Issues in LGBTQ+ Policy & Advocacy
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in policy and advocacy as it relates to LGBTQ+ populations. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in Texas.
Minority stress and health of sexual and gender minorities: Did it get better?
Presented by Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D.
The minority stress model, presented by Meyer in 1995 and 2003 has served as a framework for studies of LGBTQ people’s health and well-being, and a causal theory for understanding health disparities. Dr. Meyer will review the historical context of the development of the minority stress perspective, its core elements, and how it has been articulated in legal and policy analyses. Dr. Meyer will describe how minority stress literature has helped to articulate the argument for state interest in preventing discrimination against LGBTQ people. Dr. Meyer will also describe research assessing generational changes in exposure to minority stress and related health outcomes. He will discuss the implications of findings from this research that show continued exposure to minority stress and health disparities for LGBT populations in the United States.
Creating National Capacity to Disseminate Transgender & Gender Diverse PCOR/CER project
Presented by John Oeffinger
TransFORWARD: Texas Transgender Health, is a six year collaboration between Texas Health Institute, Equality Texas Foundation, and Transgender Education Network of Texas. TransFORWARD educates clinicians and policy makers on what competent and necessary healthcare looks like for transgender and gender diverse people. We organize our work into three lanes. We lead with building transgender led research capacity for patient-centered outcomes research. We support and work with clinical effectiveness research focused on patient-centered outcomes research and priorities. Building capacity to disseminate research findings to the transgender and gender diverse community, and to be used in health policy decision-making, clinical practice, and curriculum development is completes our three lanes.
Issues in LGBTQ+ Youth Health
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues experienced by LGBTQ+ youth. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in Texas.
Psychosocial Risk Factors to Substance Use among LGBTQ+ Populations
Presented by Andrew Yockey, PhD
LGBTQ+ populations report greater substance use compared to non-LGBTQ+ populations. Multiple risk factors exist that place these populations at greater risk, thus widening the research gaps and dampening prevention efforts. The present talk will outline these risk factors using multiple theoretical frameworks and outline the disparities these populations face.
Mental health: A Priority for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth
Presented by Michael Goodman, MD, MPH
This presentation will review current data about mental health problems facing TGD children and adolescents, and identify main groups of adults who are likely to interact with TGD youth, and who may be in a position to intervene if they detect a problem. The presentation will also share our experience in developing materials for educating adults about risks facing TGD children and adolescents, and for informing them about available means of reducing these risks.
Centering the Perspectives of LGBTQ Adolescents in Digital and Multimedia Sexual Health Research
Presented by Kathryn Macapagal, PhD
LGBTQ adolescents in the United States experience numerous sexual and reproductive health inequities relative to cisgender, heterosexual peers and experience substantial barriers to LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education. Digital interventions that reach teens directly with sexual health information can be a potential solution when developed with teen input to ensure their acceptability and relevance. This talk will review three case examples regarding how we used LGBTQ+ teen input and perspectives to develop digital and multimedia sexual health interventions.
Issues in SGM Aging
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in aging among LGBTQ+ populations. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in Texas.
HIV and Aging Research: A Community Participatory Approach
Presented by Brandon J. Brown, PhD
People living with HIV are able to have long healthy lives due to advances in treatment, yet they are more likely to experience multiple comorbidities and some experienced not only the loss of friends are loved ones due to HIV, but also due to COVID-19. More often than not, researchers themselves select projects to pursue without the input of the various stakeholders in the HIV community, and as a result, there is little knowledge of how to engage and retain participants in research, and low impact of efforts. We describe how an academic-community partnership led to the selection of a single project focused on halting isolation and depression among people aging with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Among LGBTQIA+ Populations
Presented by Jason Flatt, PhD, MPH
Over 3 million or more adults aged 60 + live in the U.S. who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or another identity (LGBTQIA+). Less is known about dementia risk and related concerns for the LGBTQIA+ community. We will discuss risk for dementia and related concerns among LGBTQIA+ adults from multiple studies. Our research has found higher rates of memory problems and related concerns for the LGBTQIA+ community. We will discuss why it is so important to collect details on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and how historical and current experiences of LGBTQIA+ community are relevant for health and social care professionals. We will also discuss some of our new research opportunities for the community.
Issues in SGM Mental Health & Harm Reduction
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in mental health/harm reduction among LGBTQ+ populations. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in Texas.
Final Capstone Session: 2023-24 Citizen Scientist Training 2.0
Join us for a facilitated group discussion and celebration to reflect on what we’ve learned this year about building capacity for community-driven research and citizen science!
