Dialogo And Two Spirit Health Centers: A Literature Review

After reading the article “Addressing Health Care Disparities in the LGBT population”, I was so shocked and speechless. Honestly, I did not have an awareness of the health care disparities experienced by the LGBT population. To me, it is a disgrace to read in this day and age that human beings are experiencing health care inequalities by their health care providers simply because of their sexual preferences. As a nurse, I feel that it is of high importance to highlight and address these issues because as stated in the article not only can the LBGT negative experience and stigma have detrimental effects (depression and suicidal ideation) on this population, it can prevent them from ever seeking care regardless of the illness. Thus, hindering

Health disparities in the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender community that lack fair treatment. This population deals with many adversities due to their sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBT’s community consists of a diverse population of people who come from all walks of life ((Howard, 2016). Many LBGT’s will delay or not seek health care due to stigma and lack of fair treatment. In other words, they believe that they are discriminated against.

This study provides in depth look into the effect of coming out in a proud manner rather than limited and held-back. Using a Coming-Out Proud (COP) program, the study was able to evaluate the reactions and feelings of individuals with mental illness who are trying to come out to their friends and family. The study found that individuals who participated in the COP program tested more positively overall from their experience and, most interestingly, had more positive experiences with self-stigma, which is a serious problem in the LGBT+ community. This study also looked at the effects of the COP program on men and women, finding that women showed reduction in depression in their follow-up tests.

Sexual and social stigmas largely affect the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population. While many reports from the Institute of Medicine, Healthy People 2020 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognize a need to improve the quality of health care, barriers still remain. LGBT patients face legal discrimination, especially with insurance, a lack of social programs, and limited access to providers competent in LGBT health care. Although the Affordable Care Act increased access to care for LGBT patients, unless these patients feel understood by providers and develop trust in the system, they are not likely to utilize care. Healthcare providers need to recognize how these vulnerabilities, as well as persistent racism and stigma linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, make the healthcare needs of LGBT patients more challenging than the general population. Healthcare providers also need to promote cultural competence within this population and broaden their clinical lens to include health promotion, in addition to addressing concerns mentioned above within the population. Additionally, medical and nursing schools need to ensure that future providers are adequately educated by including information about this population in the curriculum.

The study conducted by Peter A. Vanable et al. [192] examined the impact of stigma-related experiences with a broad spectrum of health seeking behavior among HIV positive men and women. The study findings confirmed that stigma is correlated with psychological adjustment and medication adherence difficulties. These experiences are more frequently among people who disclose their HIV positive status to a broad range of social networks. In some cases there were incidents of increased number of receiving psychiatric care due to the stigma associated with the illness. Some of the PLHIV who missed the regular appointments to ART centers more likely reported stigma related

The authors of the study recruited LGBTQ students who were part of Project Q2, which was a longitudinal study of LGBTQ students between the ages 16-20 and given a survey to complete. Students were recruited from the Chicago area who self-identified as LGBTQ or were attracted to the same sex. The students were part of a longitudinal study and were asked to follow up on six occasions in a span of 3.5 years. They completed “self-report measures on health, mental health, victimization, and health behaviors”(p. 282). Participants were asked to identify themselves as male, female or transgender (male to female or female to male). On a

The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to

LGBTQ people continue to face unique health and healthcare disparities that stem from discrimination and stigma, which results in sexual orientation and gender identity not being collected in most health

When a person is treated as a disease rather than an actual human being, it exposes a symptom of an even bigger illness within our own society. The LGBTQ+ community has become more accepted in modern times, however, there’s is still hate, and stereotyping that dwells within. Often, when a person comes out they are met with the bright light of self-acceptance, but also, they must now face possible danger from others who cannot accept them, especially in the workplace. A person should not have to face discrimination from the workplace from the people they serve due to sexual orientation, society must learn how to overcome their hate and instead value the person for who they are and not for whom they love. I will dive into a case of discrimination

