British Columbia 2SLGBTQ+ Aging Needs Assessment

 


Thank you for taking the time to read this invitation to participate in an interview.

We need to learn more about the needs of Two-Spirit/ Lesbian/ Gay/Bisexual/ Transgender/ Queer Plus (2SLGBTQ+) older adults in British Columbia. Our study seeks to document the housing, health, community, and financial needs of 2SLGBTQ+ seniors in British Columbia. Our goals are to inform Canadian scholarship and to guide applied programming in British Columbia.

This project is sponsored by the Dignity Seniors Society of Vancouver , a non-profit organization dedicated to providing “tailored information and programming for 2SLGBTQ+ seniors and seniors’ service providers in British Columbia, with a focus on health, housing, community building and finances.”

My name is matthew heinz, and I’m a Professor at Royal Roads University in Victoria. My research profiles are available on my Royal Roads bio and on LinkedIn. My colleague Robert Beringer, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria, is the co-investigator in this study.

If you live in British Columbia, are at least 55 years old, and identify as part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, we welcome you to participate. There are many ways in which you can participate in an interview. All interviews will be conducted by me.

  • Email interview. I will send you 10 questions and invite you to respond to them. Once our email conversation is complete, you can re-read our exchange before letting it become part of the data collection.
  • Phone/Zoom/Skype interview. At a time and date convenient to you, and in your preferred format, I will call you and ask you 10 questions. You can review a summary of the interview and any quotations attributed to you before letting your contributions become part of the data collection.
  • In-person interview. We will schedule an interview at a time and public place convenient to you. You can review a summary of the interview and any quotations attributed to you before letting your contributions become part of the data collection. Due to limited funding for this study, availability of in-person interviews will vary by location.

All interview data will be confidentially stored on the Royal Roads University server with password protection; only I will have access to the data. Only I will have access to your email address, name, and contact information, and no information will be shared with others without your consent. You will be invited to select an alias for quotations if you so desire. Research results will be available on the Dignity Seniors Society website.

If you choose to participate, you are free to withdraw at any time until you’ve approved the interview summary. This research project has been approved by the Royal Roads University Research Ethics Board. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact the Research Ethics Office at [email protected] or call 1-250-391-2600 ext. 4425.

Please email me at [email protected] or call me at (250) 391-2662 to let me know in which interview format you would like to participate. Interviews will be conducted until July 2022.

Thank you for helping us help 2SLGBTQ+ seniors and seniors’ service providers!