Surviving the Added Pressures of the Pandemic: Sexual and Gender Diverse Communities Prioritize Social Connection to Decrease Mental Health Burden During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
13 September 2024
Abstract
This study explored the mental health experiences of sexual and gender diverse (SGD) communities in Canada within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Three online focus groups with 14 SGD community members were conducted to discuss experiences with social determinants of mental health. Themes included social connection and support, healthcare access and utilization, discrimination and socioeconomic status (employment, income, housing, education). Social connection and support were prominent themes throughout all groups. Policy and practice should focus primarily on scaling community-led services and programs that build social connection and support informed by local context and perspectives.
Résumé
Cette étude a porté sur les expériences en matière de santé mentale des communautés de sexualité et de genre divers (SGD) au Canada dans le contexte de la pandémie de Covid-19. Trois groupes de discussion en ligne avec 14 membres de la communauté SGD ont été formés pour discuter des expériences en lien avec les déterminants sociaux en santé mentale. Les thèmes incluaient le lien social et le support, l’accès aux soins de santé et leur utilisation, la discrimination et le statut socioéconomique (emploi, revenu, logement, éducation). Le lien social et le support ont été les thèmes prépondérants dans tous les groupes. En conclusion, les politiques et les pratiques devraient porter principalement sur l’évaluation des services et programmes communautaires qui contribuent au lien social et au support en tenant compte du contexte local et des perspectives.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Albuquerque G. A., de Lima Garcia C., da Silva Quirino G., Alves M. J. H., Belém J. M., dos Santos Figueiredo F. W., and Valenti V. E. 2016 Access to health services by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons: Systematic literature review BMC International Health and Human Rights 16 1 2
American Psychological Association. (2017). Mental health disparities: LGBTQ. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Cultural-Competency/Mental-Health-Disparities/Mental-Health-Facts-for-LGBTQ.pdf
Bambra C., Riordan R., Ford J., and Matthews F. 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic and health inequalities Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 74 11 964 -968
Braun V. and Clarke V. 2021 Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern-based qualitative analytic approaches Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 21 1 37 -47
Brennan D. J., Card K. G., Collict D., Jollimore J., and Lachowsky N. J. 2020 How might social distancing impact gay, bisexual, queer, trans and two-spirit men in Canada? AIDS and Behavior 1
Brooks, V. R. (1981). Minority stress and lesbian women. Lexington Books.
Cacioppo J. T. and Cacioppo S. 2018 The growing problem of loneliness The Lancet 391 10119 426
Carey G., Crammond B., and Keast R. 2014 Creating change in government to address the social determinants of health: How can efforts be improved? BMC Public Health 14 1 1 -11
Casey B. 2019 The health of LGBTQIA2 communities in Canada House of Commons of Canada 42 -41
CBRC. (2020). Mental & sexual health Impacts of Covid-19 on queer men: GBT2Q men at increased risk as pandemic persists. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cbrc/pages/1281/attachments/original/1590434851/Mental_and_Sexual_Health_Impacts_of_COVID19_on_Queer_Men.pdf?1590434851
Charlton B. M., Gordon A. R., Reisner S. L., Sarda V., Samnaliev M., and Austin S. B. 2018 Sexual orientation-related disparities in employment, health insurance, healthcare access and health-related quality of life: A cohort study of US male and female adolescents and young adults BMJ open 8 6 e020418 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6067349/pdf/bmjopen-2017-020418.pdf
Chodzen G., Hidalgo M. A., Chen D., and Garofalo R. 2019 Minority stress factors associated with depression and anxiety among transgender and gender-nonconforming youth Journal of Adolescent Health 64 4 467 -471
Conron K. J., Goldberg S. K., and Halpern C. T. 2018 Sexual orientation and sex differences in socioeconomic status: A population-based investigation in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 72 11 1016 -1026 https://escholarship.org/content/qt5ch5p0sn/qt5ch5p0sn.pdf?t=qecbhu
