Meet us where we're at: Understanding needs, preferences and acceptability of sexual and reproductive health testing, contraceptives and counselling outside of traditional clinical settings

  • Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
  • Total publications:0 publications

Grant number: 202110LGL

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19
  • Start & end year

    2021
    2022
  • Known Financial Commitments (USD)

    $158,000
  • Funder

    Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
  • Principal Investigator

    N/A

  • Research Location

    Canada
  • Lead Research Institution

    University of Victoria
  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A
  • Research Category

    Policies for public health, disease control & community resilience

  • Research Subcategory

    Community engagement

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    Not applicable

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Unspecified

  • Vulnerable Population

    Sexual and gender minorities

  • Occupations of Interest

    Unspecified

Abstract

2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada have unique needs and experience barriers within sexual and reproductive health care (SRHC), where many providers have little knowledge of our experiences, bodies, or sexual and reproductive health needs. During COVID-19, access to traditional in-person clinical care shifted dramatically. For 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities the pandemic exacerbated issues in access, while also introducing new options like virtual care. Access to in-person health services was reduced, there were greater challenges in accessing fertility clinics, abortion services, and surgical procedures, including gender affirming surgeries (considered non-urgent by the health system). At the same time, health care providers in many provincial contexts began providing virtual care, such as STBBI testing, HIV care and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) appointments. Led by the Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC), in collaboration with our project partners, we seek to identify 2SLGBTQQIA+ community needs, preferences, and acceptability of SRHC outside of traditional clinical settings, with a focus on community members who face intersecting forms of oppression; to understand the experiences, challenges and learnings of SRHC providers in non-traditional clinical care settings; and identify recommendations for policy and practice changes. Utilizing a community-based research approach, informed by decolonization, intersectionality and sex and gender based analysis (SGBA+), research activities are (a) secondary analysis of survey that CBRC have collected through its national 2SLGBTQQIA+ COVID-19 study; (b) English & French qualitative interviews with SRHC providers who support 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities; (c) English & French qualitative focus groups with 2SLGBTQQIA+ community members who have accessed SRHC; (d) development of resources to support the implementation of community-oriented approaches to proiding SRHC to 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities.