Four Corners: Health Research Priorities Among TNB Communities

Abstract

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people experience striking inequities in health and healthcare. In the United States, these inequities are amplified among TNB Black, Indigenous people of color (BIPOC) and TNB people with disabilities, highlighting the need for all TNB health equity initiatives to recognize racism, ableism, and other intersecting forms of oppression. Despite a recent increase in TNB health research, there is a lack of peer-reviewed literature that considers priority issues and accountable research practices from the perspectives of TNB people, and particularly TNB BIPOC and people with disabilities.In 2018, four federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) specializing in LGBTQ care across the United States: Howard Brown Health in Chicago, Whitman-Walker Institute in the District of Columbia, Los Angeles LGBT Center in Los Angeles, and Legacy Community Health in Houston, partnered to form the Four Corners: TNB Health Research Advisory Network. Four Corners is a 16-member network consisting of one researcher, one clinician, and two TNB community members from each FQHC, all of which reside in a geographically distinct region and serve a highly diverse TNB patient panel. Four Corners envisions a world where all TNB people have access to safe, relevant, and equitable healthcare and aims to advance health research by involving TNB community members, researchers, and clinicians as equal partners in the research process.In the summer of 2019, Four Corners conducted eight focus groups, two in each city of participating sites, in order to explore health and research priorities, participants' prior experiences with research, and preferences for research dissemination. Focus groups were facilitated by two TNB project staff and included 65 participants, all of whom were at least eighteen years of age and selfidentified as transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming. Participants were recruited via flyers posted at the four FQHCs and social media advertisements. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed

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