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This study seeks to understand the unique experiences of gay and bisexual men who live in culturally conservative, rural communities and the implications of these experiences for the provision of health care. Researchers administered qualitative interviews to 44 individuals to determine the ways that their environments impacted their health and social behaviors. Results of this study revealed the powerful role that stigma plays in inhibiting access to health care and social support networks. The authors emphasize the need for greater discussion and awareness campaigns around stigma as an etiologic factor that impacts the health and well-being of rural gay and bisexual men. This is especially important in light of the fact that the incidence of HIV in America is particularly prevalent in rural communities where there are dispersed populations, fewer health care resources, and a lack of culturally responsive providers that understand the needs of stigmatized populations.

This resource discusses the results of the 2020 COVID-19 Resiliency Survey, which was conducted in Chicago, Illinois to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on the city during their first wave of cases. Specific focus is given to the experiences of minority groups, both racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minorities. The results show that these marginalized groups – specifically Black, Latinx, sexual minority and gender minority groups – experience more disparities in COVID-19 exposure, susceptibility, treatment access, and psychosocial effects from the pandemic. The resource offers solutions to reducing these disparities.

This report recommends that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) adopt new practices for collecting data on sex, gender, and sexual orientation — including collecting gender data by default, and not conflating gender with sex as a biological variable. The report recommends standardized language to be used in survey questions that ask about a respondent’s sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Better measurements will improve data quality, as well as the NIH’s ability to identify LGBTQI+ populations and understand the challenges they face.

Members of many underserved communities have long seen worse health outcomes, and this has been exacerbated by COVID-19. This article describes certain strategies that health departments, hospitals, universities, service providers, and others have used to engage and partner with members of underserved communities. In Chicago, health departments, hospitals, service providers, and community organizations formed an alliance that met daily to coordinate services for people experiencing homelessness. The Navajo Nation partnered with health departments and hospitals to create a health command center to get aid to people, test and contact trace, and collect funding. An alliance in Albuquerque used community based participatory research (CBPR) to complete strategic planning regarding mitigating COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness. Other cities also used CBPR or saw grassroots efforts to partner wit health departments to increase aid and funding to communities with the greatest need.

This guidebook was designed to increase equity and access in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing in Virginia. The guidelines included a health equity framework, recommendations for working with communities, common barriers to COVID-19 testing faced by the most at-risk populations, and how to identify areas with unmet testing needs. Descriptions of how to determine appropriate interventions for testing, contact tracing, and building trusting community relationships are included.

The article outlines biomedical, behavioral, and social/structural interventions to improve HIV prevention and treatment in sexual and gender minority Latinx communities. The authors emphasize the need for a combination of these types of interventions in addressing health issues like HIV and COVID-19.

This article describes the impact of COVID-19-specific adaptations at two sites delivering a federally funded substance use treatment program for people living with or at-risk of HIV in Massachusetts. The success of the adaptations varied based on the site. For example, the transition to telemedicine was successful at the STI clinic, but not the community-based organization. However, the article does identify some adaptations that were successful in each setting, and the authors report process outcomes for these adaptations. The practice strategy this article is focused on is continuity of care for people with substance use disorder who are living with or at-risk of HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article describes the rapid scale-up of adolescent telehealth services at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Division of Adolescent Medicine. While the scale-up was partially effective in reaching some underserved populations (e.g., people living with HIV, people with substance use disorder, people living with mental illness), racial disparities in visit completion rates are concerning and would need to be addressed by sites replicating this intervention to avoid exacerbating health disparities. The practice strategy this article is focused on is adolescent telehealth services.

This article identifies best practices and recommendations for providing gender-affirming telepsychology treatment to transgender and gender diverse individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The article discusses ethical and clinical issues for optimizing care. The practice strategy this article is focused on is gender-affirming mental health care.

The article presents a mental health intervention for LGBTQ+ youth delivered by telehealth. This article describes the application of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach through an online telehealth program called AFFIRM. The affirm approach covered 8 group sessions focusing on youth LGBTQ+ populations and included a brief case study highlighting the approach and feedback from one individual. Though the case study discussed in this article is brief, the Affirmative CBT model has been addressed in other studies and was found to reduce depression, mental health risks, and increase coping skills.The intervention may be useful to bridge access gaps presented by COVID-19.