This final capstone session will discuss an overview of how this series supported community partners and researchers in understanding their roles on multidisciplinary research teams, how to collaboratively develop research questions, how to develop patient-centered research proposals, and expose attendees to various methods and challenges related community-engaged research, comparative effectiveness research, and patient-centered outcomes research. We hope everyone can attend!
TxCOPE: Supporting Harm Reduction Workers in Data-driven Overdose Response
Presented by Kasey Claborn, Ph.D.
Dr. Claborn will present research on harm reduction workers’ experience of occupational stress and mental health challenges related to street outreach and overdose response in Texas. During this seminar, she will provide an overview of TxCOPE, a technology-driven tool to improve data-driven overdose response in communities that is free to Texas-based organizations. She will describe how TxCOPE was developed using community-engaged research efforts and how the community is driving the development of a learning collaborative and research network to support harm reduction workers in Texas.
Interventions for reducing substance use and improving mental health among sexual and gender diverse youth
Presented by Robert WS Coulter, PhD, MPH
Dr. Robert Coulter will present his research in developing and testing interventions for reducing substance use and improving mental health among sexual and gender diverse youth. Specifically, he will highlight two interventions: Providing LGBTQ+ Adolescents with Nurturance, Trustworthiness, and Safety (PLANTS), a program for training high school staff about how to support, affirm, and protect sexual and gender diverse students; and Singularities, a web-based role playing game to improve adaptive coping skills and reduce alcohol-related harms among sexual and gender diverse adolescents. He will highlight how these programs were systematically developed by using both intervention mapping —a well-established framework for developing and evaluating theory- and evidence-based interventions—with Human-Centered Design (HCD)—a creative approach to engaging community collaborators in generating innovative solutions.
Issues in Engaging LGBTQ+ Communities
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in research. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in engaging LGBTQ+ communities in Texas.
Research in Real World Settings: The role of Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs)
Presented by William (Bill) M. Tierney, MD
Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs) were originally established in Family Medicine in the 1970s because many of the questions that they faced in primary care were not being answered by academic research. Catalyzed by a small number of leaders, these PBRNs expanded to cover multiple practices in multiple states and spread to primary care pediatrics. In the early 2000s, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) latched onto the idea and launched a network of selected primary care PBRNs that would support the expansion of PBRNs, support each other through education and training and sharing resources, and conduct collaborative research funded by NIH and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Then, with the establishment of Clinical and Translational Sciences Institutes supported by NIH’s CTSA grants, PBRNs became essential to T3 and T4 levels of translation: translating science to practices and communities. Key to the future of PBRNs is reaching beyond the walls of clinics into the community and embracing a role in studying the impact of social care interventions.
New Mexico LGBT Health Improvement Network
Presented by Miria Kano, Ph.D.
Dr. Kano will discuss her work with the LGBT Health Improvement Network. This Network brought diverse community members into meaningful clinical discussions with healthcare providers to identify service delivery needs and develop patient-centered questions to increase cultural competence and guide patient- and practice-based intervention research to decrease gaps in New Mexico’s healthcare system.
The PRIDE Study & PRIDEnet: Engaging LGBTQIA+ Communities in Health Research
Presented by Mitchell R. Lunn, MD
Dr. Lunn will provide an overview of The PRIDE Study and considerations in conducting research in partnership with LGBTQIA+ people. During this seminar, he will discuss The PRIDE Study’s research and ongoing projects, The PRIDE Study’s Ancillary Study process and how to collaborate with The PRIDE Study, and discuss PRIDEnet, its work with The PRIDE Study and the All of Us Research Program, and how PRIDEnet works to engage LGBTQIA+ research participants and diversity of the research workforce.
Issues in Substance Use, Addiction, & Recovery
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in Substance Use, Addiction, & Recovery. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving sexual and gender minority health care and/or access to health care services in Texas.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | 12:00 – 1:00 pm Central
Publishing with community partners and disseminating beyond the academy
Presented by Phillip W. Schnarrs, PhD
This session will provide an overview of the process of publishing and disseminating community-driven research beyond academic institutions. This will be followed by a Q&A.
Texas Harm Reduction Alliance (THRA): Community Engagement in Substance Use, Addiction, & Recovery
Presented by Alex White, LMSW and Jamie Diaz
Two employees from Texas Harm Reduction Alliance will explain their peer-based delivery model of providing harm reduction services in Texas, amidst growing criminalization of drug use and constant homeless sweeps displacing their participants. Alexandra and Jaime will explain why we use these unauthorized methods in order to keep our community alive, and how this work can never be divorced from the politics of the state.
