SAMLAP: Sampling Strategies and Method Development for LGBT Aging Project

Problem

Nationally representative health and aging data on LGBT older adults is needed for research to inform policy and practice.

The LGBT population has been identified as having poorer health than their non-LGBT counterparts, but the causes and consequences of inequities are still not properly understood. We know less about older LGBT adults in particular, though they are the most likely to be living with chronic disease and disability. Existing studies of health and aging such as the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) do include sexual and gender minorities in their samples, but these are not adequate to obtain reliable estimates for this subgroup or to study its unique characteristics. Research focused specifically on LGBT older adults like the National Health, Aging and Sexuality/Gender Study (NHAS) offers insight on issues disproportionately affecting this population, but was not designed to capture a nationally representative sample of LGBT adults.

SAMLAP is a pilot study to develop a platform and process that will permit the execution of a future national probability-based longitudinal study of aging in the older LGBT population.

Solution

SAMLAP developed and piloted methods to recruit and interview a representative sample of LGBT older adult respondents, collecting original data from hundreds of older LGBT adults.

The products of SAMLAP are both substantive and methodological. Through two phases of screening for eligible individuals. Of 364 individuals who were identified as likely to be eligible, we were able to complete 225 interviews, collecting key data. The interview was a 25-minute questionnaire that included items about the respondent’s health, mental health, family and social networks, sexual activity, connections to the LGBT community, and demographics.

Moreover, SAMLAP has developed and assessed a sampling methodology, screening process, set of measures, and field approach tailored to conduct the first ever U.S. national study of LGBT older adults using an address-based probability sample with a high response rate.

The team has presented both substantive and methodological findings at professional conferences.

Result

Findings have been shared at conferences and manuscripts are under peer-review.

The methodological products of SAMLAP include findings about response rate and response composition, the cost-benefit tradeoffs of different mailing incentives, and the use of targeted advance letters, amongst other recruitment strategies.

Substantive findings illuminate the impact of sexual identity on the aging process and include results from analyses of SAMLAP data on its own and combined with other datasets such as NORC’s NSHAP, for example, to examine differences in social characteristics and health status by sexual identity among older adults.