LGBTQ+ Courage Resource – 

• Produced a wide range of articles focusing on LGBTQ health topics – providing a model, and important resources for anyone who is intereted in LGBTQ health. See the key articles of not below – her work since 2010 alone!
• Persisted in this work despite early (and significant) barriers from advisors and supervisors early in her career.
• Much of her work features interdisciplinary collaboration, including physicians, nurses, speech pathologists, social workers, psychologists, substance abuse counselors and treatment directors, policy-makers, correctional staff and administrators, and a variety of consumer groups, including women newly released from prison.
• Initiated and administered a federally funded program called “Doing it For Ourselves” (DIFO) to implement and evaluate a health intervention for older lesbian and bisexual women with a BMI of 27 or higher. The first year included focus groups and development of materials, and the second year begins a series of 12 week health programs for a total of 112 participants, followed for 3 months post intervention. A third year focused on lesbians living with disabilities.
• A co-founder and contributor to LavenderHealth.org; you can contact her using the LavenderHealth.org contact form here.

Mickey’s Story & Selected Publications

Mickey Eliason, PhD 1984 University of Iowa, began her academic career at the University of Iowa College of Nursing (1987-2005) then moved to the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University (2005-present). While at UI, she began a line of research in the late 1980s regarding LGBTQ+ health. At the time, she was told by her research mentor that she needed to have a “legitimate” research agenda to offset the LGBTQ work, so for several years, conducted research on pediatric genetic disorders and women’s substance abuse to satisfy her college mentors. In spite of being very productive as a scholar in both LGBTQ and other research and having very high teaching evaluations and several million dollars in grant funding, in 1996, she was denied tenure and given the reason that what she did was “not nursing research.” This was in spite of a book published by the National League for Nursing Press and over 20 of her 40 peer-reviewed journal publications in nursing journals. The decision was overturned by the provost’s office, but she continued to experience homophobia in her college. This only strengthened her resolve to help change the climate in nursing, and she ultimately was chair of the university’s human rights committee and pressured the university to add gender identity to the human rights code in the mid 1990s, and change the language in the code from “affectional preference” to explicitly state “sexual orientation.” She was co-chair of the UI LGBTQ Staff and Faculty Association, first department chair of the Sexuality Studies Program, and on the planning committee for a national LGBT studies conference in 1993.

Over the years, she has conducted a wide range of studies focusing on LGBTQ health topics – providing a model, and important resources for anyone who is interested in LGBTQ health. See the selected article citations below since 2010 alone! – Much of her work features interdisciplinary collaboration, including physicians, nurses, speech pathologists, social workers, psychologists, substance abuse counselors and treatment directors, policy-makers, correctional staff and administrators, and a variety of consumer groups, including women newly released from prison. – Initiated and administered a federally funded program called “Doing it For Ourselves” (DIFO) to implement and evaluate a health intervention for older lesbian and bisexual women with a BMI of 27 or higher. The first year included focus groups and development of materials, and the second year begins a series of 12 week health programs for a total of 112 participants, followed for 3 months post intervention. A third year focused on lesbians living with disabilities. – A co-founder and contributor to LavenderHealth.org; you can contact her using the LavenderHealth.org contact form here.

Books:

Eliason, M. J. (1996c). Who cares: Institutional barriers to health care for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. New York: National League for Nursing

Eliason, M. J., & Chinn, P. L. (2018). LGBTQ Cultures: What Health Care Professionals Need to Know About Sexual and Gender Diversity (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Articles About Nursing Attitudes/Knowledge:

Eliason, M. J., DeJoseph, J., Dibble, S. L., Deevey, S., & Chinn, P. L. (2011). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) nurses’ experiences in the workplace. Journal of Professional Nursing: Official Journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 27, 237–244.

Carabez, R., Pelligrini, M., Mankovitz, A., Eliason, M., Ciano, M., & Scott, M. (2015).  “Never in all my years…”: Nurses’ education about LGBT health. Journal of Professional Nursing, 31(4), 323-329.

Carabez, R., Eliason, M. J., & Martinson, M. (2016). Nurses’ Knowledge About Transgender Patient Care: A Qualitative Study. ANS. Advances in Nursing Science, 39(3), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.1097/ANS.0000000000000128

Carabez, R., Pellegrini, M., Mankovitz, A., Eliason, M. J., & Dariotis, W. M. (2015). Nursing Students’ Perceptions of their Knowledge of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues: Effectiveness of a Multi-Purpose Assignment in a Public Health Nursing Class. The Journal of Nursing Education, 54(1), 50–53. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20141228-03

Carabez, R., Pellegrini, M., Mankowitz, A., & Eliason, M. (2015). Does your organization utilize gender-inclusive forms? Steps toward addressing transgender discrimination. Journal of Clinical Nursing, online first. DOI: 10.111/jocn.12942.