CHES Credits available upon request
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 | 12:00 – 1:00 pm Central
Issues in Healthcare Access
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in healthcare access. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving sexual and gender minority health care and/or access to health care services in Texas.
Broadening Application of the Inspiring Change Manual: The Afiya Center’s community-driven work with black mothers to reduce maternal mortality in Texas
Presented by Marsha Jones and D’Andra Willis
Gu Li Coming Out in China: Strategies, Contexts, and Health Implications, Feb. 14th at 4pm in HLB 1.111
Colorectal Cancer Awareness in the LGBTQ+ Community
Presented by David Russo
The presentation titled “Colorectal Cancer Awareness in the LGBTQ+ Community,”” delivered by a representative from Cheeky Charity, addresses the critical issue of colorectal cancer (CRC) within the LGBTQ+ community. Key points included an overview of current statistics and information about CRC, highlighting it as the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States and emphasizing the importance of early detection and screening. The talk also introduces Cheeky Charity’s ‘CRC@Pride 2024’ initiative, aimed at integrating CRC awareness into Pride events throughout 2024. This initiative is part of the organization’s broader strategy to engage LGBTQ+ and underserved populations in proactive health practices. Cheeky Charity’s approach to healthcare communication combines informative content with a unique, engaging style, making complex health topics accessible and memorable. Cheeky Charity is a queer-led organization with a mission to enable the prevention and early detection of CRC through awareness, particularly among LGBTQ+ and underserved populations, using ‘cheeky’ marketing tactics.
Advancing LGBTQ+ health and sexual health in rural America: Lessons learned
Presented by Randolph D. Hubach, Ph.D., MPH
The foremost challenge facing rural LGBTQ+ communities is improving the health of their members. The care continuum (i.e., prevention, screening, and treatment) and public health infrastructure often unreliable in rural areas. Geographic isolation from other LGBTQ+ individuals, inhibited access from affirming care providers, and poverty may increase need for basic human services and further confound disease prevention, continuation in, and linkages to care. This talk covers the intersection of rurality and sexual health, particularly among sexual minority populations, and the impact of rurality on continuums of prevention and care for HIV and STIs.
Issues in Cancer Prevention and Care
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in cancer prevention and care. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving sexual and gender minority health care and/or access to health care services in Texas.
Planning Patient Centered Consent and Protocols
Presented by Hannah Baley, John Oeffinger, and Virginia Brown, Ph.D.
This session will provide an overview of planning patient centered consent and protocols. You will be able to choose which session you’d like to attend. During this session we will all join one meeting and then you are welcome to join a breakout room of your choice.
Unique Risks and Care Considerations for LGBTQI Patients
Presented by Mandi Pratt-Chapman, Ph.D.
This presentation will provide an overview of foundational structures that influence the outcomes of people with cancer who identify as a sexual or gender minority (LGBTQI+). Basic terminology will be briefly covered followed by a discussion of intersectionality, social determinants of health, and cancer continuum of care considerations.
Identifying Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening Use in LGBTQ+ Women
Presented by Jenny Spencer, Ph.D.
Cervical cancer screening is among the most effective cancer screening tests, yet it is still under-utilized, particularly among historically marginalized populations, who also often have the highest rates of cervical cancer. LGBTQ+ population face unique barriers to healthcare access broadly and to cervical cancer screening more specifically. Dr. Spencer will discuss what is known about the burden of cervical cancer, the use of cervical cancer screening, and barriers to screening access in the LGBTQ population in the US.
Issues in Sexual and Reproductive Health
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in sexual and reproductive health. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving sexual and gender minority health care and/or access to health care services in Texas.
Designing the Study: CBPR Overview, Qualitative Research Methods, Real World Implementation Designs, and “Research 101”
Presented by Carmen Valdez, Ph.D., Armin Dorri, Kasey Claborn, Ph.D., and Andrew Yockey, Ph.D.
This session will provide an overview of how research studies can be designer. You will be able to choose which session you’d like to attend. The CBPR and Research 101 are focused for community partners and Qualitative Research Methods and Real World Implementation Designs are focused for researcher partners, but you can attend any session you’d like. During this session we will all join one meeting and then you are welcome to join a breakout room of your choice.
