| dc.description.abstract | Background
Preventive healthcare screenings and tests aid the process of diagnosing and improving
one’s overall health by identifying a disease before symptoms are felt or seen by an individual.
Within preventive healthcare, cancer screenings play a fundamental role as cancer remains one of
the leading causes of death within the United States. Although cancer screenings aid in the
process of treating cancer early, there are barriers to care that concern the population of
LGBTQ+ individuals. The purpose of this honors thesis is to bring awareness to certain cancer
screenings, like breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer, and the factors that may influence access
to screenings and care, such as anti-LGBTQ+ policies and legislations, discrimination, access to
LGBTQ-affirming healthcare providers, and etc. Furthermore, this paper will touch on how
certain aspects of access to care facilitate older LGBTQ+ access and engagement in cancer
screenings that are appropriate for their age and gender.
Methods
Quantitative data obtained from the Vanderbilt University Social Networks, Aging, and
Policy Study (VUSNAPS), which identified information on relationships, aging, and health for
LGBTQ+ individuals in the South, was used to find comparative data concerning access to
preventative care tests or screenings as well as access to LGBTQ-affirming health care providers.
The study was conducted on the LGBTQ+ population in order to better understand the
relationships and to further gauge how crucial life events, such as marriage, jobs, retirement,
illness, and relocation, can impact relationships in terms of physical and emotional support. The
data was collected from April 2020 to September 2021 from participants who are within the age
range of 50 to 76 from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These participants
were recruited through community outreach at LGBTQ+ organizations and events as well as
through social media.
Results
The results of this study using the Vanderbilt University Social Networks, Aging, and
Policy Study (VUSNAPS) Wave 1 data demonstrate that compared to the participants reporting a
usual source of the care that was not LGBTQ-affirming, participants with an LGBTQ+ affirming
provider were more likely to have ever and recently engaged in preventive care. For the
colorectal screening in lifetime, those who had access to an affirming provider were more likely
ever to have a colorectal cancer screening (81.9% compared to the 73.8%). However, there were
no observed significant differences between having an affirming provider in the timely and
lifetime receipt of the Pap Smear for cervical cancer and the mammogram screenings for breast
cancer amongst women and transgender women.
Conclusion/Implications
It is important to determine these significant relationships as there is a lack of LGBTQ+
research that currently exists as well as a need for better education for LGBTQ+ medicine in
order to address these health disparities that do exist as well as to improve the health outcomes of
the aging LGBTQ+ population. | en_US |
