# Engaging Transgender Veterans with Communication Technology

> **NIH VA I21** · RLR VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Background: Transgender Veterans die by suicide at twice the rate of cisgender (non-transgender) Veterans.
Depression is a risk factor for suicide. Neither the mental healthcare utilization patterns of transgender
Veterans with depression, nor the barriers to care experienced by these Veterans, are well understood.
Significance/Impact: A 2018 VA directive, Providing Health Care for Transgender Veterans, affirmed the VA’s
commitment to addressing health disparities among transgender Veterans. As the number of transgender
Veterans increases, so too, does the importance of this commitment. Addressing the mental health needs of
transgender Veterans is timely, given the high prevalence of depression and suicidality in this population. The
results of this pilot will inform efforts to meet the goals of the directive.
Innovation: This pilot study will be the first study to describe the mental healthcare utilization patterns of
transgender Veterans with depression using VA data. It is innovative in its focus on a marginalized population
for whom the barriers to, and utilization of, mental healthcare, have not been well understood. Furthermore, it
is innovative in its examination of potential of communication technology to address barriers to care.
Specific Aims The proposed work has the following three specific aims.
Aim 1: Characterize mental health utilization patterns of transgender Veterans diagnosed with
depression. We will identify and compare the mental healthcare utilization rates of transgender Veterans with
depression and a matched cohort of cisgender Veterans with depression.
Aim 2: Identify and describe the facilitators and barriers for transgender Veterans in accessing
depression treatment, and their experiences using communication technology to access or coordinate
related care. We will conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with transgender patients to understand
their care experiences, and the role that communication technology plays, if any, in those experiences.
Aim 3: Design and plan an intervention to overcome barriers to mental healthcare for transgender
Veterans with depression. We will elicit iterative feedback from key stakeholder groups to inform the design
of a strategy to address barriers identified in Aim 2.
Methodology: This project has a mixed-methods design. In Aim 1, the mental healthcare utilization patterns of
transgender and cisgender patients diagnosed with depression will be compared. In Aim 2, we will elicit the
perspectives and experiences of transgender Veterans with depression, to inform the patterns we observe in
Aim 1, and conduct in-depth interviews to contextualize the care-seeking experiences of transgender Veterans
with depression, to identify and understand their facilitators and barriers to care. In Aim 3, the quantitative
results of Aim 1 and the qualitative results of Aim 2 will be integrated and incorporated into the design of an
intervention strategy sensitive to the needs of this ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10995258
- **Project number:** 5I21HX003178-03
- **Recipient organization:** RLR VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL WEINER
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10995258

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10995258, Engaging Transgender Veterans with Communication Technology (5I21HX003178-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10995258. Licensed CC0.

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