Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115355

Judith Bradford, PhD¹, Jessica M. Xavier, MPH¹, and Michael L. Hendricks, PhD². (1) Survey & Evaluation Research Laboratory, Virginia Commonwealth University, 921 W. Franklin Street, PO Box 843065, Richmond, VA 23284, 804-828-8813, jbbradfo@vcu.edu, (2) Washington Psychological Center, P.C., 5225 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 513, Washington, DC 20015

Transgender persons encounter unique healthcare access barriers and in many communities cannot obtain needed services. To determine the nature and extent of healthcare needs among the transgender population in Virginia, a public health partnership was created to assess needs and develop infrastructure through which to improve access to appropriate services. The partnership consisted of the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia HIV Prevention Community Planning Group, a statewide Transgender Task Force comprised of members of the target population and responding organizations, and a University-based research partner, the Survey and Evaluation Research Lab of Virginia Commonwealth University. This partnership created a multi-level initiative, including the assessment of health organizations to serve the target population, training in transgender health needs for frontline workers and supervisors, focus groups with transgender persons to determine priority needs, and a statewide survey of transgender persons, using web survey and mail-back options. In this presentation, we will walk through each step of the initiative, identifying barriers and facilitators and focused on measurable goals. We will present this information in an interactive format. Participants will learn to gauge the readiness of their own communities to support a public health initiative for improving organizational ability to increase healthcare access and reduce health disparities of transgender populations.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to

• Describe core components of a community-based infrastructure to improve healthcare access for underserved populations;
• Analyze the effectiveness of the Virginia Transgender Health Initiative, a multi-level community-based partnership for improving access to healthcare and related services for transgender persons;
• Assess the readiness of their own communities to undertake a public health initiative for reducing health disparities among the transgender population.

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation