Research Helps Fill Data Void in Intersectional, Marginalized Communities
When Gulnar Feerasta, MSSA, MNA, Senior Director of Programs, joined the (the Center) in 2019, she had her first experience with research and the LGBTQ+ community and it changed the way she viewed research for the better. , was a partnership between the Center and the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at ǿմý. The aim of the study was to address healthcare needs of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals in Cleveland. The overarching goals were to determine whether interactive dialogues result in an increase in transgender and gender nonconforming individuals’ confidence in, access to, and use of primary care services and cultural competency for healthcare providers.
Feerasta remembers being included at the beginning of the research process (e.g., study design, recruitment) and co-creating the framework for how the study would be executed. This created a gold standard in her mind about how the Center would want to partner with researchers moving forward.
“Historically, the loop was never closed on dissemination and nobody was working with the Center to figure out how the Center could use what had been learned from the study to better serve the LGBTQ community or build a response if something was identified as a gap,” said Feerasta.
She also emphasized that working with a researcher who was a part of the LGBTQ community made a huge difference. “They understood. They get it. They’re equally invested in seeing the community-wide impact of work being done. The TRANSlate study was the first time I had ever been offered an opportunity to co-author a paper as a way of acknowledging the Center’s contributions to the work. The results of the study helped inform how to better advocate and support transgender and gender diverse folks when it comes to healthcare advocacy,” Feerasta said.
One of the ongoing challenges with research and the LGBTQ+ community is the emphasis on data that doesn’t exist. “Research is important in my work because there is not enough information about the LGBTQ+ community nor has research traditionally been looked at through an intersectional lens accounting for multiple identities that people hold. If you don’t exist in the data, you don’t exist on the radar to be taken into consideration during policy conversations directly impacting your life and your community,” Feerasta explained.
Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data is not collected at local, state or federal levels. Feerasta is on the Community Advisory Board for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey facilitated by Child and Family Health Services. In 2019, she recalls the first time they were able to ask questions related to SOGI on the survey that was completed by high school and middle school students. “That was a huge deal. Back then 17.7% of respondents identified as either L, G, B or other (the other category was a catchall because they couldn’t use the terms “transgender” or “gender diverse”). I remember thinking, ‘that is a lot of kids.’ In 2020, the survey was implemented in 60 Cuyahoga County schools from grades nine through 12. The rate increased to 25.5% of students identifying as LGBTQ+--almost 8,900 students. This helped make the case to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District about the importance of having the and other funders who support youth programming,” Feerasta declared.
Feerasta is involved as a stakeholder in a study titled “Rainbow Connection: Continuity of Care Across the Lifespan for SGM Populations,” (Rainbow Connection) funded by the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative at ǿմý and facilitated by the . Rainbow Connection aims to investigate psychological comorbidities and social support among LGBTQ+ youth with current or past foster care involvement. Additionally, the project seeks to address healthcare provision continuity for LGBTQ+ youth with current or past foster care involvement by better understanding where and how culturally competent social and healthcare services can be used. Feerasta described the unique role and impact that community centers have within communities, stating, “It’s about creating community and placemaking, safety and connection to resources. We focus on mid- to long-term impact. Everything we do at the Center should be seen through the social determinants of health.”
As the Center continues to rapidly evolve to meet community needs, Feerasta looks forward to continuing to amplify the voices and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community through research that is done with the LGBTQ+ community.
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