Dozois D. J. 2021 Anxiety and depression in Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic: A national survey Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne 62 1 136
Farrer L., Marinetti C., Cavaco Y. K., and Costongs C. 2015 Advocacy for health equity: A synthesis review The Milbank Quarterly 93 2 392 -437
Gatlin T. K. and Johnson M. J. 2017 Two case examples of reaching the hard-to-reach: Low income minority and LGBT individuals Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice 10 3 11
Ge L., Yap C. W., Ong R., and Heng B. H. 2017 Social isolation, loneliness and their relationships with depressive symptoms: A population-based study PloS one 12 8 e0182145
Gerst-Emerson K. and Jayawardhana J. 2015 Loneliness as a public health issue: The impact of loneliness on health care utilization among older adults American Journal of Public Health 105 5 1013 -1019
Gil R. M., Freeman T., Mathew T., Kullar R., Ovalle A., Nguyen D., and Swartz T. H. 2021 The LGBTQ+ communities and the Covid-19 pandemic: A call to break the cycle of structural barriers Journal of Infectious Diseases 224 11 1810 -1820
Gray C. and Hansen K. 2021 Did Covid-19 lead to an increase in hate crimes toward Chinese people in London? Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 37 4 569 -588
Gray, D. E. (2021). Doing research in the real world., fifth edition, 1–100. Sage Publications. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/doing-research-in-the-real-world/book275378
Green, A., Dorison, S., & Price-Feeny, M. (2020). Implications of Covid-19 for LGBTQ youth mental health and suicide prevention. Trevor Project, New York, NY.
Harandi T. F., Taghinasab M. M., and Nayeri T. D. 2017 The correlation of social support with mental health: A meta-analysis Electronic Physician 9 9 5212
Hatzenbuehler M. L., Phelan J. C., and Link B. G. 2013 Stigma as a fundamental cause of population health inequalities American Journal of Public Health 103 5 813 -821 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3682466/pdf/AJPH.2012.301069.pdf
Higgins R., Hansen B., Jackson B. E., Shaw A., and Lachowsky N. J. 2021 Programs and interventions promoting health equity in LGBTQ2+ populations in Canada through action on social determinants of health Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy & Practice 41 12
Institute, A. R. (2020). Worry, gratitude & boredom: As Covid-19 affects mental, financial health, who fares better; who is worse? Angus Reid Institute Vancouver, Canada.
Israel B. A., Schulz A. J., Parker E. A., and Becker A. B. 1998 Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health Annual Review of Public Health 19 1 173 -202
Jacques-Aviñó C., López-Jiménez T., Medina-Perucha L., de Bont J., and Berenguera A. 2021 Social conditions and mental health during Covid-19 lockdown among people who do not identify with the man/woman binomial in Spain PloS one 16 8 e0256261
Jenkins E. K., McAuliffe C., Hirani S., Richardson C., Thomson K. C., McGuinness L., and …Gadermann A. 2021 A portrait of the early and differential mental health impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada: Findings from the first wave of a nationally representative cross-sectional survey Preventive Medicine 145 106333
Kneale D. and Becares L. 2020 The mental health and experiences of discrimination of LGBTQ+ people during the Covid-19 pandemic: Initial findings from the Queerantine study medRxiv
Kneale D. and Bécares L. 2021 Discrimination as a predictor of poor mental health among LGBTQ+ people during the Covid-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional analysis of the online Queerantine study BMJ open 11 6 e049405
Lee S. and Waters S. F. 2021 Asians and Asian Americans’ experiences of racial discrimination during the Covid-19 pandemic: Impacts on health outcomes and the buffering role of social support Stigma and Health 6 1 70
Leigh-Hunt N., Bagguley D., Bash K., Turner V., Turnbull S., Valtorta N., and Caan W. 2017 An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness Public health 152 157 -171
Lu Y., Kaushal N., Huang X., and Gaddis S. M. 2021 Priming Covid-19 salience increases prejudice and discriminatory intent against Asians and Hispanics Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 36
Madrigal-borloz, V. (2018). Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity: United Nations General Assembly [UNGA].
