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336695
Inclusive HIV Surveillance: Transgender Identity in Tennessee


Sunday, November 1, 2015

Shanell McGoy, PhD, MPH, Section of HIV/STDs, Tennessee Department of Health, Nashville, TN
Lindsey Sizemore, MPH, CPH, HIV/STD, Tennessee Department of Health, Nashville, TN
The Transgender community is often stigmatized and marginalized. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV prevalence for transgender women (male-to-female) was nearly 50 times as high as for other adults of reproductive age (CDC, 2013). The purpose of this study was to identify current transgender data reporting in Tennessee within the Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System (eHARS) database and to target areas for data collection improvement (CDC, 2014).

Tennessee HIV surveillance activities have collected data on transgender individuals since August 2007; however, there has been no uniform procedure among HIV service providers or Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) for collecting or reporting this data. Using SAS 9.3, data from the Tennessee eHARS database was aggregated for all individuals living with HIV in the state of Tennessee as of December 31, 2013 (n=16,063). The variables birth_sex and current_gender within the eHARS person dataset were examined to ascertain the frequency and percentage of individuals who had a response for current_gender.

There were 27 individuals identified as having a discordant birth_sex and current_gender in the final eHARS dataset and all were classified as transgender and included in this analysis. Of these individuals identified as transgender, 51.9% (n=14) were transgender women (male-to-female) and the remaining 48.1% (n=13) were those with either male or female listed as their current_gender.

With the additional training of DIS and HIV providers, development of a new adult case report form, and the inclusion of transgender in routine surveillance activities, collection of transgender data will become standardized in Tennessee.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Assess current transgender data reporting practices among those living with HIV in Tennessee and target specific areas for data collection improvement.

Keyword(s): HIV/AIDS, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am currently a HIV Surveillance Epidemiologist at the Tennessee Department of Health. Previously, I worked for Arkansas Children's Hospital as the Qualitative Research Analyst for the federally funded Mother, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) research grant and at the Arkansas Department of Health as the sole HIV Prevention, STD Prevention, and Ryan White epidemiologist. My research interests include HIV acquisition as it relates to sexual minorities as well as perinatal HIV transmission.
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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