VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - On April 20, Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC), Egale Canada, The Enchanté Network, and 2 Spirits in Motion Society will launch a groundbreaking national survey to investigate the current state of health among Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, and other sexually and gender diverse people (2SLGBTQQIA+) in Canada.
“Our communities have long faced challenges when it comes to our health and well-being,” says Nathan Lachowsky of the University of Victoria, the Principal Investigator for this project and Research Director at CBRC. “Conducting a Canada-wide 2SLGBTQQIA+ survey during this pandemic ⎯ which is further changing the ways we work, socialize, get support, and build community ⎯ will help us tell politicians, policy-makers, and service providers about the challenges and needs of our communities.”
Participants will be asked a series of questions about their mental and physical health, their sex lives and relationships, caregiving, community connection, discrimination and violence, substance use, economic impacts, housing, and how they have been coping under COVID-19. The study team especially wants to hear from community members who are living with chronic health conditions (e.g.: diabetes, cancer, fibromyalgia, etc.) to ensure that people living with conditions that are often under-represented or less understood are included in this work.
“Health research has an opportunity to use an intersectional lens ⎯ with the pandemic's distinct impact on 2SLGBTQQIA+ community members living with chronic health conditions,” says Anu Radha Verma, CBRC’s 2SLGBTQQIA+ Chronic Health Research Manager. “We want to honour individual and collective experiences, while advocating for systemic change."
All data collected will be used to advocate for programs, services, and policies that better support the health and well-being of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada. The survey takes about 30-60 minutes to complete and will be available in English, French and Spanish.
The link to the survey is: https://www.cbrc.net/our_health.
Prevalence of COVID-19 in 2SLGBTQQIA+ Communities
As part of the survey, participants will have the option of receiving a COVID-19 antibody test in the mail. The goal of this intervention is to collect information on how many 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada got SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Participants will be asked to complete a Dried Blood Spot (DBS) test and return the sample to our affiliate laboratory in a prepaid envelope. This test is confidential, and participants can decide whether they want to receive the results. They can also choose to have their sample tested for HIV, hepatitis C, and/or syphilis.
All participants will receive a small honorarium for completing the survey, with those completing a DBS test receiving an additional honorarium.
The Our Health: Canada-Wide 2SLGBTQQIA+ Community Survey is funded by Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and the Public Health Agency of Canada, with testing support provided by the National Microbiology Laboratory.
For more information, please visit https://www.cbrc.net/our_health.
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For interviews, please contact:
Christopher DiRaddo
CBRC’s Associate Director, Communications
[email protected]
Michael Ianni
CBRC’s Media Relations Officer
[email protected]
604.345.7689
url="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/cbrc/pages/2298/attachments/original/1649803179/Our_Health_press_release_final_April_20.pdf?1649803179