Chinn, P. L., Eliason, M., Keepnews, D., & Oppenheim, K. (2015). Improving LGBTQ Health: Nursing Policy Can Make a Difference. In D. J. Mason, J. K. Leavitt, M. W. Chaffee, D. B. Gardner, F. H. Outlaw, & E. T. O’Grady (Eds.), Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care 7th Ed. Saunders. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books/about/Policy_Politics_in_Nursing_and_Health_Ca.html?hl=&id=3OvWoQEACAAJ

Dibble, S.L., & Eliason, M.J. (2016). Patient-provider interactions for LGBT people with cancer.  In Boehmer, U. & Elk, R. (Eds). Cancer and the LGBT Community: Unique perspectives from risk to survivorship. Routledge

Eliason, M. J. (2017). The gender binary in nursing. Nursing Inquiry,  24(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12176

Eliason, M. J., Dibble, S. L., & DeJoseph, J. (2010). Nursing’s silence on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues: the need for emancipatory efforts. ANS. Advances in Nursing Science, 33, 206–218. https://doi.org/10.1097/ANS.0b013e3181e63e49

Lim, F., Johnson, M., & Eliason, M. J. (2015). A National Survey of Faculty Knowledge, Experience, and Readiness for Teaching Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health in Baccalaureate Nursing Programs. Nursing Education Perspectives, 36(3), 144–152. https://doi.org/10.5480/14-1355

Randall, C. E., & Eliason, M. J. (2012). Out lesbians in nursing: what would Florence say? Journal of Lesbian Studies, 16(1), 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2011.557644

LGBTQ Health Topics:

Eliason, M. J., Chinn, P. L., Dibble, S. L., & DeJoseph, J. (2013). Open the door for LGBTQ patients. Nursing, 43, 44–50; quiz 50–51. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000432019.05379.02

Eliason, M. J., DeJoseph, J., Dibble, S., & Chinn, P. L. (2013a). Reaching out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning patients. Nursing in Critical Care, 8, 14–19.

Eliason, M. J., DeJoseph, J., Dibble, S. L., & Chinn, P. L. (2012). LGBT health research: introduction to the special issue. Journal of Homosexuality, 59, 761–764. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2012.694751

Dibble, S. L., Eliason, M. J., & Crawford, B. (2012). Correlates of wellbeing among African American lesbians. Journal of Homosexuality, 59, 820–838.

Eliason, M. J. (2014). An exploration of terminology related to sexuality and gender: arguments for standardizing the language. Social Work in Public Health, 29, 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2013.775887

Eliason, M. J., Burke, A., Van Olphen, J., & Howell, R. (2011). Interactions of sexual identity, sex/gender, and religious/spiritual beliefs on college student substance use. Sexuality Research & Social Policy: Journal of NSRC: SR & SP, 8, 117–125.

Eliason, M. J., Dibble, S. L., & Robertson, P. A. (2011). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) physicians’ experiences in the workplace. Journal of Homosexuality, 58(10), 1355–1371. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2011.614902

Haas, A. P., Eliason, M. J., Mays, V. M., Mathy, R. M., Cochran, S. D., D’Augelli, A. R., … Clayton, P. J. (2011). Suicide and suicide risk in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations: review and recommendations. Journal of Homosexuality, 58(1), 10–

Streed, C.Jr., & Eliason, M.J. (2017). Trauma and resilience in LGBTQ healthcare professionals. In Ekstrand, K., & Potter, J. (Eds), Resilience in LGBT Populations, NY: Springer Press.

Elia, J.P., Eliason, M.J., & Beemyn, G. (2018). Mapping bisexual studies: past, present, and implications for the future. In Swan, J., & Habibi, S (Eds). Bisexual studies.  NY: Haworth.

Eliason, M.J., & Streed, C.G., Jr., (2017). Something else: A new sexual identity? LGBT Health, doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2016.0206.

Eliason, M. J., Robinson, P., & Balsam, K., (2017). Development of an LGB-specific health literacy scale. Journal of Health Communication. 10.1080/10410236.2017.1372052

 Eliason, M.J., Streed, C.G., & Henne, M. (2018). Coping with stress as an LGBTQ+ healthcare professional. Journal of Homosexuality,65(5), 561-578.

