Lavender Health – LGBTQ Resource Center

GLMA Nursing Summit Registration Open Now!

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Peggy L Chinn

It is happening on September 10, all day, in Baltimore, Maryland! The GLMA Nursing Summit promises to be another inspiring – and historic – day for nursing and for LGBTQ health! If there is any way for you to consider being present for this event, now is the time to register! This will be a day packed with opportunities to network with other nurses who are willing and ready to take action in nursing, and to be part of a tangible, specific project that can have far-reaching effect.

Like all events of this kind, there are formal learning objectives, which are wonderful of course, but the fact is that what makes an occasion like this so important is our one-to-one conversations, the joy that comes from re-uniting with old friends and meeting new ones, and sharing with our friends, new and old, a purpose that has real implications for our profession, and for those we serve.

The planning committee is laying the groundwork to assure that this will be a day when all nurses who share a concern for the health of LGBTQI patients come together in a spirit of mutual respect and appreciation for the rich diversity among us — regardless of our sexual or gender identities. It is one of those still-rare occasions where all who identify as any of the vast numbers of sexual minority identities can “be” – totally open and honored for who we all are. It is also a day when our straight allies can join us to celebrate and openly share their open commitment to the improvement of LGBTQI health in nursing and health care.

We know that regardless of how we identify, we are all still vulnerable to rejection and discrimination just because of the work we do. We know that regardless of our identities, it takes courage to do what we do or want to do on behalf of LGBTQI health. Most of all, we know that our identities should not divide us. During this historic day, we will celebrate our diversities, and honor the work we have done, we are doing, and most important, the work that we will do together in the future!

So I hope you can join us! But even if you cannot, we will be sharing what happens at the Summit broad and wide! We will have formal action plans that will be distributed for all to see, and will provide virtual avenues for being involved. There will be reports here on this blog, on the GLMA web site, and on the GLMA nursing google email list. To be sure you do not miss anything, use the link in the upper right sidebar to follow this blog and received email notices of new posts, or join the google email list, or both! Even if you cannot be actively involved, we value your connection with what we are doing, and appreciate your support by just “being there” to lend support and encouragement!

Posted in Activism, Events | Tagged GLMA, Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality, LGBT Health | Leave a comment

Family Support for LGBT Youth

Posted on June 23, 2014 by monashattell

This post was authored by Elizabeth McConnell who is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at DePaul University, and is an intern at Impact: The LGBT Health and Development Program at Northwestern University.

LGBT Youth At-Risk

It’s no secret LGBT youth are at increased risk for a number of mental health problems, like depression, self-harm, and suicide. The National Institute of Health is moving towards recognizing the LGBT community as a health disparity population and the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called for more research. People are starting to understand how many LGBT youth experience major stressors and traumas, like homelessness and bullying.

At the same time, we know social support promotes resiliency among LGBT youth. Learning more about how and why social support promotes positive outcomes can help us figure out how to develop better interventions for LGBT youth who are at-risk of experiencing negative outcomes.

Looking at Social Support

I’m an intern at The Impact Program at Northwestern University, which does community based translational research focused on LGBT health. Through Impact, I’ve been lucky to work with participants in Project Q2, the longest follow-up study of LGBT youth ever conducted. These young people have shown up every six months for the past six years to help us better understand risk and protective factors for LGBT youth over time.

Recently, I worked with Michelle Birkett and Brian Mustanski at Impact to look more closely at the role of social support in promoting positive outcomes for LGBT youth. We used cluster analysis to look at social support among Project Q2 participants at baseline, when they were 16-20 years old (McConnell, Birkett, & Mustanski, 2013).

We found three “types” of LGBT youth based on relative levels of sources of social support. LGBT youth in the high support cluster type had high levels family, peer, and significant other support. Youth in the low support cluster type had low levels of all three sources of support. Finally, youth in the non-family support cluster type had moderate levels of peer and significant other support, but low levels of family support.

On the upside, almost half of youth fell into the high support cluster type (44%). Just over a third fell into the non-family support cluster (35%), indicating a sizeable portion of youth receive support from sources other than their families. Finally, just under a quarter of youth (22%) reported low social support across the board.

