Lesbian Health Survey- Can you help this PhD Student?? PLEASE!!
 

I am a PhD student at Virginia Tech, in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, & Exercise. My focus is in behavioral science, that is nutrition
and physical activity habits, as they influence overweight and obesity. My dissertation, specifically, is dedicated to the investigation of overweight/obesity within the lesbian community. As a lesbian, this is a topic about which I am passionately dedicated to making a difference, and conducting this study is one way I can make a positive contribution in my community. But, to do so, I need your help!

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Our community is an extremely difficult population to identify and to research. As a result, not much is known about our health and wellness behaviors, rendering us particularly vulnerable when it comes to treating illness and disease. My hope is that my dissertation findings will be a starting point for addressing important health issues within the lesbian community. As such, if you would be willing to take the following anonymous survey (it will take approximately 30 mins) regarding your leisure-time activities and eating habits that would be great. Additionally, if you would be willing to pass it along to other lesbian friends and family, that would be sincerely appreciated! My hope is recruit 250 respondents; and, currently I have about 80 respondents.

Lastly, although most importantly, THANK YOU!


The survey can be found at the following link:
http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser...CCD687C6D5D086

can someone validate this is legit? i clicked and got a strange page, with Next on it. Call me paranoid but it could be a virus or it could be a scam or it could be a group trying to get information on our community.

The profile is weak, the information is vague and they just joined.

Did they approach Jack or Medusa? Or any of the mods? Ethically that is what a student or researcher should and professionally would do.

click thru - it's a survey.

I'm at work so I haven't done it. While I can't attest to who the person is, and though it says the university name etc (VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY), I can only say it's a survey. It doesn't seem at first glance to ask any identifying info, looks like it will aggregate data.

its not going to steal your soul far as I can tell. :)

I'll probably do it when i get home.

Many Apologies!!
 

I am so sorry to have scared you. This is legitimate. I am a lesbian; however, I have never been on this site before. This survey is also posted on the Bella/Spinsters Author's Forum, where someone recommended this site as a possibility to have women complete the survey.

I did send an email to the admin yesterday regarding my survey. Again, MANY APOLOGIES. I didn't know how often the moderators read through their mail. On some sites, I've still not heard back from admins. So, I sincerely apologize.

Although my description may seem vague in the posting, just follow the link to surveymethods.com, there is a consent form more descriptively detailing the entire study.

Again, I am REALLY sorry to have caused such angst. I am truly a PhD student, just trying to gather data to graduate in December.

Best,
Hokie Girl

i'm curious if the survey stat's are going to be compared to women of average weight who are also at risk for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, osteoarthritis, as well as breast and colon cancer?

it bothers me that the finger pointing about these issues is always directed at overweight women.

not to disrespect your survey Hokie Girl, just curious if all variables are being computed. are you going to include statistics of those surveyed who are overweight yet lead healthy, normal and active lives?

GREAT Questions!
 

I appreciate your inquiry, SuperFemme. Thanks for bringing that to the forefront. Actually, this is a survey for all-weighted women. That introduction was just to demonstrate why research on overweight and obesity is an important health issue. . . and not just a "social" or "socially stigmatized" issue. There are serious chronic diseases related to overweight and obesity, and that is why I am studying our community. Obviously, a historically understudied population, sexual minority women and body weight is virtually invisible in the health and wellness literature; focus on our community in the behavioral health aspect of this issue (physical activity habits, healthy eating habits, alcohol consumption, etc. . . ) is minimal and the outcomes mostly equivocal.

So, that was a very long answer to say, "Yes! All weights are being investigated in my study." I'm really attempting to gain understanding about the environmental, behavioral, and cognitive influences and how those three areas interact within the lesbian commmunity. Still not very succinct. . . :)

I welcome any other questions, concerns, etc. . . I am so passionate about this study not only because it's important, but it really is my chance to make a positive impact within my community. - Lastly, as I told the Bella/Spinsters folks, I would be happy to post my results here, once they are finalized.

And, I am not easily offended, Softness. ;) I absolutely understand your concerns. I just wanted to be sure you knew I was legit. You can also go to www.hnfe.vt.edu follow the links to "Research" and then to the Translational Obesity Research Program- look under "grad option and students," and you will find my profile there. I was also a Tarheel, if that will help you find me on the site.

THANKS so much for the feedback and questions. I'm kind of new to the listservs. . . haven't had much of a social life the past three years! ;)

HG

coolness. i'm in. thanks for coming in and discussing.

Another GREAT question, Corkey. You are correct; it has been created with parameters that include only the female-bodied folks. But that makes me think for the next step in researching this topic. THANK YOU!

PS- As an aside, you all are providing me really good practice for my defense!

