Author(s)

Lara M. Stepleman^1*, Eliot J. Lopez¹, Wendi Rawlins², Vahé Heboyan³

¹Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.
²Department of Psychology, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.
³Department of Clinical and Digital Health Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in the United States experience a number of health disparities and unique contributing factors to them. From a research perspective, survey design and implementation challenges, such as lack of inclusion of effective items for assessing SGM status and inadequate sampling methods, remain barriers to studying SGM. The purpose of this commentary is to describe, using the National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) survey items and datasets, the primary limitations we encountered when trying to describe SGM tobacco use. Our intent is to demonstrate through use of a national dataset around a specific health disparity, the imperative for researchers to change their data collection strategies and practices around tobacco use and other healthcare priorities. Our team utilized the 2009 NATS dataset as well as the 2012 iteration to highlight significant changes between them regarding demographics, tobacco use, and access to healthcare, in addition to methodological concerns regarding sampling strategies. It is critical that researchers strive to use items for survey research that accurately capture data on marginalized groups. Additionally, careful consideration is warranted regarding strategies to identify members of these populations, changes in item wording, and changes in questions asked over time in an effort to track changes in behavior over time.

Health Disparities, LGBT, Tobacco Use, Survey Research, National Adult Tobacco Survey

Stepleman, L. , Lopez, E. , Rawlins, W. and Heboyan, V. (2017) Smoking out Health Disparities in Sexual and Gender Minorities: Lessons from the National Adult Tobacco Survey. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 1-13. doi: 10.4236/jss.2017.58001.