Posters
Academic Level (Author 1)
Medical Student
Discipline/Specialty (Author 1)
Internal Medicine
Discipline Track
Community/Public Health
Abstract
Background: Health literacy has been elicited as a barrier to healthcare amongst LGBT individuals. Social media has become a popular force in transmitting health information, but often time lacks evidence-based information.
Aims/purpose: The TikTok channel GenderDefenders was created to address the lack of reliable evidence-based information for transgender and gender-non conforming (TGNC) individuals.
Methods: Data was collected from current TikTok videos that were tagged with TGNC terminology to identify gaps in knowledge and commonly asked questions. Themes were selected and educational video recordings were created using WPATH and UCSF guidelines for transgender healthcare. Some topics included what types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are available, how to administer HRT, and what transgender people could expect at their first HRT visit.
Results: Over the 12-day course of the pilot program, the project impact was tracked through the number of followers, likes and views. In addition, as questions came through the comments they were addressed with reply videos.
Conclusion: The TikTok platform allowed for ease of garnering views and interaction through searchable tags such as transgender, HRT, and transhealthcare. It also cultivated a space for answering questions from transgender individuals navigating their own care. The ease and feasibility of transmitting evidence based medical knowledge through this platform were upheld. It may be possible to apply this method of information sharing for other public health and medicine issues.
Presentation Type
Poster
Recommended Citation
Mittal, Isha and Cordoba Kissee, Michelle, "Improving Health Literacy Among Transgender/ Gender Non-Conforming People Using Social Media" (2023). Research Colloquium. 18.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/colloquium/2022/posters/18
Included in
Community Health Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons
Improving Health Literacy Among Transgender/ Gender Non-Conforming People Using Social Media
Background: Health literacy has been elicited as a barrier to healthcare amongst LGBT individuals. Social media has become a popular force in transmitting health information, but often time lacks evidence-based information.
Aims/purpose: The TikTok channel GenderDefenders was created to address the lack of reliable evidence-based information for transgender and gender-non conforming (TGNC) individuals.
Methods: Data was collected from current TikTok videos that were tagged with TGNC terminology to identify gaps in knowledge and commonly asked questions. Themes were selected and educational video recordings were created using WPATH and UCSF guidelines for transgender healthcare. Some topics included what types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are available, how to administer HRT, and what transgender people could expect at their first HRT visit.
Results: Over the 12-day course of the pilot program, the project impact was tracked through the number of followers, likes and views. In addition, as questions came through the comments they were addressed with reply videos.
Conclusion: The TikTok platform allowed for ease of garnering views and interaction through searchable tags such as transgender, HRT, and transhealthcare. It also cultivated a space for answering questions from transgender individuals navigating their own care. The ease and feasibility of transmitting evidence based medical knowledge through this platform were upheld. It may be possible to apply this method of information sharing for other public health and medicine issues.