Sexual Minority Women’s Health:

Eliason, M. J., Martinson, M., & Carabez, R. (2015). Disability Among Sexual Minority Women: Descriptive Data from an Invisible Population. Journal of LGBT Health Research, online ahead of print January 23, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2014.009

Eliason, M. J., & Drabble, L. (2010). Got a light? Lesbians and smoking. In S. L. Dibble & P. A. Robertson (Eds.), Lesbian Health 101 (pp. 125–140). San Francisco: UCSF Nursing Press.

Eliason, M.J. (2014). Chronic physical health problems in sexual minority women: A review of the literature. LGBT Health, 1(3), 259-268.

Eliason, M.J.,& Fogel, S. (2015). An ecological framework for understanding sexual minority women’s health: Factors related to higher body mass. Journal of Homosexuality, 62(7), 845-882.

Garbers, S., McDonnell, C., Fogel, S.C., Eliason, M.J., Ingraham, N., McElroy, J., Radix, A., & Haynes, S. (2015). Barriers and facilitators of healthy weight in adult sexual minority women: A meta-synthesis of the ‘Healthy Weight Initiative’ focus groups. LGBT Health, 2(2), 176-187.

 Eliason, M.J. (2015). Inside/Out: Research in sexual minority women’s communities. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 20(1),136-156.

Beemyn, G., & Eliason, M. (2015). The intersections of trans women and lesbian Identities, communities, and movements. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 20(1).

Johnson, M. J., Nemeth, L. S., Mueller, M., Eliason, M. J., & Stuart, G. W. (2016). Qualitative study of cervical cancer screening among lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men. Cancer Nursing. Doi:10.1097/NCC.000000000000038.

 Johnson, M., Nemeth, L.S., Mueller, M., Eliason, M., & Stuart, G.W. (2016). Quantitative and mixed analyses to identify factors that affect cervical cancer screening uptake among lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 1 JUL 2016, DOI: 10.1111/jocn.13414

 Eliason, M.J., Sanchez-Vasnaugh, E.V., & Stupplebeen, D. (2017). Relationships between weight and health outcomes in women by sexual orientation. Women’s Health Issues, 27(5): 600-606; doi:10.1016/j.whi2017.04.004. 

Health Interventions for LGBTQ+ People:

Eliason, M. J., Dibble, S. L., Gordon, R., & Soliz, G. (2012). The Last Drag: A smoking cessation group intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Journal of Homosexuality, 59, 864–878.

Eliason, M.J. (2015). Doing it for Ourselves: Building communities for health education and support for older lesbian/bisexual women. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 27(3), 326-349.

Eliason, M.J., Radix, A., McElroy, J.M., Garbers, S., & Haynes, S. (2016).  The “Something Else” of Sexual Orientation: Measuring Sexual Orientation Identities of Older lesbian and bisexual women using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Questions, Women’s Health Issues, 26(S1), 71-80.

McElroy, J.A., Haynes, S., Eliason, M., Gilbert, T., Minnis, A., Toms-Barker, L., McDonnell, C., & Garbers, S. (2016). Healthy weight in lesbian and bisexual older women: A successful intervention in 10 cities using tailored approaches. Women’s Health Issues, 26(S1), 18-35.

Wood, S., Brooks, J., Eliason, M., Garbers, S., & McElroy, J. (2016). Recruitment and retention of lesbian and bisexual women in a multi-site intervention study. Women’s Health Issues, 26(S1), 43-52.

Ingraham, N., Eliason, M.J., Garbers, S., Harbatkin, D., Minnis, A., McElroy, J., & Haynes, S. (2016).  Effects of mindful eating interventions on older sexual minority women’s health outcomes. Women’s Health Issues, 26(S1), 53-62.

Fogel, S., McElroy, J.A., Garbers, S., McDonnell, C., Brooks, J, Eliason, M., Ingraham, N., Osborne, A., Rayyes, N., Redman, S., & Haynes, S (2016). Healthy Weight in Lesbian and Bisexual Women: An Eight-City Prevention Initiative. Women’s Health Issues, 26(S1), 7-17. 

Eliason, M.J., Garbers, S., McElroy, J.M., Radix, A., & Toms-Barker, L., (2017). Comparing lesbian and bisexual women with and without disabilities in a multi-site ‘healthy weight” intervention. Disability and Health Journal, 10(2), 271-278. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2016.12.005