Assessing receipt of cancer prevention services for transgender adults
Description: Transgender persons face unique health disparities that often result in worse health outcomes, with cancer risk being a significant concern. Some studies have suggested that transgender individuals may be at a higher risk of developing cancer, yet they often encounter obstacles to screening and prevention including cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, and human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination. However, studying cancer screening rates within this population has been a challenge due to the inconsistent inclusion of gender identity in medical records and many national surveys and datasets. Addressing these gaps is a research priority for the American Cancer Society, especially through leveraging large datasets to identify disparities affecting marginalized populations, including transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people. Further, social determinants of health (SDOH), including housing, employment, local policies, and area deprivation, are associated with lower rates of receipt of cancer prevention services. Thus, it is necessary to engage community members in research to identify and develop practice guidelines as well as policy and community-level interventions that address these disparities. Our goal in this Catalyst Award is to secure a data source that allows us to assess existing disparities in cancer screening and prevention among TGD people and jump-start a community advisory board to ensure we identify the individual and structural barriers TGD people face in accessing cancer screening and prevention services. To achieve our goals for this Catalyst Award, we have proposed two specific aims: Aim 1: examine the receipt of cancer screening and HPV vaccination among insured TGD people. This will highlight potential disparities in receipt of care and identify targets for interventions to improve cancer screening and prevention. Aim 2: explore TGD people’s knowledge, attitudes, and perceived barriers, facilitators, and acceptability of interventions to improve cancer screening using focus groups. These community-informed focus groups will identify opportunities to improve cancer prevention services for TGD people. Collectively, these efforts address critical, understudied issues in TGD health. This Catalyst Award primes our research program for future funding opportunities, such as an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant and establishes a community advisory board to inform and guide our research program. Our multidisciplinary team, which includes experts in transgender health, cancer screening and prevention, and advanced data analytics aims to create a national resource to inform and improve the study of preventive health services for transgender persons.
Funder: American Cancer Society
Amount: $150,000
Funding type: award
Start date: 2026-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Investigator: Carl Streed (lead)
Institutions: Boston Medical Center, Boston Medical Center Corporation
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: CAT-26-1609233-01-CAT-W25
OpenAlex ID: G5091322908