Health Needs of the 2SLGBTQI+ Community in the CAF

Funding opportunity

Researchers are invited to apply for a new grant funding opportunity sponsored by Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS) Women and Diversity Health program (WDH) to conduct a research study exploring the health care needs of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members identifying with the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities, who use additional terminologies (2SLGBTQI+) community. Historically, the unique needs of this community within the CAF may not have been fully addressed by CFHS.

This study provides an opportunity to drive health care system improvement and fulsome engagement between CFHS and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. Goals include optimising health promotion and prevention, improved health risk management, and shared decision-making. This project will address historical knowledge gaps by identifying the unique health needs of CAF members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, investigating their health care utilisation and health outcomes, as well as health experiences and any perceived barriers when accessing health care through CFHS.

Anticipated timeline and budget

Background

Women and diverse populations have been historically under-researched in medicine. This has limited our knowledge of their unique health needs, including health risks, prevention, and treatment options. For these reasons, CFHS established the WDH program. WDH aims to optimize prevention and care for women and members with diverse identity factors, using an intersectional lens, to improve their physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being. This is aligned with governmental priorities and current shifts in research.

Since the inception of the WDH program in 2022, WDH has focused on establishing relationships with stakeholders and partners to identify collaborative opportunities and minimize duplication of effort, as well as to begin to identify opportunities for high priority research.

Due to the small population of the 2SLGBTQI+ community within the CAF, researchers are often required to remove these respondents from datasets entirely to protect their anonymity. While this is done with good intentions, it has unintentionally reinforced the invisibility of this community by excluding their experiences from analysis, policy-making and public health understanding. This has resulted in a large gap in knowledge about health care needs and experiences of the 2SLGBTQI+ community within the CAF.

Therefore, to better support 2SLGBTQI+ CAF members and eliminate potential barriers to care, there is a requirement to conduct a comprehensive study to better understand the health care needs of the 2SLGBTQI+ CAF members and their experiences when attempting to access or utilize our healthcare system, both in domestic home-base, OUTCAN^{Footnote 1} and deployed settings.

Research objectives

This funding opportunity is seeking submissions from researchers to conduct a mixed-methods study exploring the health care needs and experiences of CAF members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. This may be done by using research design options such as cross-sectional descriptive studies, prospective longitudinal studies, focus groups, interviews, or broad consultation (or combinations thereof).

Desired outputs

• A research study in the format of a report, including an Executive Summary, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Data analysis, Results, Discussion and References, and the other specifications as described above. The research team is encouraged to publish their findings in one or more peer-reviewed publications. Any funds needed for publication should be accounted for in the budget.
• The report should address the following objectives:
  1. conduct broad consultation with 2SLGBTQI+ CAF members, CFHS clinicians or other pertinent stakeholders;
  2. describe 2SLGBTQI+ members’ health care utilization, with particular focus on the differences from the broader CAF population;
  3. describe 2SLGBTQI+ members’ health experiences when accessing health services;
  4. identify existing barriers for 2SLGBTQI+ members when accessing CFHS health services;
  5. identify gaps in terms of knowledge or awareness among health care providers of health care options that exist for 2SLGBTQI+ members;
  6. comment on any additional considerations to optimize healthcare or wellness for 2SLGBTQI+ members in the CAF; and
  7. comment on any additional considerations or evidence relevant to developing a policy approach or strategy relating to the healthcare needs of the 2SLGBTQI+ community within the CAF.
• SAGER guidelines followed, with a detailed description of the GBA+ considerations. 
• Virtual presentation of findings to project sponsor (may take place after the project end date). 
• Knowledge translation products for WDH to utilize; and
• Quarterly progress reports provided to WDH.

Applicant qualifications and requirements

• Principal investigator on the project must have a PhD, MD or equivalent in a relevant field.
• All appropriate academic research guidelines must be followed, including a research ethics board approval from Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC) or an accredited academic institution in Canada prior to funding being issued if applicable to the method(s) selected.
• Approval from the Surgeon General Health Research Board is required. A CFHS point of contact will be provided to facilitate this process once the research proposals are selected.
• All reports, publications, and presentations resulting from this funding opportunity are required to acknowledge that the research was conducted in response to a Funding Opportunity developed and funded by the CFHS WDH.

Application deadline

Please download and submit the Research Funding Application form.

Applicants are advised to include eight weeks of administrative lead-time in their timelines. This will allow for ethics board submission and approval, and the drafting and signing of the funding agreement.

Enquiries

Questions about this funding opportunity can be sent to the VAC Research office.