Relationship between sociodemographics, healthcare providers' competence and healthcare access among two-spirit, gay, bisexual, queer and other men who have sex with men in Manitoba: results from a community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about barriers to healthcare access for two-spirit, gay, bisexual and queer (2SGBQ+) men in Manitoba.

Design: Data were drawn from a community-based, cross-sectional survey designed to examine health and healthcare access among 2SGBQ+ men.

Setting: Community-based cross-sectional study in Manitoba, Canada.

Participants: Community-based sample of 368 2SGBQ+ men.

Outcomes: Logistic regression analyses assessed the relationship between sociodemographics, healthcare discrimination, perceived healthcare providers' 2SGBQ+ competence/knowledge and two indicators of healthcare access (analytic outcome variables): (1) having a regular healthcare provider and (2) having had a healthcare visit in the past 12 months.

Results: In multivariate analyses, living in Brandon (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.08, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.22), small cities (AOR=0.20, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.98) and smaller towns (AOR=0.26, 95% CI 0.08 o 0.81) in Manitoba (compared with living in Winnipeg), as well as having a healthcare provider with poor (AOR=0.19, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.90) or very poor competence/knowledge (AOR=0.03, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.25) of 2SGBQ+ men's issues (compared with very good competence) was associated with lower odds of having a regular healthcare provider. Living in Brandon (AOR=0.05, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.17) and smaller towns (AOR=0.25, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.90) in Manitoba (compared with living in Winnipeg) was associated with lower odds of having a healthcare visit in the past 12 months, while identifying as a gay man compared with bisexual (AOR=12.57, 95% CI 1.88 to 83.97) was associated with higher odds of having a healthcare visit in the past 12 months.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of reducing the gap between the healthcare access of rural and urban 2SGBQ+ men, improving healthcare providers' cultural competence and addressing their lack of knowledge of 2SGBQ+ men's issues.

Keywords: health policy; health services administration & management; organisation of health services; public health.