Culturally Safe Nursing Care for Black Sex Workers in the Greater Chicago Area, 2020‒2021.

Complex structural and social factors have created health inequities for Black sex workers. Black people, including those engaged in transactional sex, report leaning on spiritual beliefs to guide health-related decision-making, including whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Public health nurses can improve the health of Black sex workers through culturally safe care, which may include a community-stated vision of spiritual support. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(S3):S288-S291. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306836).

A Qualitative Study to Inform Adaptation of MyPEEPS Mobile for Transmasculine Youth.

Our team developed MyPEEPS (Male youth Pursuing Empowerment, Education, and Prevention around Sexuality) Mobile-a health application for young cisgender men who have sex with men to promote health and reduce sexual risk. The current study sought to better understand approaches for adapting MyPEEPS for transmasculine youth. METHODS: Transmasculine youth, ages 13-18 years, who reported attraction to or sex with cisgender men were recruited to participate in focus groups in four major cities in the United States. RESULTS: Overall, participants found MyPEEPS Mobile to be a useful educational platform for sexual health education. Participants discussed expansions of the MyPEEPS Mobile App to address interpersonal concerns and provision of a holistic approach to health promotion for transmasculine youth. Detailed suggestions for improvement included personalization; transmasculine inclusivity and relatability; expansion of population-specific educational components; and improvements to functionality, images, and graphics. CONCLUSIONS: While MyPEEPS Mobile has educational components, adaptations are needed to address specific needs of TMY and optimize user-centered design for feasibility and efficacy. If tailored to the lives of transmasculine youth, MyPEEPS has the potential to promote HIV preventive behavior.

"Feeling Safe, Feeling Seen, Feeling Free": Combating stigma and creating culturally safe care for sex workers in Chicago.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have established that sex workers experience discrimination and stigma within healthcare settings, limiting their access and receipt of culturally safe care. These barriers impact sex workers' ability and desire to routinely engage with the healthcare system. Community empowerment interventions that are culturally safe offer an effective strategy to improve access to services and health outcomes for sex workers. OBJECTIVES: This project was designed to inform the development of community empowerment interventions for sex workers by understanding their self-management, health promotion, and harm reduction needs. METHODS: In-depth interviews (N = 21) were conducted with sex workers in Chicago. Transcripts of individual interviews were analyzed in Dedoose using rapid content analysis. RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 32.7 years; 45% identified as White, 20% as Black, 15% as Latinx, and 20% as multiple races; 80% identified as Queer. A total of 52% of participants identified as cisgender women, 33% as transgender or gender fluid, 10% as cisgender men, and 5% declined to answer. Themes of self-management practices, stigmatizing and culturally unsafe experiences with healthcare providers, and the prohibitive cost of healthcare emerged as consistent barriers to routinely accessing healthcare. Despite identifying patient-centered care as a desired healthcare model, many participants did not report receiving care that was respectful or culturally responsive. Themes also included developing strategies to identify sex worker-safe care providers, creating false self-narratives and health histories in order to safely access care, and creating self-care routines that serve as alternatives to primary care. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate how patient-centered care for sex-workers in Chicago might include holistic wellness exercises, accessible pay scales for services, and destigmatizing healthcare praxis. Focus on culturally safe healthcare provision presents needs beyond individualized, or even community-level, interventions. Ongoing provider training and inbuilt, systemic responsivity to patient needs and contexts is crucial to patient-centered care.