What about the relationship between social support and mental health? Is there a type of social support that seems to be the most important? For the most part, we found youth in the non-family support cluster were similar to youth in the low support cluster group on mental health outcomes (like depression, somatization, suicidality, and hopelessness). The only difference was that the low support type reported more loneliness. Youth in the high support cluster type had the fewest mental health problems. This supports findings from previous research that underscore the importance of family support.

Next Steps

We think this study shows just how important family support is for LGBT youth. Although we didn’t ask youth about family rejection, we think many youth in the non-family support cluster may have parents who aren’t accepting of their sexual orientation. The fact that this puts these youth so at risk for mental health problems underscores the importance of interventions to help increase family support.

In the future, we would love to look at the role of support from chosen family, as many LGBT folks create supportive social networks they consider family. Although the youth in this study were teenagers when they answered our questions, they are now in their early to mid-20s, and those who didn’t have supportive families may have since built more supportive networks of their own.

Reference

McConnell, E. A., Birkett, M., & Mustanski, B. (2013, November). Social support and well-being among LGBT youth. Oral presentation at the Chicago LGBT Health & Wellness Conference, Chicago, IL.

Posted in LGBTQ youth, Mental Health, Social Support | Tagged Elizabeth McConnell, Impact: The LGBT Health and Development Program | 2 Comments

New LGBT Policies Adopted by the AMA

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Thomas Lawrence Long

Announcement from Gay Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA):

In GLMA’s second year participating as a voting Delegate in the American Medical Association (AMA) Annual Meeting, the AMA addressed a handful of important issues related to LGBT health. GLMA was capably represented by board members Brian Hurley, who serves as GLMA’s Delegate, and Jeremy Toler, Alternate Delegate, who worked closely with the AMA’s LGBT Advisory Committee and other allies for LGBT health to ensure the needs of the LGBT community are represented in advocacy and discussion during meeting and policy discussions. The LGBT health policies adopted by the AMA include:

Birth Certificate Policies for the Transgender Community: In addition to reaffirming its policy supporting changes on birth certificates on verification by a healthcare provider that an individual is undergoing gender transition, the AMA adopted two additional policies related to transgender health and birth certificates. First, the AMA now opposes any requirement that an individual undergo gender affirming surgery in order to change a birth certificate. Second, the AMA adopted a policy that an individual’s gender marker on a birth certificate not be a barrier to appropriate healthcare for that individual.

Support for Decriminalization of HIV: The AMA also addressed an important issue related to people living with HIV, calling for laws to be consistent with current medical and scientific knowledge about HIV, including avoiding criminalization of HIV status.

Leadership of Patient-Centered Medical Homes: The AMA also adopted a policy that patient-centered medical homes be led only by physicians. GLMA voted against this measure in the House of Delegates. As a multidisciplinary organization, GLMA strongly believes all health professionals, regardless of discipline, have important roles to play in advancing the health of LGBT people.

In addition to these policies, as reported previously, the AMA House of Delegates elected GLMA member Jesse Ehrenfeld to the AMA Board of Trustees, making Jesse the first openly gay member to serve as an AMA Trustee. In addition to Jesse’s candidacy, GLMA actively supported several LGBT allies for election to AMA leadership positions. The LGBT health policies adopted by the AMA will be added to GLMA’s Compendium of Health Profession Association LGBT Policy & Position Statements, a multidisciplinary index of LGBT-related policies adopted by health profession associations. If you have additions for this resource from associations across the health professions, please send them to us for inclusion. GLMA’s work with the AMA is just one example of how GLMA’s relationships with other health profession associations can have a significant impact on LGBT health. We look forward to continuing to build relationships with associations representing all disciplines to help shape and influence policy initiatives that improve the health and well-being of the LGBT community.

Posted in Activism, LGBTQ rights, Public Policy | Leave a comment

Sexual Minority Aging and Resilience

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Thomas Lawrence Long

Aging is not for the feckless, as my mother used to complain before succumbing to its insults in 2012. The troubles of physical and mental decline come sometimes as single spies and also as whole battalions (to paraphrase Shakespeare).

For sexual minority people, aging’s troubles are often amplified by health care disparities, which have been well documented by the Institute of Medicine’s 2011 report The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding (http://www.iom.edu/reports/2011/the-health-of-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-people.aspx). These health disparities may include a lack of health insurance, a lack of trust in health care providers, disrespectful treatment by health care providers, a lack of support from family, and a lack of sons, daughters or spouses who assume the medical caretaker role, all complicated by risks of multiple health conditions. Added to this is the absence of extensive health research on sexual minority populations.

