UCSF Launches Study to Examine LGBTQ Community's “Unique Health Care Disparities”

UCSF launched the first large-scale, long-term health of study of LGBTQ people on Thursday.

Conducted by doctors and researchers at University of California, San Francisco, through either a smart phone application or their website. The PRIDE Study asks users to answer demographic surveys, share health data and complete various activities. It also suggests research topics and allows users to engage in dialogue with others.

According to the UCSF website, the first phase is gathering and understanding the basic demographic data. The second phase, which is expected to start in six-to-nine months, will be creating questions to be answered by its users in a more long-term study.

The goal of the study is to inform and improve the health of LGBTQ people. They want to know how being LGBTQ affects your health. According to the organizations website they study the “unique health care disparities, strengths, and resiliencies of our communities.”

The LGBTQ community deals with discrimination and a “lack of information about how our identities affect our health,” the website adds.

The PRIDE Study, unlike most health studies, will focus more on basic information about the individual, like exercise, disease factors, and unique strengths.

Co-director of the program Mitchel R. Lunn’s interest began when he realized how little he knew about the healthcare injustices LGBTQ people face.

“As an out gay man, I feel connected to LGBTQ populations with a sense of responsibility to improve the quality of data available with the overarching goal to improve health.”

The study is a long term project, and initial results will likely be shown in one year.

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