Haury Foundation Grant I

Haury Grant: Advancing Community-Campus Collaborations

Community-Based Participatory Research to improve the experiences of
Transgender and Gender Diverse populations

Project Lead: Deanna Lewis, DrPH, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health

Inequitable health disparities continue to persist within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) communities, and within these communities Transgender and Gender Diverse individuals suffer high rates of adversities related to gender identity.

Improving the experiences of Transgender and Gender Diverse populations can be improved through transgender-focused research, education, and training. A recent study conducted by Reisner, et. al., 2019 (manuscript submitted to the American Journal of Public Health) suggest that the majority of accredited colleges of public health curricula does not include specific courses on diverse populations such as Transgender and Gender Diverse individuals. The University of Arizona’s Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) is one of those colleges.

As such, the lack of curricular content at MEZCOPH, on Transgender and Gender Diverse populations, perpetuates deprivation violence and social injustices against Transgender and Gender Diverse individuals in our academic environment.

This project uses a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach driven by the rich social capital of community and academic connections of the project lead. CBPR is the co-construction of research through partnerships between researchers and the people affected by, or responsible for, action on the issue under study.

Some of the benefits of participatory approaches include the creation of culturally and logistically appropriate research, enhanced recruitment, increase stakeholder capacity, improve sustainability of project goals, and greater potential for systems change.