Resilience

However, despite these disparities, older gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults often have an important asset: resilience. Sometimes called crisis confidence or perceived hardiness, resilience is earned by a history of rolling with the punches with a resulting sense of self efficacy in which one trusts that one can take what life dishes out. Or to quote Gloria Gaynor’s popular disco hit of the 70s:

Oh no, not I. I will survive

Oh as long as I know how to love

I know I’ll stay alive

I’ve got all my life to live

I’ve got all my love to give and I’ll survive

I will survive,

I will survive! Hey, Hey!

As the IOM (2011) explains:

Definitions of resilience vary, ranging from a risk factor that has been averted or unrealized (Keyes, 2004), to a phenomenon that involves a relatively good outcome despite one’s suffering risk experiences (Rutter, 2007), to a class of phenomena characterized by patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk (Masten and Reed, 2002). Despite these differing definitions, studies typically focus on the capacity to recover from psychological trauma or to adapt successfully to adversity. Indeed, resilience per se is not directly observable and can only be inferred by observing a person’s adaptation (Masten, 2007) (p. 2-35).

Genke (2004) documents the literature in support of the benefits imparted by resilience and offers a case study to support that claim. Acknowledging the results of stigma and social marginalization, Fredriksen-Goldsen (2011) underscores the significance of group identity and social networks, as well as personal resilience, among sexual minority elders. (See also the entire issue of Public Policy and Aging Report [2011], 21[3] devoted to queer aging.) One central theme of Fredriksen-Goldsen et al. (2011) is that “resilience often emerges from adversity.”

Life Lessons

Lessons learned are clear:

As we age, we need to acknowledge the realities of health issues and find a health care provider whom we trust.
We need to continue to seek and maintain networks of social support and learn to ask them for help, even when we’ve been accustomed to going it alone or when we are losing friends to infirmity or death.
We need to inform ourselves about the unique issues related to aging in sexual minority communities. SAGE: Senior Action in a Gay Environment is one national organization that can provide guidance. Visit http://www.sageusa.org/

Final Thoughts

Botanists tell us that trees that have been buffeted about by winds over time develop tensile strength that allows trees to bend without breaking. It takes gales to make them strong. In the absence of these challenges, trees break in the first violent storm.

We are made of strong timber.

References

Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I. (2011). Resilience and disparities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults. Public Policy & Aging Report, 21(3), 3-7.

Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I. (2011). The aging and health report: Disparities and resilience among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults. Seattle: Institute for Multigenerational Health.

Genke, J. (2004). Resistance and resilience: The untold story of gay men aging with chronic illnesses. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 17(2), 81-95.

“I will survive.” (1978). Freddie Perren & Dino Fekaris. Universal Music Publishing Group.

Keyes, C. L. M. (2004). Risk and resilience in human development: An introduction. Research in Human Development, 1(4), 223-227.

Masten, A. S., ed. (2007). Adolescent psychopathology and the developing brain: Integrating brain and prevention science. Edited by D. Romer and E. Walker. New York: Oxford University Press.

Masten, A. S., and M. G. Reed. (2002). Resilience in development. In The handbook of positive psychology, edited by S. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Rutter, M. (2007). Resilience, competence, and coping. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(3), 205-209.

Posted in LGBT Health | 1 Comment

Leading Nursing Journal Features LGBT Health Issues!

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Peggy L Chinn

The June 2014 issue of the American Journal of Nursing features an article authored by

Fidel Lim

Fidelindo A. Lim, DNP, RN, Donald V. Brown Jr., MA, and Sung Min Justin Kim, BSN, RN titled “Addressing Health Care Disparities in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Population: A Review of Best Practices.” The article is accredited for continuing education.

In this article the authors review current current information about LGBT health disparities – along with useful and accessible guidelines for assuring culturally competent and appropriate care for LGBT people and their families. They point out that the vast diversity that exists under the “LGBT” umbrella and the distinct needs of each of these communities, as well as the common health risks associated with stigma, prejudice and misconceptions.

We welcome your comments about this article, and discussion of the many issues that this article addresses! We will engage the authors of the article to participate in the discussion along the way!