Sheroes
Culturally Relevant HIV Prevention for Transgender Women
Transgender women are an understudied and highly vulnerable group, with extremely high HIV prevalence rates especially among transgender women of color. Stigma and discrimination associated with their transgender status prevent transgender women from receiving affirmation and support as women, and they may seek this affirmation in ways that increase risk. Public health intervention research has produced no theory-driven, evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for transgender women. The unique cultural context of transgender women creates distinct risk factors that require systematic investigation and then integration into culturally relevant, community-based approaches to intervention. This project seeks to investigate unique risk factors to develop a culturally relevant HIV prevention intervention for high-risk transgender women. Such interventions are urgently needed as they have the potential to curb new HIV infections within this group and to decrease the likelihood of transgender women living with HIV transmitting the virus to their sex partners.
The specific research aims of this mentored original research are:
- To describe the role of transgender women's unique cultural context on their HIV-related risk and protective factors
- To create new and to adapt existing quantitative measures to more accurately assess psychosocial dimensions and behavior relevant to transgender women's HIV risk and protective factors
- To identify psychosocial factors associated with HIV-related sexual and injection risk behaviors and protective factors among transgender women
- To develop and test the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-driven, culturally grounded HIV prevention intervention for transgender women
Principal Investigator: Jae Sevelius, PhD
Research Assistant: Angel Ventura
NIH/NIMH Grant No: K08MH085566
Contact us for more information on the Transgender Women's Study by phone (415) 597-9183 or email: j.sevelius@ucsf.edu.
