Research Rodeo 11
Hello everyone. I am sitting here enjoying a rainy Thursday and thinking about my favorite topic: LGBTQIA+ research. This week, there are four articles which highlight two main themes: 1) Representation and symbols are an important way to show LGBTQIA+ people that they are welcome in nonprofit spaces and 2) Creating LGBTQIA+ positive therapy takes work and requires acknowledging the unique issues that LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities face.
Below are short descriptions of the four articles. If you would like a copy of any of this research, please reach out to me. I am always happy to share.
O’Dwyer et al. (2024) Staff experiences of wearing the Rainbow Badge in a paediatric hospital setting: a mixed-methods survey: I am wary of posting articles from BMJ, which has a history of publishing editorials and articles with a particularly anti-transgender perspective. This study looks at the experiences of medical professionals in the Ireland wearing rainbow badges. In this study, through wearing the badges, 2/3 of respondents reported learning more about the struggles that LGBTQIA+ people experience. It also helped LGBTQIA+ people feel more comfortable at work. It became a great way to start conversations about LGBTQIA+ issues and communities. As some countries are cutting support for Pride Programs within their hospital systems, this research adds to our knowledge of the importance to symbolic representation. As organizations, it is important to ask what symbols we are presenting to show that we are welcoming and how are those symbols used to start a conversation instead of just being symbols.
Moreira-Bouchard et al. (2024) LGBTQ faculty, queering health sciences classrooms: student perspectives: This article looks at the impacts of having faculty who openly discuss the fact that they identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Specifically, by being open, most of the students felt more comfortable in class, especially the LGBTQIA+ students. For nonprofits, this is a reminder that is important for LGBTQIA+ staff members to feel comfortable being out and having conversations about being out.
Burger & Pachankis (2024) State of the Science: LGBTQ-affirmative Psychotherapy AND Huit et al. (2024) State of the Science: Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: These two articles were just published in the journal Behavioral Health, and I wanted to highlight them together. Any organization which provides therapy, either formally or informally, will find this information useful. While research oriented, these articles provide information on current guidelines and best practices when supporting LGBTQIA+ individuals and the importance of therapy which affirms the individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Importantly, in Huit et al., the remind us of the importance of taking into account intersectionalities, which may add additional stigmas as well as experiences that impact a person’s mental health. Furthermore, Burger & Pachankis discuss the importance of understanding minority stress theory (the ways being a member of a minority adds stress to one’s life) as a way to frame mental health work.
This week, we explored four articles which help us, as nonprofits, better understand how to support LGBTQIA+ clients. Specifically highlighted is the importance of having representation and symbols as well as understanding the unique issues queer people face. These are just some of the ways we can work to make our organizations more queer friendly.
I look forward to talking with you all next week!