Youth voice in service acceptability: Experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents

ABSTRACT

This study engaged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youths to tell their stories of satisfying and dissatisfying HIV-related service features and tapped into their common language when expressing satisfaction. Findings included youth agreement with six of the nine features proposed by adult experts and identification of “atmosphere,” the service feature encompassing the youths’ need to be themselves, to find comfort, and to socialize. Inclusion of youth voice in the design of a satisfaction survey highlighted those features most meaningful to these LGBT youths and added to the growing literature regarding power sharing with youths in health services evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• community-based research
• HIV services evaluation
• LGBT health
• qualitative evaluation
• youth satisfaction