The transgender community has been identified as a group at high risk for HIV transmission and increased possibility for poor quality of life. This paper represents the results of a qualitative research study using interviews and Photovoice as methodologies to explore the contextual factors that define and shape the lives of people in Montana who identify as transgender, and specifically to explore factors that influence their risk of infection with HIV/AIDS. Ten major themes emerged from the interviews as well as the discussions surrounding the photographs. Sense of self was identified as a core category related to the overall health and risk behaviour of the transgender community in Montana. The other nine major categories, including 1) age of transition, 2) the importance of love, 3) availability of support, 4) passing as your identified gender, 5) normalization in society, 6) ignorance surrounding gender variance, 7) health care, 8) legal issues, and 9) life in Montana, were seen as contributing to the development of a stronger or weaker sense of self. The findings from this study will be used by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to increase awareness of the lived experience and health needs of the transgender community in Montana.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05162014-104544 |
| Date | 03 June 2014 |
| Creators | von Gohren, Anna Grace |
| Contributors | Dr. Annie Sondag, Dr. Annie Belcourt, Dr. Gene Burns |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05162014-104544/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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