Stigma is a part of everyday life for most people. Stigma refers to negative perception of beliefs or attitudes that a certain attributes make a certain group unacceptably different from others. the result of stigma is prejudice or discrimination as well as physical and mental health issues. Group that are usually stigmatized are people with disabilities, mental illness, HIV/Aids and LGBT community. It took a long time, but nearly all medical organizations now agree that being gay is not a “sociopathic personality disturbance,” but there are still medical organizations who prejudice against the LGBT community. The artifact is a journal article from TheAtlantic, titled, “When Doctors Refuse to Treat LGBT Patients” by Emma Green. The article is geared to the educated public and LGBT communities. The article is very lengthy and detailed with lots of information. The article discussed that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is not a disease. There are a few organizations that still challenges this view as of 2016. This is happening in Mississippi, physicians and therapist have the right to choose not to provide treatments that conflict with their religious beliefs. “They can refuse treatments that might include sex-change operations, hormone-replacement therapy for transgender people, fertility treatments to same-sex couples, or counseling for patients who are in non-heterosexual relationships” (Green 2016). This is discriminatory against LBGT

Quinn, D. M., & Chaudoir, S. R. (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(4), 634–651.

Women in general, already experience more psychological distress when compared to men, but the extent to how severe the mental well-being of an individual with HIV or AIDS is experienced more intensely psychologically for males in some cases. This is because in general women tend to experience more depression and anxiety disorders already before they are infected with HIV. Aside from women experiencing higher psychological distress, more men than women report experiencing more suicidal thoughts than women after they have been diagnosed with HIV (Sherr et. al 2012). In one study, researchers found that men experienced higher rates of depression related to being diagnosed with and HIV infection (Gupta et. al 2010). Overall, though, women tend to experience the heavier and onset burdens of discrimination that can lead to high psychological distress. The experience of a perceived life-threatening disease can influence a person’s mental health and HIV is a life threatening disease that carries a stigma that affects the mental health of males and females

Although awareness surrounding specialized health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients has significantly increased since the AIDS epidemic that began in the mid-to-late 70s, it is still not adequate to provide proper care. This is apparent from, the fact that LGBT youth have a higher risk of attempting suicide, lesbians are at higher risk of developing cancers, especially breast cancer; and gay men and transgender individuals are at higher risk of HIV and other STDs (Substance Abuse). As a member of the LGBT community who is also an aspiring physician, I have a special interest and passion for this topic. Improving health education for the queer community is a cause that is best addressed through civic engagement because it is a complex issue in which queer populations are typically unable to navigate the health care system alone and medical professionals are often ignorant to special concerns that the community has. According to a study done by Lambda Legal in 2010, 56 percent of LGB and 70 percent of transgender respondents reported experiencing discrimination while receiving care. In this study discrimination was defined as having an experience where a health care professional refused to touch them or used excessive precautions, verbally or physically abused them, blamed them for their health status, or refused the needed care altogether.

I have chosen the topic of the effect of discrimination on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community’s mental health, because I find this topic interesting and I know a few LGBT people who are afraid to be themselves because of this discrimination and the effects it can have. I have been exposed to the issues this community faces from news stories about gay rights and protests to support gay marriage in Australia. I have always wondered how many people in the LGBT community experienced prejudice by others and have decided the research project is the perfect opportunity to find out. I have some knowledge in this topic as I myself have been exposed to this discrimination because

The article that was chosen for this assignment is titled, The associations of sexual and ethnic-racial identity commitment, conflicts in allegiances, and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual racial and ethnic minority adults. It has been confirmed throughout the literature that members of the LGBTQ community are at a greater risk for mental health problems compared to heterosexual individuals (Santos & VanDaalen, 2016). Also, past research has discovered members of racial/ethnic minority groups are at an increased risk for mental health issues compared to the racial/ethnic majority. Experiences of discrimination are related to numerous types of psychological distress for both populations. Even though studies have been conducted on both of these groups separately, there is not a great representation of investigations focusing on racial/ethnic minorities within the LGBTQ community (Santos & VanDaalen, 2016).