Files and links (1)
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Transgender Women's Internet Survey and Testing: Protocol and Key Indicators Report
Transgender health, v 6(5)
01 Oct 2021
PMID: 34993298
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Purpose: There is a need for ongoing behavioral surveillance of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk among transgender women, using assessments adapted to this population. We therefore developed and piloted the Transgender Women's Internet Survey and Testing (TWIST) study, a cross-sectional behavioral survey of transgender women in the United States coupled with remote biospecimen collection and testing.
Methods: Participants age 15+ were recruited by using social media advertisements. Participants were eligible to take the survey if they reported male sex at birth, identified as female or as a transgender woman, resided in the United States, and reported ever having oral, vaginal, or anal sex. We examined a number of behavioral indicators by age, county population density, and medical gender affirmation treatment, using multivariable regression modeling. A sample of respondents was invited to receive a home biospecimen collection kit for HIV/STI testing.
Results: The 401 participants were mainly non-Hispanic white and younger than 25 years. Self-reported HIV prevalence was 1.3% (5/401), and almost half (47.1%, 189/401) did not know their HIV status. Receiving medical gender affirmation was strongly associated with past-year HIV and STI testing, independent of general health care engagement. Of the 155 participants invited to receive home biospecimen collection kits, 48 (31.0%) consented and of those, 21 (43.8%) returned specimens for testing.
Conclusion: This pilot study successfully reached its recruitment target and generated useful behavioral measures from an online sample of transgender women. We anticipate that online recruitment combined with self-collection of biospecimens will serve as an innovative and scalable strategy for ongoing monitoring of HIV/STI behavioral trends among U.S. transgender women.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Transgender Women's Internet Survey and Testing: Protocol and Key Indicators Report
- Creators
- Maria Zlotorzynska - Emory UniversityTravis H. Sanchez - Emory UniversityAyden I. Scheim - Drexel UniversityCarrie E. Lyons - BloombergJessica L. Maksut - BloombergJohn Mark Wiginton - BloombergStefan D. Baral - Bloomberg
- Publication Details
- Transgender health, v 6(5)
- Publisher
- Mary Ann Liebert, Inc
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- TWIST Community Advisory Board
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000716708900004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85116718303
- Other Identifier
- 991019169648304721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Psychology, Clinical
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
- Social Sciences, Biomedical