Online Survey: Trans/Nonbinary Experiences with Stressful Events

The goal of this research is to better understand the stressful experiences of trans and nonbinary people so that we can shape a national response to some of the current issues that are impacting our communities and to reduce future harm. By sharing our experiences with challenges and resilience, we can help to create interventions and responses for meeting community needs. 

It is important to us to find many different ways for trans and nonbinary people to share their experiences and ideas. Research by and for trans/nonbinary communities is limited, and we view it as our responsibility to be part of creating research that is relevant and meaningful to our communities. We believe that trans and nonbinary people should also be involved in shaping solutions to problems that face us. We hope that the results of this research will help us and others better understand the problems facing us and the solutions that we are looking for. 

FORGE worked closely with researchers from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Tennessee-Knoxville for six months to create the survey. The research process has been shaped by our experiences as trans and nonbinary people and working with and providing services to trans people for the past 29 years. We’ve worked to ensure that the questions on the survey are both relevant to our communities, and are trauma-informed. 

Some of the questions asked are based on existing measures, created by researchers, and some are new or adapted measures that we felt were better suited to helping understand our communities. New measures are often needed when subjects haven’t been given a lot of prior attention. Trans communities are often not studied, or not studied in ways that are culturally responsive and appropriate. We are trying to shift that history and narrative. 

Our academic research partners have a long history of working with trans/nonbinary and LGBTQ+ communities. They are skilled researchers with current knowledge of existing trans-focused research. Along with FORGE’s team, they are active learners and are always seeking to grow and learn from new ideas, new community trends, and new solutions to both historic and new challenges faced by trans individuals and communities. They value respectful, caring interactions, and help us to balance ideas of academic research and community needs.

We VALUE your input and your experiences. We wish we could provide compensation, but unfortunately, due to state laws that place substantial constraints on compensation for formal research studies, we aren’t able to provide compensation. 

We had to make the very difficult decision of creating this survey and having it be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) vs. having it be less formal, which would have allowed for more compensation possibilities. Having surveys go through an IRB approval process gives those surveys validity, allows for the research data to be published in academic and other types of journal articles, and increases the chances of accessing additional funding based on the research results. Those opportunities for getting the word out (articles, +) and funding opportunities can make a profound difference in the lives of trans/nonbinary individuals and communities. 

We know this is a long survey, and that this may impact who can take the survey. We value your time, and it’s important to us to put money back into community members’ pockets whenever possible. 

It’s important to us to make sure that personal information is protected for everyone who participates! There is no identifying information asked in the survey that could be linked back to a specific individual. All of the data collected is stored very securely within the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s research facilities. The data will be retained so that it can be shared with other researchers and used in future research. This will not include any personal information that could identify participants.

FORGE will share the findings of this research in several ways. We anticipate the following forms of dissemination and information sharing:

• Executive summary of the data and results
• Written report of the data, including methods, results, possible recommendations
• Webinar(s) to share the results – likely webinars that are geared towards community members, and ones that will be aimed at providers
• Conference workshops to share the results (both trans conferences and provider-based conferences)
• Poster sessions at conferences
• Academic articles in peer-reviewed journals
• Fact sheets and infographics of results
• Social media posts with brief facts and data points
• And more! 

Written and video results will be posted on FORGE’s website.

We will stop collecting survey data at the end of April. After this point, it will take time to analyze the data. We hope to start sharing initial results by the end of the summer. 

We will share information about the data on social media. You can also sign up for our email newsletter to get informed about upcoming events. We send emails 1-2 times a month. You can also email us at survey@forge-forward.org to ask questions or request to be informed about when the results are available.

If you have more questions, please contact the lead researchers directly:

michael munson, FORGE
Email: survey@forge-forward.org
Phone: 414-559-2123

Dr. Ryan C. Shorey
Email: Shorey@UWM.edu
Phone: 414-229-4570
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

For questions or concerns about your rights or to speak with someone other than the research team about the study, please contact:

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:

Institutional Review Board
Human Research Protection Program
Department of University Safety and Assurances
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
(414) 662-3544
irbinfo@uwm.edu