AFAB Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Sexual and Reproductive Health Capacity-Building
Presented by Jenn Kwait, Ph.D. and Ali Talan, M.Sc.
This presentation will provide an overview about a PCORI-funded engagement award called Project SHINE (award #EACB-26853). Having nearly completed the first year of the award, Drs. Kwait and Talan will share lessons learned about community engagement processes for PCOR and have a discussion with audience members about ways to advance community engagement in research.
Queering Family Formation: Creating a Program of Community-Engaged Perinatal and Reproductive Health Research Novel Qualitative Methods
Presented by Kodiak Soled, Ph.D.
There are an estimated 8.7 million sexual and gender-minoritized parents in the United States who gestated their child, a number that is projected to increase due to changing social attitudes and advances in legal rights and assisted reproductive technologies that are facilitating biological pathways to family formation. However, there are many challenges that sexual and gender-minoritized people face when forming families. Furthermore, emerging research within the last five years has documented myriad perinatal health disparities among sexual and gender-minoritized childbearing parents, including very preterm birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, and more.
This presentation will discuss emerging perinatal health disparities among sexual and gender-minoritized childbearing parents, present a community-engaged research study that takes a deeper examination into perinatal experiences and challenges across the family formation journey, and wrap up with an upcoming community-engaged pilot study that will explore the patient experience of medicalized family formation. Attendees will walk away with knowledge regarding the challenges of queer family formation as well as two novel methods for promoting community engagement within research endeavors.
Issues in Transgender Health
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about issues in transgender health. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve SGM health, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving sexual and gender minority health care and/or access to health care services in Texas.
Developing Research Questions: Perspectives from TransFORWARD
Presented by John Oeffinger and Marianna Espinoza
This session will provide an overview of the process of collaboratively developing research questions with community partners that can serve as a foundation for actionable research. This will be followed by a Q&A with community partners, clinicians, and researchers about their experiences with collaborators on community engaged research.
Four Corners: Convening to develop CBPR best practices for transgender & non-binary health research: What we did and how we did it
Presented by Kelly Ducheny, PsyD
The presentation will introduce the Four Corners TNB Research Advisory Network and the two days Convening it hosted to develop best practices in community-based participatory research (CBPR). We’ll discuss the process of organizing the Convening, the flow and content, approaches to center community voice and language equity, the final report and its recommendations, and lessons learned. Attendees will be provided a link to the final CBPR Best Practices in TNB Health Research at the close of the presentation.
Trajectories of gender identity for Transgender and Gender Diverse youth
Presented by André Gonzales Real, M.D., M.Sc.
For most people, gender identity is a stable aspect of the self. For others, however, gender identity may vary over time. Development or variability in gender identity over time is less understood. For this talk, I will be exploring what is known about gender identity over time and the possible implications that variations in gender identity may have for mental health. Then, I will present a study where I explored how gender identity varied in a sample of sexual and gender minority youth and examined whether gender identity variations were associated with mental health.
Disrupting systems of oppression for health equity among Latinx communities
Presented by Carlos Rodriguez Diaz, Ph.D., MPHE, MCHES
In this presentation, Dr. Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz will discuss the structural factors that sustain health inequities among Latinx populations. He will describe opportunities to disrupt systems that cause health inequities in Latinx populations and provide examples of interventions and strategies to work toward health equity in Latino populations.
HIV Prevention and Care: Issues, Challenges, and Community-Centered Solutions
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about challenges related to HIV prevention and care for LGBTQ+ Texans. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve HIV prevention and care for LGBTQ+ Texans, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving mental health for LGBTQ+ individuals and/or access to HIV prevention and care services in Texas.
Engaging in Stakeholder Driven Research: Patient and Stakeholder Perspectives
Presented by Madeline C. Croll, Rocky Lane, Oralia Loza, PhD, and Sarah Kapostasy, MA, LPC
This panel discussion will provide an overview of what community-engaged research is and is not. This will be followed by a Q&A with community partners, clinicians, and researchers about their experiences with ac collaborators on community-engaged research.
Leveraging Community Partnerships to Enhance and Accelerate LGBTQIA+ Health Research: Perspectives from The Pride Study
Presented by Mahri Bahati, MPH
PRIDEnet is a national network of individuals and organizations that actively engage our community in every stage of how LGBTQ+ health research is created, analyzed, and shared from The PRIDE Study. Through our Community Partners and an advisory group of health care specialists known as the Participant Advisory Committee (PAC), PRIDEnet builds on decades of work by activists, health advocates, service providers, and researchers to improve the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ communities.
