Staff perceptions of barriers that lesbian, gay and bisexual residents face in long-term care settings

Abstract

This study explores the difficulties that older lesbian, gay and bisexual residents may encounter when attempting to express their sexuality while living in long-term care facilities (LTCF), as perceived by staff. The sample was made up of 1714 staff members working in 152 Spanish long-term care institutions for older people. Answers to an open-ended question regarding barriers that older lesbian, gay and bisexual people living in residential institutions may face when attempting to express their sexuality were content-analysed. The results suggest that the barriers are almost exclusively caused by other people’s views on non-heterosexual issues, including both heterosexist assumptions (e.g. the lack of awareness of sexual diversity in LTC settings, something that is particularly frequent among care assistants) and homophobic attitudes and behaviours generally attributed by technical staff and managers to heterosexual residents. Practical and policy implications, which should take into account job role as a key factor, are discussed.