Mental Health

Empowering workplace allies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees to prevent and minimize psychological distress: A scoping review

“…das Nair and Fairbank [12] • Discrimination against sexual minority groups could cause or worsen psychological distress.…”

“…However, in a workplace that was perceived to be unsafe, identity management strategies were used by LGBT employees to conceal their sexual orientation and prevent discrimination and harassment. Such strategies may result in a sense of social isolation and therefore a high level of psychological distress [12,30]. A qualitative study also reported that LGBT employees' psychological well-being was greatly affected when coworkers violated their trust by disclosing their LGBT status without their consent [30].…”

“…However, the effectiveness of allyship in reducing workplace discrimination was not evaluated, and most of the suggested strategies merely laid a theoretical basis for future research. Workplace discrimination of minority groups such as LGBT employees may cause or worsen psychological distress [12,38]. A qualitative study involving 27 transgender employees found experiences of workplace discrimination were closely related to high levels of psychological stress [18].…”

“…However, literature reviews on the effectiveness of this intervention approach and relevant guidelines for mental health protection and promotion among LGBT employees are limited. Existing reviews focused primarily on the workplace context without exploring/examining it in relation to the concept of allyship [12,13]. This dearth of knowledge highlights the need to explore or identify available evidence for the most effective approach to empowering workplace allies for LGBT employees to prevent or minimize their psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress), and clarify the essential or therapeutic components (i.e., active ingredients of an effective intervention) of allyship.…”