PrEP for ALL: A CBPR study to understand barriers and preferences for long-acting PrEP in transgender and gender expansive Texans
Presented by Phillip W. Schnarrs, Ph.D.
It is estimated that 1 million individuals identify as transgender in the United States which is less than 1% of the population. However, it is estimated that 2% of all new HIV cases are among transgender people. In a recent study of transgender women in seven U.S. cities, 42% were HIV positive. Similarly, though data is lacking, rates of HIV in transgender men are higher than the general population and less is known about gender expansive individuals. Moreover, rates of HIV are highest among transgender individuals who identify as Black or Latinx, and among those who live in the U.S. South.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a biomedical strategy for HIV prevention. Despite its promise, PrEP uptake remains lower than anticipated. Past studies suggest low to moderate uptake of PrEP among transgender men and women. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of a longer acting, intramuscular injectable formulation of PrEP. In addition to this injectable modality, other longer acting formulations are currently under development as pharmaceutical companies and PrEP advocates seek to expand PrEP options. These new formulations may hold promise in improving PrEP uptake, adherence, and persistence, but more research is needed to ensure successful rollout. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to three long acting formulations and examine the relationship between these barriers and intention to use these formulations.
Mental Health & Trauma Informed Care: Issues, Challenges, and Community-Centered Solutions
Please join us for a facilitated discussion about challenges related to mental health and trauma-informed care for LGBTQ+ Texans. The purpose of this community forum is to generate ideas to improve mental health for LGBTQ+ Texans, that can be turned into research questions, and then developed into future research projects. These projects will provide evidence for best practices in improving mental health for LGBTQ+ individuals and/or access to mental healthcare services in Texas.
Introduction to PCORI
Presented by Rachel Mosbacher, MPA
Engaging patients, caregivers, clinicians, insurers, and other healthcare community members is at the core of PCORI’s patient-centered approach to research funding. Our goal is to support research that will provide reliable, useful information to help people make informed healthcare decisions and improve patient care and outcomes. We primarily fund comparative clinical effectiveness research, or CER. These studies compare the benefits and harms of two or more treatments, clinical strategies, or other approaches to health care. The type of CER we support, patient-centered outcomes research, or PCOR, focuses on outcomes that patients and other healthcare stakeholders tell us are important. As of July 2023, PCORI has awarded more than $4 billion to support more than 2,000 research and related projects, including those that support the methods and capacity for conducting research. This presentation will delve into what engagement in PCOR can look like in practice, PCORI’s funded work on LGBTQ+ health, and different ways to get involved.
Trauma-Focused Care for LGBTQ+ Identified Individuals
Presented by Marylene Cloitre, Ph.D. and Leslie Einhorn
This presentation will review the goals, processes and accomplishments of a PCORI supported research engagement project. The purpose of the award was to bring together various stakeholders involved in providing mental health services to trauma-exposed LGBTQ+ individuals and identify treatment needs, gaps in mental health services, and possible solutions. A learning collaborative (LC) was developed consisting of patients, clinicians and administrators. The project succeeded in completing a survey of over 2,000 LGBTQ+ identified individuals which helped characterize trauma-related needs and preferences. The LC identified evidence-based therapies which were a match to these needs and developed a plan to introduce and assess them in LGBTQ+ serving clinics. We developed a manual providing basic steps for launching research related to the assessment and treatment of trauma in community clinics. Lastly, we created an outreach, educational video of LGBTQ+ individuals describing the consequences of their traumas and their recovery journeys, including the role of mental health care.
Peer Online Motivational Interviewing for Sexual and Gender Minority Male Survivors
Presented by Vanessa Simiola, PsyD
One in six men are sexually abused before their 18th birthday, and this number rises to one in four men who are sexually abused across their lifespan. Rates of sexual abuse and assault are even higher in sexual and gender minority masculine-identifying (SGM) individuals as are their rates of subsequent mental health disorders. Increasing SGM sexual abuse survivors’ formal entry into mental health services may address an important health disparity by alleviating psychiatric distress and increasing quality of life. Our research team tailored an evidence-based psychological treatment, motivational interviewing (MI) with trauma-informed, SGM affirmative care to encourage formal engagement in mental health treatment. This presentation will provide a description of training male sexual abuse survivors to deliver a peer-based MI online to sexual and gender minority men with sexual assault or abuse histories. It will also explore the mental health treatment needs and preferences of masculine-identifying sexual abuse survivors.