and up.

Take the survey here.

Research Opportunity for Folks in Recovery from Drug and Alcohol Use Disorder

Research Opportunity for Folks in Recovery from Drug and Alcohol Use Disorder

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

One of my friends is currently working on collecting data for his PhD. Please see below.

Aaron M. Laxton, student in the school of social work at Saint Louis University, is inviting you to participate in this research study.

The title of this study is “Examining Spatial Reasoning in Individuals Recovering from Drug and Alcohol Use Disorder”. The purpose of this study is to measure spatial reasoning among individuals who are recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. A secondary objective is to assess the effects of substance abuse and recovery on spatial reasoning.

Your participation in this study will involve participating in an online survey. The study proposes that it will take 5 minutes to complete the survey.

Participation in this study will not benefit you directly. Your participation may benefit others by expanding knowledge regarding strategies, interventions, services provision, and accessibility that enhance the overall wellbeing of international students

The risks to the participant are minimal and include loss of anonymity. To minimize this risk, the study team will not collect any identifiable information including IP addresses. Study data will only be accessible to the study team. You may experience participant distress or discomfort experienced because of answering questions on survey instruments or feel pressure to answer questions or to provide responses in assessments. This pressure may cause stress or distress. To minimize these risks, you can choose not to answer any question that makes you uncomfortable.

The results of this study may be published in scientific research journals or presented at professional conferences. However, your name and identity will not be revealed, and your record will remain anonymous. Data collection instruments will not request any personally identifiable information.

You can choose not to participate. If you decide not to participate, there will not be a penalty for you or the loss of any benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw from this study at any time.

If you would like to look more into this study – or complete the survey – please click here.

The U.S. Trans Survey is now open! [closed]

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is from an email sent out by the U.S. Trans Survey Team @ National Center for Transgender Equality yesterday (10-19):

take the us trans survey

We’re proud to announce that the U.S. Trans Survey is now open and ready for you to take! Whether you pledged to take the survey or not, you can take the survey today!!

As trans people, we know that we’ve accomplished incredible things together as a community. Join thousands of other people folks around the country in sharing your experience to create a clear picture of what it’s like to be trans in the United States.

If you are trans and plan to take the survey, here’s what you need to know:

  • The survey is open to people of all trans identities (binary and nonbinary), ages 16 and older, living in the United States and U.S. territories, regardless of citizenship status.
  • If you pledged to take the survey, you are not obligated to take the survey. Participation is voluntary. When you click on the link to start the survey, you will be asked to consent to take the survey.
  • The U.S. Trans Survey is an anonymous survey. Your response will be kept confidential and will not be used to identify you.
  • The time required to take the survey may vary, but make sure to set aside at least 60 minutes to take the survey.
  • The survey will be available in both English and Spanish.
  • Please let your trans friends and siblings know about the survey too!

The U.S. Trans Survey is being conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality in partnership with the National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, TransLatin@ Coalition, and National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.

If you have any questions, please reach out at ustranssurvey@transequality.org.

Again, thank you so much for being part of this important survey. We’re excited to see the results!

Click here to take the survey now!

With love and solidarity,

The U.S. Trans Survey Team

Survey About How Social Media Increases Anti-Trans Ideals

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

the role of social media in facilitating anti-gender mobilizing and their impact on tgdi movements

The following is from the webpage on this survey:

We want to explore the impact of global anti-gender movements on trans, gender diverse (TGD) and wider LGBTQI mobilizing and rights and the role of social media in facilitating anti-gender mobilizing and discourses.

The anti-gender movement is an international movement which opposes what it refers to as gender ideology, gender theory, or genderism (Kováts, Eszter, 2016). Today, social media plays a huge role in disinformation currencies that perpetuate anti-gender mobilizing. If you’re a trans or gender diverse person, is very likely that you’ve encountered anti-gender movements. We’re creating a survey to collect data that can help us counteract these movements, and we need your help! This survey was created for people who are part of organizations or unregistered collectives working on trans, gender diverse or wider LGBQ communities and issues.

It takes about 20-30 minutes to fill out this questionnaire. You are welcome to send us your complaints or other types of feedback to research@gate.ngo. Considering the safety issues in many contexts relating to reporting on anti-gender opposition and/or being an activist or a community member, you will have the opportunity to stay anonymous. This is also available in Russian and Spanish.

If you’re interested in participating, click here.

The 2022 Gender Census is open! [closed]

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The 2022 Gender Census is open!

This survey is open to anyone, in any country, of any age, whose experience of their gender doesn’t fit tidily into the strict binary of female/male. It seeks broad statistical data about the language we use to refer to ourselves in English, e.g. pronouns, identity words, and titles. The results will be made public for use in activism, self-advocacy, business, and academia.

Helpful information:

  • It is international and open to anyone, anywhere.
  • The survey aims to collect information about the language we use to refer to ourselves.
  • Most of the survey asks about three things: identity words, pronouns and titles.
  • There is a feedback box at the end.
  • Most people find that it takes 5 minutes or less.
  • You can read the FAQs here.

This is a volunteer-run, crowdfunded project. They don’t pay for any advertising at all, and the >44,000 responses last year were gathered entirely by word-of-mouth.

If you’re into that kind of thing, click here to take part: survey.gendercensus.com