This UVa'er made an exception and helped you out Hokie. (Shhhh, don't disseminate that, the Wahoos might ban me--lol!). After completing your survey I have a few items of feedback for you, fwiw:

Regarding question #21 (Eggs), either the question or the choices need expounding. For example, I eat 6 eggs (4 being egg whites) three times a week. Would I check "3" for total number of times I eat eggs, or ">5" for total number of actual yolks I'm downing per week?

There are several places where either "none", "not applicable", or additional choices would have been my answer, such as with questions #36 and #73. (The latter doesn't account for those of us who are self-employed and work from home).

Question #159 assumes I am overweight. Hardly.

Question #173 choices of answers were "Lesbian", "Bi-sexual", or "Heterosexual". What about those where none of the three are applicable? Unfortunately, the survey wouldn't let me continue without selecting SOMETHING with any of the above so your findings will be skewed. I'd forward the link on to my peeps but I know for absolute certain they will have the same issues (birds of a feather fly together ya know). I registered to be notified of updates to the survey (I think that's what it was) so if you do update it, please let me know. Best wishes to you in your VT educational pursuit, Hokie.

ComparedToWhom

I understand this to mean that FtM's could participate, but not MtF's.

What about intersexed folks? How are you defining female bodied?

Okay. . . again, THANK YOU for your feedback. This is very helpful and extremely useful for future studies.

First, several of the scales included in this survey are reliable and validated measures created by scholars much more skilled and educated than I. So, for those questions, we are locked in. . . and for the questions that excluded some folks' identities, I sincerely apologize. We needed a starting point, and in reviewing the literature, it has been well-documented that bisexual females and lesbians did not have distinct enough differences in the areas measured within this survey to not include both identities. While I realize these identities do not even come close to encompassing all female identities, we had to create initial parameters to make assumptions about what these data will reveal. So. . . I do understand these concerns, and they are valid criticisms that will be considered as I move forward in my career.

Truly, I thank you for all the feedback! I'm excited that so many people are interested in topic. That is very encouraging!

Best,
HG

You didn't answer my question so.........

I was involved in design, implementation and follow up of clinical community based pharmaceutical research for years. I also was Chair of an Institutional Review Board and served on other IRBs that reviewed both clinical and KABB surveys. Research is not foreign for me. I also wrote and evaluated Informed Consent documents. I have also been a volunteer/participant in clinical and non-clinical research.

How do you define lesbian? This is an important point and should have been covered by your IRB. Your consent form does not define lesbian. Nor have you answered any questions concerning your definition of lesbian and what female bodied individuals meet your criteria for a lesbian.

Your Consent Form also does not give references to what studies were done that validated your premise that lesbians as a whole have health outcomes that are less than the outcomes of non-lesbians, based on your parameters. What data do you have to support your premise? A summary from you is not necessary. Just a link or two or three to the references supporting your research question.

I entirely resent the fact you will not allow potential participants to review this survey before answering the questions. This would have never passed any IRB I ever have been involved with. Participants/volunteers have a right to read all the question before they make a decision about participation.

KABB surveys require sophisticated questions and answers. How those questions and answers are framed significantly affects the outcomes portion of your analysis.

I would suggest that despite the approval given from your IRB, that you have NOT provided informed consent for participation.

Be glad I am not on your thesis review board nor was I involved in your IRB review. So far as I know given the information you provided, you are greatly lacking.

I didn't really pay much attention to this survey when it first went up. But since Toughy has decided to be so nasty about it I'm going to go take it. This from a female bodied woman who ids as lesbian and has for nearly 20 years (even though some people don't seem to think I'm entitled to that id any more because I now partner with an FTM). You know we could go round and round on this survey all we want but my guess is if you id as lesbian and female bodied you can go take it if you want to.

Melissa

I was not being nasty. I simply put on the hat I would wear if I was sitting on the Institutional (Ethics) Review Board that is required by law to approve this KABB survey.

Asking simple and hard questions about using us as guinea pigs for public health surveys that affect what health care services are available to 'lesbians' is not nasty. It is a requirement.

I find any and all researchers who will not answer simple questions, much less hard questions to be suspect regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

edited to add: Melissa.......I was not asking for your definition of lesbian (as far as I am concerned you are a lesbian if you say you are). The researchers definition of lesbian is what is important. KABB surveys are delicate instruments given to huge amounts of false data if the definitions of the researcher are different than that of the participants.

additional edit...........and please don't get me started on what you valid information you can find with an n of 250. What statistical evaluation are you doing for this survey. It's not a study. It's a dissertation survey.

But you are not on the IRB board for this survey. The survey writer gave a link directly to her Univ, her program and her own bio with a picture. Her name and diss advisor name is on the survey. She needs this to complete her diss so she can graduate. I think that your attitude toward this creates a bad image of this site. If you have personal/professional problems with this survey you should contact the Univ and her advisor or the admin of this site and ask for the thread to be closed.

Melissa

Hey, Hokie, I thought this might be of help to you: http://www.lindabacon.org/