Project Summary
Washington, D.C., is home to a large sexual minority and gender nonconforming population, with approximately 9–11 percent of residents identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ). D.C. has the second highest proportion of transgender-identified residents of any U.S. state (2.3 percent). LGBTQ communities represent a considerable proportion of D.C.’s population, yet a dearth of information exists to adequately describe the health conditions and healthcare experiences of D.C.’s LGBTQ residents. Building the Foundation for Community-Led Research to Eliminate LGBTQ Cancer Disparities is a PCORI Pipeline to Proposal (P2P) project that seeks to build capacity for community-engaged research that will help fill this gap with a specific emphasis on addressing LGBTQ needs along the cancer care continuum.
During Tier I, we successfully established a Community Advisory Board (CAB) and made progress toward our overarching goal of developing a comparative effectiveness research (CER) project by hosting two community conversations to determine research interests among a subpopulation of the LGBTQ community. In Tier II, we aim to do the following:
- Conduct four additional community conversations to gather information about LGBTQ cancer-related health needs and research interests.
- Implement our recruitment plan to expand our community–academic partnership and grow the current CAB, and provide additional engagement opportunities for patients in particular.
- Prioritize the community’s top health needs and research interests for which a CER study can be developed to address known cancer disparities impacting the LGBTQ community.
- Develop a research question that will guide the development of our CER proposal in Tier III.