Gender Minority Veterans Research Articles

Recruiting Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans for Health Disparities Research: Recruitment Protocol of a Web-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

The Health for Every Veteran Study is the first Veterans Health Administration-funded, nationwide study on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) veterans' health that relies exclusively on primary recruitment methods. This study aimed to recruit 1600 veterans with diverse sexual and gender identities to study the mental health and health risk behaviors of this population. A growing body of literature highlights the health inequities faced by LGBTQ+ veterans when compared with their heterosexual or cisgender peer groups. However, there is little to no guidance in the health disparities literature describing the recruitment of LGBTQ+ veterans. This paper provides an overview of the recruitment methodology of Health for Every Veteran Study. We describe the demographics of the enrolled cohort, challenges faced during recruitment, and considerations for recruiting LGBTQ+ veterans for health research. Recruitment for this study was conducted for 15 months, from September 2019 to December 2020, with the goal of enrolling 1600 veterans evenly split among 8 sexual orientation and gender identity subgroups: cisgender heterosexual women, cisgender lesbian women, cisgender bisexual women, cisgender heterosexual men, cisgender gay men, cisgender bisexual men, transgender women, and transgender men. Three primary recruitment methods were used: social media advertising predominantly through Facebook ads, outreach to community organizations serving veterans and LGBTQ+ individuals across the United States, and contracting with a research recruitment company, Trialfacts. Of the 3535 participants screened, 1819 participants met the eligibility criteria, and 1062 completed the baseline survey to enroll. At baseline, 25.24% (268/1062) were recruited from Facebook ads, 40.49% (430/1062) from community outreach, and 34.27% (364/1062) from Trialfacts. Most subgroups neared the target enrollment goals, except for cisgender bisexual men, women, and transgender men. An exploratory group of nonbinary and genderqueer veterans and veterans with diverse gender identities was included in the study. All recruitment methods contributed to significant portions of the enrolled cohort, suggesting that a multipronged approach was a critical and successful strategy in our study of LGBTQ+ veterans. We discuss the strengths and challenges of all recruitment methods, including factors impacting recruitment such as the COVID-19 pandemic, negative comments on Facebook ads, congressional budget delays, and high-volume surges of heterosexual participants from community outreach. In addition, our subgroup stratification offers important disaggregated insights into the recruitment of specific LGBTQ+ subgroups. Finally, the web-based methodology offers important perspectives not only for reaching veterans outside of the Veterans Health Administration but also for research studies taking place in the COVID-19-impacted world. Overall, this study outlines useful recruitment methodologies and lessons learned to inform future research that seeks to recruit marginalized communities. DERR1-10.2196/43824.

Spreading pride in all who served: A health education program to improve access and mental health outcomes for sexual and gender minority veterans.

Access to effective, replicable services is critical to reduce known mental health disparities for sexual and gender minority or LGBTQ+ veterans (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and related identities). This paper examines the impact of a manualized 10-week health education group, called PRIDE in All Who Served on veteran patient experience, protective factors (e.g., identity acceptance), and mental health outcomes (e.g., suicide risk) at 10 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. Implementation facilitation strategies (e.g., consultation, staff training) supported adoption at new sites and initial facilitators and barriers are described. Forty-four veterans (M = 47.21 years old) completed outcome surveys before and after the group. Significant improvement in acceptance concerns, identity uncertainty, community involvement, and likelihood of future suicide attempts were observed; other changes in mental health symptoms were not replicated in this sample (e.g., depression, anxiety). Open-ended veteran feedback reflected improved social support and engagement and increased self-understanding as the most frequent themes. At the facility level, Healthcare Equality Index scores (a Human Rights Campaign measure of affirmative care climate) improved from 30% to 90% achieving top-performer/leader status from pre- to postimplementation. Manualized approaches, like PRIDE in All Who Served, that are based on established minority stress models and can be spread for use with diverse LGBTQ+ veterans (e.g., age, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, rurality, housing) are needed. The PRIDE in All Who Served program is an increasingly available resource to VA clinicians advocating for greater health equity within a national healthcare setting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Costs of (In)visibility: Issues of Disclosure and Data for Health Equity Research with Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) veterans experience numerous disparities in health conditions, behavioral risks, and social adversities compared with non-SGM veterans. Although survey data have illuminated these differences, SGM veterans remain largely invisible in administrative data such as electronic health records due to lack of sexual orientation and gender identity information. Administrative data hold promise for propelling SGM health equity research, but several issues must be addressed, including weighing the benefits and threats of visibility for SGM people in data sets that are tied to receipt of services.

Research Priorities to Support Women Veterans' Reproductive Health and Health Care Within a Learning Health Care System.

