The Experiences of Erotic and Sexual Risk of Transgender Men: Exploratory Research Design

Transgender male (TM) is the minority and difficult to reach-up group. Therefore, there is a lack of research on private issues involving TM, such as sex, eroticism, and sexual risk behavior. This study focuses on TM as the research participant, based on Milton Mayeroff's caring theory, to understand the TM's erotic culture and the sexual risks behavior, to evaluate the need for subsequent sexual health care. The research method is a mixed methods research of explanatory design, which recruits participants through purposive sampling and respondent-driven sample (RDS) methods. The first stage is an online questionnaire survey. A total of 321 TMs were recruited. The time of online questionnaire is about 10-15 minutes to get a preliminary understanding of the erotic and sexual risk experience of TM in Taiwan. In the second stage, focus groups and in-depth interviews will be conducted, 2 hours of each group and interview. A total of 29 transgender man and women, and non-binary participants were recruited. The recruitment will be stop when the data are saturated. The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data can get an in-depth understanding of sex, eroticism, and sexual risk, and violence experiences of the participants. The research results are important for improving the awareness and identification of sexual risk and the assessment of sexual health care needs of TM in health care profession. The results also serve as a reference guide for the development of care needs on sexual health care and anti-violence of transgender people, and for the implement of a gender-friendly environment for medical care.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Transgender Persons; Sexual Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: questionnaire, interview

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 350

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan, 100
    • School of Nursing of National Taiwan University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

1. The personal network of the research team is used to search for eligible TMs via social media platforms, such as Facebook (FB), Instagram (IG), and group of Line app.
2. The recruitment materials will be published on transgender communities, social media platforms, non-governmental organizations, and YouTube, etc., to recruit the participants.
3. The participants who finished the online questionnaire will be encourage to invite and transfer their network who meet the inclusion criteria via Line app or email address to our research team.

Description

First stage:

Inclusion Criteria:

1. People who used to or currently self-identified as transgender men, regardless of whether they have sex reassignment surgery.
2. Be over 20 years old.
3. Citizen and live in Taiwan.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Not self-identify as transgender men
2. Younger than 20 years old
3. Not citizen and not live in Taiwan.

Second stage

1. People who used to or currently self-identified as transgender men, transgender woman or non-binary, regardless of whether they have gender-affirming surgery.
2. Be over 20 years old.
3. Citizen and live in Taiwan.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Not self-identify as transgender men, transgender woman or non-binary.
2. Younger than 20 years old
3. Not citizen and not live in Taiwan.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Experience of Erotic and Sexual Risk of Transgender Men(Demographic Data, Transgender Affirmation Questionnaire)	After signing the online consent form, fill out the demographic information form and transgender affirmation questionnaire on Google Forms to calculate population proportions and averages.(First stage)	At time of entry into study
Ages of Transgender Men	After signing the online consent form, fill out the ages on Google Forms to calculate population proportions and averages.(First stage)	At time of entry into study
Experience of Erotic and Sexual Risk of Transgender Men (Short Sexual Well Being Scale)	After signing the online consent form, fill out the Short Sexual Well Being Scale on Google Forms to calculate population proportions and averages.(First stage) Short Sexual Well Being Scale:There are a total of five questions, using a Likert 7 lit table, with scores ranging from 5 (minimum) to 35 (maximum), with the higher the score, the better Sexual Well Being. 1. I disagree completely, 2. I disagree, 3. I disagree a little, 4. Neutral, 5. I somewhat agree, 6. I agree, 7. I completely agree	At time of entry into study
Experience of Erotic and Sexual Risk of Transgender Men (STIs Prevention Questionnaire)	After signing the online consent form, fill out the STIs prevention questionnaire on Google Forms to calculate population proportions and averages.(First stage)	At time of entry into study
Violence Experience of Transgender (Experiences of Abuse & Coping Strategies)	In the second stage, focus groups and in-depth interviews will be conducted, 2 hours of each group and interview. The interview outline was revised based on the questionnaire analysis results, and TMs who met the research requirements were selected from the questionnaire respondents to conduct physical focus groups or in-depth face-to-face or video semi-structured interviews on the theme of violence experience. We also recruited Trans woman and non-binary gender groups to conduct focus groups and in-depth interviews to compare the differences in their experiences of violence. The data were categorized into two main themes:Experiences of Abuse & Coping Strategies.	months3-6(In the second stage)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Taiwan University
• Collaborators: Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 12, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 9, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): January 11, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 22, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 21, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 20210HS3001

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No