Background
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people experience significant health inequalities. Located within a European Commission funded pilot project, this paper presents a review of the health inequalities faced by LGBTI people and the barriers health professionals encounter when providing care.
Methods
A narrative synthesis of 57 papers including systematic reviews, narrative reviews, meta-analyses and primary research. Literature was searched in Cochrane, Campbell Collaboration, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsychINFO and Medline. The review was undertaken to promote understanding of the causes and range of inequalities, as well as how to reduce inequalities.
Results
LGBTI people are more likely to experience health inequalities due to heteronormativity or heterosexism, minority stress, experiences of victimization and discrimination, compounded by stigma. Inequalities pertaining to LGBTI health(care) vary depending on gender, age, income and disability as well as between LGBTI groupings. Gaps in the literature remain around how these factors intersect to influence health, with further large-scale research needed particularly regarding trans and intersex people.
Conclusion
Health inequalities can be addressed via changes in policy, research and in practice through health services that accommodate the needs of LGBTI people. With improved training to address gaps in their knowledge of LGBTI health and healthcare, health professionals should work in collaboration with LGBTI people to address a range of barriers that prevent access to care. Through structural change combined with increased knowledge and understanding, services can potentially become more inclusive and equally accessible to all.
International research and policy interest in resilience has increased enormously during the last decade. Resilience is now considered to be a valuable asset or resource with which to promote health and well-being and forms part of a broader trend towards strength based as opposed to deficit models of health. And while there is a developing critique of resilience's conceptual limits and normative assumptions, to date there is less discussion of the subject underpinning these notions, nor related issues of subjectivity, identity or the body. Our aim in this article is to begin to address this gap. We do so by re-examining the subject within two established narratives of resilience, as 'found' and 'made'. We then explore the potential of a third narrative, which we term resilience 'unfinished'. This latter story is informed by feminist poststructural understandings of the subject, which in turn, resonate with recently articulated understandings of an emerging psychosocial subject and the contribution of psychoanalysis to these debates. We then consider the potential value of this poststructural, performative and embodied psychosocial subject and discuss the implications for resilience theory, practice and research.
Extensive research documents the health inequalities LGBTI people experience, however far less is known for people with intersex variation. This paper presents a review of intersex health and healthcare inequalities by evaluating research published from 2012 to 2019. In total 9181 citations were identified with 74 records screened of which 16 were included. A synthesis of results spans nine quantitative, five qualitative and two narrative reviews. Literature was searched in Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane, PsychINFO and CINAHL. People with intersex variance experience a higher incidence of anxiety, depression and psychological distress compared to the general population linked to stigma and discrimination. Progressive healthcare treatment, including support to question normative binaries of sex and gender, aids understand of somatic intersex variance and non-binary gender identity, especially when invasive treatment options are avoided or delayed until individuals are able to self-identify or provide consent to treatment. Findings support rethinking sex and gender to reflect greater diversity within a more nuanced sex-gender spectrum, although gaps in research remain around the general health profile and the healthcare experiences of people with intersex variance. More large-scale research is needed, co-produced with peers who have lived experience of intersex variation to ensure policy, education and healthcare advances with greater inclusivity and ethical accountability.
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