A Community Partnership with Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team to Explore Socio-ecological and Place-based Determinants of Interpersonal Violence Experienced by Transgender Women of Color, Los Angeles, California, 2020

The goals of this project are to extend the Decker et al. (2018) socio-ecological model to include place as an additional determinant of interpersonal violence for transgender women, and to identify unmet prevention needs and survival strategies of those who have experienced interpersonal violence. The research team conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 transgender women in Los Angeles who, at the time of study, were current or past residents of a bridge housing program. Participants were asked to discuss daily life experiences, emphasizing places of danger and safety for themselves and other transgender women, and survival and resilience strategies for coping with violence. Participants also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their well-being and their access to healthcare (HIV/AIDS, gender affirmation, physical, and mental health).