Project 459440

In 2016, the AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Area and the local Rainbow Community Council conducted an online needs assessment of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people living, working, or attending school in the Waterloo Region, Ontario. They asked questions about demographics and local service and space access of 526 participants. The survey found that, while most trans participants had a regular primary healthcare provider, 73% felt unsafe in medical offices, and 30% avoided these. Further, 68% of racialized newcomers had access to primary care vs. 85% of non-racialized newcomers. While useful for service delivery, this survey did not capture health status (i.e. specific health conditions/self-rated health) or the full spectrum of social determinants of health, nor lifecourse experiences (age at coming out to family, friends). There was an inability to go deeper into experiences of some subgroups (for example, nonbinary racialized persons). With this, we will conduct a community-based, mixed-methods study to create a health snapshot of 2SLGBTQ+ people in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Over one year, the study will survey 1,000 local LGBTQIA/2S and interview 50 individuals. Interviews will ensure in-depth information with an intersectional breadth of genders, ethnoracial identities, Indigeneities, and sexual orientations is collected. Using a community-based approach, we will meet regularly, create a Terms of Reference document to guide decision-making to ensure community voices are represented and given power and agency to guide data collection, interpretation, and dissemination phases of the project. Findings will be used by local communities and agencies to inform programming and create discussion about local experiences of health and wellness. We will create online reports, infographics, town hall meetings, conference presentations, and academic manuscripts to share findings.