Mahmood F., Acharya D., Kumar K., and Paudyal V. 2021 Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities: A qualitative study on the perspectives of BAME community leaders medRxiv
Meyer I. H. 2003 Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence Psychological Bulletin 129 5 674 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2072932/pdf/nihms32623.pdf
Missiuna S., Plante C., Pahwa P., Muhajarine N., and Neudorf C. 2021 Trends in mental health inequalities in urban Canada Canadian Journal of Public Health 1 -9
Rhodes S. D., Mann-Jackson L., Alonzo J., Garcia M., Tanner A. E., Smart B. D., and Wilkin A. M. 2021 A rapid qualitative assessment of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on a racially/ethnically diverse sample of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men living with HIV in the US South AIDS and Behavior 25 1 58 -67
Riahi M., Aliverdinia A., and Pourhossein Z. 2011 Relationship between social support and mental health Social Welfare Quarterly 10 39 85 -121
Roberts A. L., Austin S. B., Corliss H. L., Vandermorris A. K., and Koenen K. C. 2010 Pervasive trauma exposure among US sexual orientation minority adults and risk of posttraumatic stress disorder American Journal of Public Health 100 12 2433 -2441 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2978167/pdf/2433.pdf
Rodriguez-Seijas C., Fields E. C., Bottary R., Kark S. M., Goldstein M. R., Kensinger E. A., and Cunningham T. J. 2020 Comparing the impact of Covid-19-related social distancing on mood and psychiatric indicators in sexual and gender minority (SGM) and non-SGM individuals Frontiers in Psychiatry 11 1448
Salerno J. P., Doan L., Sayer L. C., Drotning K. J., Rinderknecht R. G., and Fish J. N. 2021 Changes in mental health and well-being are associated with living arrangements with parents during Covid-19 among sexual minority young persons in the US Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity 10 1 150 -156 https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/sgd0000520
Shim R., Koplan C., Langheim F. J., Manseau M. W., Powers R. A., and Compton M. T. 2014 The social determinants of mental health: An overview and call to action Psychiatric Annals 44 1 22 -26
Smout S. A., Wall C. S., Mason K. L., Stanford M. K., O’Neill K. A., Carrico M. A., and Benotsch E. G. 2023 An exploration of psychological distress, employment, and housing among transgender and gender diverse individuals during the Covid-19 pandemic Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity 10 1 157
Statistics Canada. (2021). Vulnerabilities related to Covid-19 among LGBTQ2+ Canadians. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00075-eng.htm#n1
van der Miesen A. I., Raaijmakers D., and van de Grift T. C. 2020 “You have to wait a little longer”: Transgender (mental) health at risk as a consequence of deferring gender-affirming treatments during Covid-19 Archives of Sexual Behavior 1
Veale J. F., Watson R. J., Peter T., and Saewyc E. M. 2017 Mental health disparities among Canadian transgender youth Journal of Adolescent Health 60 1 44 -49
Wallerstein N. and Duran B. 2010 Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: The intersection of science and practice to improve health equity American Journal of Public Health 100 S1 S40 -S46
Whittington, C., Hadfield, K., & Calderon, C. (2020). The lives and livelihoods of many in the LGBTQ community are at risk amidst Covid-19 crisis. 2020.
Wiley A. S. and Cullin J. M. 2020 Biological Normalcy Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 43 • Number 2 • June 2024
Pages: 31 - 47
History
Version of record online: 13 September 2024
Key Words
Mots-clés
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Other Metrics
Citations
Cite As
Nicole Pal, Kayla Huggard, Kiffer G. Card, Carolien Aantjes, Ben Klassen, Anya Slater, and Nathan John Lachowsky. 2024. Surviving the Added Pressures of the Pandemic: Sexual and Gender Diverse Communities Prioritize Social Connection to Decrease Mental Health Burden During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
43(2): 31-47. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2024-011
Export Citations
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
There are no citations for this item
View Options
Get Access
Login options
Check if you access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Subscribe
Click on the button below to subscribe to Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
