Public Health Researchers Win Data Contract to Study LGBTQ Health Disparities
Faculty Associates Jessica Fish and Bradley Boekeloo from School of Public Health recently won a competitive data contract to access Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) national healthcare consumer data to study LGBTQ disparities.
The research team, led by Jessica Fish, submitted a proposal which includes three aims:
- Test sexual orientation and gender identity differences in healthcare access and experiences using adjusted weighted regression models;
- examine sexual orientation differences in mental and behavioral healthcare, including access and experiences;
- estimate serial trends in healthcare and experience by sexual orientation using adjusted weighted time-series trend regression models, especially after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
As Dr. Fish noted, "Up until this point, we’ve been very restricted in our access to data on healthcare access and experiences for LGBTQ individuals." The new dataset from AAMC includes the respondents' experiences in differences in care, which is unprecedented.
Given there remains limited population-level data that document the adverse mental health and healthcare experiences of sexual and gender identity minority (SGIM) people in the US, this new data contract will allow the research to contribute to the study of healthcare in disparities among the SGIM group and inform strategies to address the SGIM-related health disparities in mental, behavioral, and physical health.