HIV / STI
House-Ball Community as a Social Determinant of HIV Outcomes Among Transgender Women of Color Alexander Furuya* Alexander Furuya Furuya Furuya Furuya Furuya Furuya Furuya Columbia University
Background: The New York City house-ball scene has historically been a community for queer people of color to form chosen families and social networks. We investigated the impact of house-ball participation on HIV care and prevention outcomes among transgender women of color (TWOC) living in New York City.
Methods: We drew data from participants enrolled in the prospective cohort study called the Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighborhoods Among Transgender Women of Color (TURNNT) Cohort Study. From 2020 to 2022, the research team recruited 179 participants who identified as TWOC and asked them about their participation in the house-ball scene (never, former, current), and their status-neutral HIV care and prevention outcomes, including HIV/STI testing, condom use, Pr1EP use, and HIV viral load suppression. We used Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation (TMLE) to estimate the causal relative risk of house-ball participation on these baseline outcomes; we included age, education, income, and US-born nativity as potential confounders.
Results: We found that 6.7% were currently participating in the house-ball scene, 20.7% formerly participated in the scene, and 72.1% never participated. Among TWOC living with HIV (n=94; 52.5%), we found a positive effect of current participation in the house-ball scene on past six-month STI testing compared to never participation (Relative Risk: 1.20, 95% CI: [1.07, 1.33]). Among TWOC not living with HIV (n=85; 45.7%), we found a positive effect of current participation in the house-ball scene on past six-month HIV testing (Relative Risk: 1.27, 95% CI: [1.11, 1.40]).
Conclusions: Community, network connections, and exposure to health campaigns within the house-ball scene may enable and motivate individuals to achieve better HIV care and prevention outcomes.