The Dandarah App: An mHealth Platform to Tackle Violence and Discrimination of Sexual and Gender Minority Persons Living in Brazil

Angélica Baptista Silva (), Mônica Malta, Cosme Marcelo Furtado Passos da Silva, Clarice Cavalcante Kalume, Ianê Germano Andrade Filha, Sara LeGrand and Kathryn Whetten
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Angélica Baptista Silva: Department of Human Rights, Health and Cultural Diversity, National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil
Mônica Malta: Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON M5S 2S1, Canada
Cosme Marcelo Furtado Passos da Silva: Department of Epidemiology and Quantitative Methods in Health, National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil
Clarice Cavalcante Kalume: Department of Human Rights, Health and Cultural Diversity, National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil
Ianê Germano Andrade Filha: Department of Human Rights, Health and Cultural Diversity, National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil
Sara LeGrand: Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
Kathryn Whetten: Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Discrimination and violence are widely experienced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) persons worldwide. More than one SGM person is murdered every day in Brazil because of their sexuality or gender identity, which is the highest reported homicide rate in the world. Alt-hough discrimination and violence against SGM persons in Brazil are considered to be hate crimes, reporting is still suboptimal due to fear of police SGM phobia and victim blaming. Accessible and easily disseminated interventions are urgently needed. Herein, we describe the develop-ment of an mHealth solution to help address violence against SGM persons, namely the Rainbow Resistance: Dandarah App, with a synthesis of key results and feedback from the SGM community after 24 months of using the app. Twenty-two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with SGM persons living in six Brazilian states: Bahia, Federal District, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Sergipe, and Pará. A total of 300 SGM persons participated in the FGDs. A thematic analysis was performed to interpret the qualitative data. Content themes related to aesthetics, us-ability, barriers to resources, and likes/dislikes about the intervention arose from the FGDs. Participants found the intervention to be user-friendly, endorsed more likes than dislikes, and suggested a few changes to the app. The findings suggest that the intervention is usable and fit for future ef-fectiveness testing, and that it could fill an important gap in the well-being of SGM persons living in a country with high levels of discrimination and violence towards this community, i.e., Brazil.

Keywords: sexual and gender minority (SGM); LGBTQ; LGBT; violence; sexual violence; domestic violence; discrimination; gender-based violence; violence; mHealth; app; digital health; mobile health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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