Transgender HIV prevention: implementation and evaluation of a workshop

Abstract

Virtually no HIV prevention education has specifically targeted the transgender community. To fill this void, a transgender HIV prevention workshop was developed, implemented and evaluated. A 4 h workshop, grounded in the Health Belief Model and the Eroticizing Safer Sex approach, combined lectures, videos, a panel, discussion, roleplay and exercises. Evaluation using a pre-, post-and follow-up test design showed an increase in knowledge and an initial increase in positive attitudes that diminished over time. Due to the small sample size (N ⍧ 59) and limited frequency of risk behavior, a significant decrease in unsafe sexual or needle practices could not be demonstrated. However, findings suggested an increase in safer sexual behaviors such as (mutual) masturbation. Peer support improved significantly. Future prevention education should make special efforts to target the more difficult-to-reach, high-risk subgroups of the transgender population.

Life Skills: Evaluation of a Theory-Driven Behavioral HIV Prevention Intervention for Young Transgender Women

“…Bockting and colleagues (1999) published data on 59 predominantly White transgender women (mean age=41.76 years) attending a 4-hour workshop grounded in the Health Belief Model and eroticizing a safer sex approach. 4 An immediate posttest and 2-month follow-up design showed an increase in knowledge and initial increase in positive attitudes toward safer sex practices that waned over time. No reduction in sexual risk behaviors was demonstrated.…”

Rapid HIV Testing in Transgender Communities by Community-Based Organizations in Three Cities

“…7,8 Broadly, the term includes the following groups: transsexuals, people who may pursue (or would like to pursue) hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery to change their physical characteristics; transgenderists, people who express characteristics of another gender, but do not necessarily pursue changes to their physical characteristics; bigenderists, people who identify with and/or express characteristics of both genders; cross-dressers or transvestites, people who desire to wear the clothes of another gender; drag queens or kings, often gay men or lesbians who dress as and take on behaviors of another gender; and female or male impersonators, generally men or women who impersonate another gender for entertainment. [7][8][9][10] The meaning and usage of these terms has varied over time and can vary among individuals. 10 The range of terminology reflects the varying degrees to which individuals do not follow traditional gender roles and the multiplicity of factors that bear upon how individuals experience and express gender, including biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.…”

Girlfriends: Evaluation of an HIV-Risk Reduction Intervention for Adult Transgender Women

“…Previous evaluations of HIV interventions have demonstrated an increase in knowledge and positive attitudes toward safer sex (Bockting, Rosser, & Scheltema, 1999) and have shown reductions in sexual risk behavior (Bockting et al, 2005;Nemoto, Operario, Keatley, Nguyen, & Sugano, 2005). However, these studies recruited predominantly White participants.…”