225722 Tales of Two Cities: Access to Care and Services among African American Transgender Women in Oakland and San Francisco

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tooru Nemoto, PhD , Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
Maria Sakata, MA , Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
Mariko Iwamoto, MA , Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
Toni Moore , Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
Objective: The study aimed to describe the differences in access to care and unmet needs between African American transgender women residing in Oakland and San Francisco in relation to their social support, transgender community identity, and background variables.

Methods: A total of 235 African American transgender women (18 years and over; having history of sex work) were recruited in Oakland (n=123) and San Francisco (n=112) and interviewed using a structured survey questionnaire.

Results: The participants recruited from Oakland showed a significantly higher number of unmet needs for basic assistance, health care, and mental health services than those from San Francisco. Oakland participants reported receiving more social support from family, transgender friends, and non-transgender friends; however, expressed more needs for social support. A multiple regression analysis revealed that unmet needs were significantly higher among those living in Oakland and having lower levels of education, transgender community identity, and receiving support from family.

Conclusion: People perceive differences in the access to health care and social services between Oakland and San Francisco. This study first presented scientific data describing the differences between two cities in terms of unmet needs for health care and social services among transgender women. Oakland needs to develop transgender sensitive programs. Also, health promotion programs need to address and expand their positive social support networks and transgender community activities.

Learning Areas:
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1)Identify the differences in unmet needs among African American transgender women who resided in Oakland and San Francisco, 2)Describe that social support and transgender community involvement were negatively correlated with unmet needs and might help to reduce their unmet needs, 3)Discuss about the implications for developing future health promotion programs for African American transgender women.

Keywords: African American, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I develop and oversee community based HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention and intervention studies.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.

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