Oral

In this session we will describe the purpose of the Transgender HIV Behavioral Surveillance (THBS) project and the experience of conducting it in three cities: Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. HIV/AIDS continues to have a devastating impact on vulnerable and marginalized populations such as male-to-female (MTF) transgender persons. There are no national surveillance data on the incidence or prevalence of HIV/AIDS for this at-risk population. Therefore, THBS was developed to explore the feasibility of collecting HIV-related behavioral surveillance data from minority MTF transgenders. First, the overall goals of THBS will be presented, followed by the experience and findings from each participating city, and a discussion of the unique challenges associated with using respondent driven sampling (RDS) for this population. Our findings and lessons learned will help future studies avoid some of our miss-steps. These data contribute to a snapshot of risk behaviors for minority MTF transgenders across three very different cities and represents an important step toward developing a national behavioral surveillance for MTF transgenders persons.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the THBS pilot experiences for the study sites. 2. Discuss recruitment methodologies for transgender health research.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)