Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Public Health

Advisor

JENNIFER ROTHAMEL

Abstract

AbstractThe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence rate is 70 times higher for African American transgender women than in the general population. Despite decades of outreach and intervention effort to reduce HIV incidence in the transgender community by the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transexual, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) community and public health organizations, the HIV prevalence rate for transgender women remains high at 38%. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to gain insights into how attitude, subjective social norms, and perceived behavioral control influence HIV risk behaviors of African American transgender women in Connecticut. Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior provided the theoretical framework for addressing the research question. A purposive sample of eight African American transgender females were interviewed for 20 to 60 minutes via videoconferencing. The transgender community was very suspicious of the research, which made recruitment challenging. Thematic content analysis was employed for data analysis Findings confirmed earlier research that African American transgender females experience discrimination, physical abuse, forced sex, and are more likely to become sex workers and abuse drugs and alcohol, which is associated with clinical anxiety, depression, and related mental health disorders. Recommendations include creation of interventions that integrate African American transgender females to address community mistrust and suspicion. In conclusion, the transgender female community suffers from discrimination and violence and future research is needed to develop outreach methods to provide a safe supportive environment for healing. The study advanced knowledge on the causes of excess African American transgender HIV risk as a starting point for public health policy makers to target interventions.

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