“Doing It on My Own Terms”: Transgender and Nonbinary Adults’ Experiences with HPV Self-Swabbing Home Testing Kits

Abstract

The human papillomavirus (HPV) carries a significant health risk for people with a cervix. Among transgender and nonbinary people, however, testing and treatment for HPV can pose difficulties and even be traumatic at times. This study is part of a larger mixed-methods study conducted in Michigan in 2020, and it explores the experiences of transmasculine and nonbinary people with at-home self-swabbing HPV test kits and knowledge of HPV transmission/screenings. Phenomenological qualitative methods were used by conducting virtual qualitative interviews with ten transmasculine and nonbinary individuals with cervixes, ages 23–59. Interviews were independently coded by members of the research team and a tabletop theming method was used. Four themes were generated from the data: (1) multilevel barriers; (2) “get it done, so I know that I am safe”; (3) contrasting preferences for care; and (4) community calls for change. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for improving sexual health care for the transgender and nonbinary community, along with directions for further research.

KEYWORDS::

• Transgender
• nonbinary
• HPV
• self-swabbing
• pap test
• qualitative
• tabletop theming
• phenomenological

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center [NIH grant P30CA046592]. Social media recruitment and data management was supported by the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research [CTSA grant UL1TR002240].