Social Marginalization and Health Service Utilization among MSM and Transgender Women in San Salvador, El Salvador

A poster by Katherine Andrinopoulos (MEASURE Evaluation), John J. Hembling (MEASURE Evaluation), Flor de Maria Hernandez (TEPHINET), and Maria Elena Guardado (TEPHINET) will be featured at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. The poster, titled "Social Marginalization and Health Service Utilization among MSM and Transgender Women in San Salvador, El Salvador," will be presented as part of Poster Session 7 on Health, SES, and Neighborhoods over the Life Course. The poster session will take place April 12 beginning at 2:00PM.

Poster description:

A cross-sectional study using respondent driven sampling among men who have sex with men (n=506) and transgender women (n=164) was conducted in San Salvador (N=670, total sample) to better understand health service utilization (HSU) among this population. Participants reported physical and verbal abuse (21.6%), sexual assault (20.8%), contemplation of suicide (26.6%), illicit substance use (15.3%), and binge drinking (60.5%). Only 52.9% had disclosed their sexual orientation to family, and only 7.7% to a healthcare provider. Multivariate analysis indicate a positive association between HSU and disclosure of sexual orientation to family (aOR 2.84), a healthcare provider (aOR 3.53), and access to a healthcare provider supportive sexual minorities (aOR 3.30). HSU was negatively associated with higher levels of discrimination from a health provider (aOR 0.42). Social marginalization of sexual minorities should be addressed within the health system and wider community to increase HSU.