Perceived Importance of Health Concerns Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults in a Na
Friday, August 14, 2020
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Boynton MH, Gilbert J,
Shook-Sa BE, Lee JGL.
Perceived Importance of
Health Concerns Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults in a
National, Probability-Based Phone Survey, 2017.
Health Promot Pract. 2020;21(5):764-768. doi:10.1177/1524839920908226
Perceptions of the importance of health problems can drive advocacy, policy
change, resource distribution, and individual behaviors. However, little is
known about how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), that is, sexual
and gender minority (SGM) adults view the health problems facing SGM
populations. In a 2017 national, probability-based survey of U.S. SGM adults (N = 453), we asked
respondents to identify the most serious health problem facing SGM people
today. Participants also rated the seriousness of five specific health problems
(HIV/AIDS, suicide, hate crimes, harmful alcohol use, tobacco use). Analyses
accounted for the complex sampling design and were stratified by gender
identity. One quarter of U.S. SGM adults identified the most serious health
problem facing SGM people to be HIV/AIDS (95% confidence interval [20.3,
31.2]). More respondents stated there were no serious LGBT health differences
compared with straight/cisgender adults (4.2%, confidence interval [2.6, 5.9])
than identified tobacco use, hate crimes, chronic diseases, cancer, or suicide
as the most serious. Importance ratings differed by gender and tobacco/alcohol
use were perceived as less serious compared with HIV/AIDS, suicide, and hate
crimes. Attention paid to HIV/AIDS by the SGM public, while important, may
hinder efforts to address chronic diseases and other health issues affecting
SGM people.
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