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Abstract #156795
Audio (mp3) recordingAllegra R. Gordon, MPH, Research & Evaluation, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, 260 S. Broad St., 18th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-985-6238, agordon@phmc.org and Heather Batson, Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, 260 S. Broad Street, 18th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
Collection of representative data for LGBT populations is of critical importance in the effort to better understand and confront barriers to health care and other health disparities facing LGBT individuals and other sexual minorities. Although sexual identity and behavior are increasingly recognized as important social determinants of health, sexual identity and partner-gender questions remain uncommon on surveys not specifically targeting sexual behavior or risk. In addition, self-reported gender identity has rarely, if ever, been gathered on general population surveys, making this population artificially invisible. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey, fielded June to September 2006, is a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 10,100 households in Philadelphia and the four surrounding PA counties. Items about sexual identity, gender of sex partners in past year, gender identity, and sex at birth are presented, including demographics of this sample compared to heterosexuals. 208 survey respondents (2.1%) identified as homosexual, gay, or bisexual. Sexual identity was not always concordant with sexual behavior: for example, 23 of 91 (25.3%) men reporting exclusively male sex partners identified as heterosexual; 33 of 76 (43.4%) women reporting exclusively female sex partners identified as heterosexual. 35 respondents (0.4%) either identified as transgender, or had a current gender different than their sex at birth. Feasibility and limitations of using these types of measures and methodology will be discussed. General population surveys must include measures of sexual identity, partner-gender, and gender identity to produce a full picture of the health disparities and barriers to care for sexual minorities.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss the importance of including measures to capture sexual and gender identity on general population surveys, and articulate one or more policy implications of such inclusion.
- Identify 2 challenges of capturing representative data on sexual minority populations.
- Articulate the difference between collecting sexual identity information and collecting sexual behavior information.
Keywords: Methodology, Sexuality
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.
The 135th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 3-7, 2007) of APHA