2004 — Incorporating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Veterans into Health Services Research

Matza AR, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Program, Office of Patient Care Services (10P4Y), VACO; Mattocks KM, VA Central Western Massachusetts; University of Massachusetts Medical School; Bloeser KJ, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC; Lehavot K, Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D), VA Puget Sound Health Care System; Blosnich JR, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System; Shipherd JC, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Program, Office of Patient Care Services (10P4Y), VACO; National Center for PTSD (116B-3);

Workshop Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants should be able to: 1) articulate relevant LGBT terms and concepts; 2) explain significant documented health disparities experienced by LGBT Veterans; 3) summarize rationale of why to include sexual orientation and gender identity in health sciences and related research; 4) describe key recommendations, including best practices of how to incorporate sexual orientation and gender identity into health sciences and related research; 5) list VA-specific LGBT health resources for researchers and providers; 5) apply relevant best practices to future health services research; and 6) extend new knowledge to compose thoughtful questions for experienced LGBT Veteran health researchers.

Activities:
All presenters are experienced LGBT researchers. Kristin Mattocks, Ph.D., M.P.H. will introduce the topic and welcome the workshop participants. (5 minutes). Katharine Bloeser, M.S.W. will help familiarize the audience with the terminology and concepts which will be used during the workshop (e.g., lesbian, transgender, MSM, etc.). (15 minutes). Keren Lehavot, Ph.D. will present an overview of health disparities affecting LGBT Veterans drawn from the research literature (10 minutes). John Blosnich, Ph.D., M.P.H will present rationale of why to include sexual orientation and gender identity in health services research. (10 minutes). Alexis Matza, Ph.D. will provide a summary and handout of best practices of how to incorporate sexual orientation and gender identity in qualitative and quantitative research. (10 minutes). Jillian Shipherd, Ph.D. will present an overview of VA-specific LGBT Veteran resources including trainings, workgroups, and SharePoints, and will disseminate a resource sheet to the audience (10 minutes). Finally, all presenters will participate in a roundtable discussion as a panel of LGBT Veteran research experts to provide an interactive question and answer session with members of the audience. The experts will impart multi-disciplinary technical guidance on all stages of LGBT research (funding, research design, other methodological concerns, publication, incorporating LGBT Veterans into non-LGBT research, etc.) (30 minutes).

Target Audience:
All VA researchers, given the minority stress associated with these demographic variables, which can impact outcomes assessed over a wide spectrum of health sciences research.

Assumed Audience Familiarity with Topic:
This workshop will provide content for researchers new to this topic as well as more experienced LGBT researchers.