Experiences of LGBTQ-identifying students, interns and practitioners of dietetics

Abstract

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) currently comprise over five percent of the population in America. It is unknown how many dietetics students, interns, or practitioners identify as LGBTQ as these data are not collected by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics nor its “sister” organizations. Research suggests that LGBTQ-identifying folx, experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, stigmatization, discrimination and isolation and many have unmet healthcare needs. This holds for LGBTQ-identified individuals studying and practicing in healthcare professions but to date there have been no studies of the dietetics profession. To explore the experiences of LGBTQ-identifying dietetics students, interns and practitioners we conducted a mixed-methods study grounded in Feminist Standpoint theory. National convenience and snowball sampling strategies generated n=131 students, interns and professionals of ACEND-accredited programs for our survey and n=10 for our semi-structured interviews. Qualitative analyses identified themes of overt and covert “underminers” of success including heteronormative assumptions/talk, misgendering, microaggressions, self-editing and closeting, and identified a lack of adequate LGBTQ-related healthcare content in academics/training. Supporters of success included people/groups with supportive characteristics, therapists/mental health professionals, and passion for the field. Survey data indicated significant differences between heterosexual and non-heterosexual respondents to a number of questions including homosexuality in society, awareness of LGBTQ community experiences, importance of academic content/training on nutrition assessment/care of LGBTQ-identified folx and responsibility for advocacy for LGBTQ-identifying patients/clients. Our results indicate need for better data collection, improved coursework/training on inclusion and greater content on nutrition/healthcare needs for LGBTQ-identifying patients and clients.