Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study (THIS), 2005-2006 (ICPSR 31721)
Version Date: Sep 24, 2015 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Judith B. Bradford, Fenway Community Health. Fenway Institute
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR31721.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study (THIS) was a multi-phase, multi-year project to improve the health of transgender Virginians. THIS included a quantitative survey, conducted from September 2005 to July 2006 with 387 respondents and a final analysis sample of 350, including 229 MTFs (male-to-females) and 121 FTMs (female-to-males). Participants were drawn from 60 of the 136 cities and counties in Virginia. The conceptual model that guided the study posits that transgenderism and its associated social stigma are root causes of poor health status, producing societal factors such as the prioritization of access to transgender-related medical services by transgender people, health care provider ignorance of transgender health, discrimination, and low self-esteem. These societal factors produce mediating factors such as provider hostility/insensitivity, lack of health insurance, insurance failure to cover transgender care, poverty, sex work, substance abuse, and gender identity validation through sex. The final products of these mediators are direct risk factors including self-medication with transgender hormones, injection silicone use, unprotected sex, and injection drug use. The survey measured demographics, access to regular medical services, access to transgender care services, employment discrimination, housing discrimination, sexual and physical violence, social support and self-esteem, suicidal ideation and attempts, substance abuse and tobacco use, HIV knowledge and perception of risk, HIV risk behaviors, HIV testing and status, and access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services. Demographic variables include sex, gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, age, language, education, birthplace, residency status, income, and occupation.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
county
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Public and restricted versions of the data are included in this collection. Due to the sensitive nature of the restricted data, users will need to complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement before they can obtain the restricted version. These forms can be accessed on the download page associated with these data.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
-
The Virginia Transgender Task Force (TTF) included individuals from across the state of Virginia who were community members, service providers, and other allies. Created prior to developing the study design, the TTF provided guidance and assistance throughout development and implementation of the survey, and spoke about the study to community and professional audiences. Support for TTF meetings and travel to central locations was provided by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Division of Disease Prevention. VDH continues to support the TTF, providing staff and resources to improve access to healthcare and related services for transgender communities throughout the state.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study (THIS) was a multi-phase, multi-year project to improve the health of transgender Virginians. The conceptual model that guided the study posits that transgenderism and its associated social stigma are root causes of poor health status, producing societal factors such as the prioritization of access to transgender-related medical services by transgender people, health care provider ignorance of transgender health, discrimination, and low self-esteem.
Sample View help for Sample
community-based
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Individuals aged 18 years and older who lived in or attended school in Virginia during the data collection period and who self-identified as transgender.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
surveys
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The survey instrument includes demographic variables such as gender identity, sexual orientation, age, race, preferred language, housing status, education, income, children, and employment status. Additionally, the survey covers a broad range of areas that impact transgender people. These include hormone use, surgeries, access to health care, health care utilization, health-related practices, health screening, HIV status, HIV-related care, alternative health practices, mental health (including physical and sexual abuse, substance), sexual behavior, relationships and supports.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2015-09-23
Version History View help for Version History
- Bradford, Judith B. Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study (THIS), 2005-2006. ICPSR31721-v1. Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University. Community Health Research Initiative/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributors], 2015-09-24. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR31721.v1
2015-09-23 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Standardized missing values.
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.