Research Priorities to Support Women Veterans' Reproductive Health and Health Care Within a Learning Health Care System.

Improving affirming care for sexual and gender minority veterans.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations face a range of health disparities that all health care systems must address. In response to known health disparities, the LGBT Health Program of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) developed policies supporting the provision of affirming care to LGBT veterans. To support policy implementation, the program launched the LGBT Veteran Care Coordinator (LGBT VCC) Program in 2016, requiring every VHA facility to appoint at least one clinical staff member to serve as an LGBT VCC. This quality improvement project reports on LGBT VCCs' perspectives on the state of affirming care at their facilities in the first year of the program. LGBT VCCs (n = 79) completed a brief online survey, including qualitative questions on barriers and facilitators to implementation, and general recommendations for the program. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) guided directed content analysis of reported facilitators and barriers. The highest proportion of facilitators and barriers reported by the LGBT VCCs were coded under leadership engagement, available resources, other personal attributes, organizational culture, and networking and communications. LGBT VCCs requested additional support in securing adequate designated administrative time, engaging with facility leadership, improving networking and communication, tailoring programing, and providing professional advancement opportunities. Organizing findings using the CFIR enabled the LGBT Health Program to effectively promote facilitators and address barriers experienced during the startup year of the LGBT VCC Program. The VHA's efforts to reduce LGBT veteran health disparities may serve as a model for other health care systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dialectical behaviour therapy skills group including stigma management: a pilot with sexual and gender minority veterans

AbstractAs a principle-driven treatment, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) offers concepts and strategies that can be flexibly applied to address unique types of invalidation, such as stigma experienced by marginalized groups. A pilot DBT skills training group that included material on using skills to dialectically manage the effects of stigma was conducted with four sexual and gender minority (SGM) veterans. The group included standard DBT skills along with explicitly teaching about stigma commonly faced by SGM individuals and ways to apply DBT skills to the experiences of stigma. This pilot group was conducted to determine the acceptability of such a group as well as its effects on symptoms (depression, emotion regulation), use of DBT skills in daily living, and the psychological burden of stigma-related experiences. The group was well-received by participants; outcomes suggest promising trends in reducing psychological distress and increasing use of DBT skills to cope. Implications for clinical practice using a dialectical approach to stigma management and future directions are provided.Key learning aims(1)Readers will learn about how dialectical behaviour therapy can be used to help sexual and gender minority clients effectively manage the effects of minority stress.(2)Readers will learn how taking a dialectical perspective on managing minority stress can be effective.(3)Readers will learn how delivering dialectical behaviour therapy in a manner contextualized within the clients’ experience can be effective in managing mental health symptoms.

Toward Optimizing Mental Health Care for Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans.

Studies examining physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of their clinical competence have revealed that many are, or perceive themselves to be, poorly prepared to address the needs of sexual and gender minority (SGM) patients as well as military veterans. In this article, the authors examine these findings as they pertain to mental health care and identify the areas of cultural and clinical competence necessary for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to provide high-quality care for SGM veterans.

Pride in all Who Served: Development, Feasibility, and Initial Efficacy of a Health Education Group For LGBT Veterans

ABSTRACT Many of the more than 1 million military veterans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) have encountered “rejecting experiences in the military” and stigma from prior “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policies. Associated minority stress and social isolation have been linked to a disproportionate risk for depression and suicide, as well as a reluctance to seek medical care at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities. This paper describes feasibility and preliminary outcomes of the newly developed, Pride in All Who Served Health Education Group created to meet the unique needs of sexual and gender minority veterans. The 10-week, closed, health education group (e.g., continuums of identity, military culture) enables open dialogue, fosters social connectedness, and empowers veterans to be more effective self-advocates within the healthcare system. Feedback from formative evaluations (n = 29 LGBT veterans and n = 25 VHA stakeholders) was incorporated before conducting a small scale, non-randomized pilot. Preliminary pre-post surveys (n = 18) show promise (i.e., Cohen’s d range ± 0.40 to 1.59) on mental health symptoms (depression/anxiety, suicidal ideation), resilience indicators (identity affirmation, community involvement, problem-focused coping), and willingness to access care within the VA system (satisfaction with VA services, perception of staff competence). Results suggest that the 10-week Pride Group may be an effective tool for addressing minority-related stress in LGBT veterans. A full-scale, randomized clinical trial of this intervention is needed to determine short and long-term impacts on clinical and healthcare access-related outcomes.

Serving All Who Served: An Analysis of the VA's Visual and Digital Rhetorics for Welcoming Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans Into VA Care

Nearly one million veterans identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and could be eligible for services provided by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Historical criminalization of service members prior to and during the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy created social and cultural barriers to LGBT veterans seeking VA care. To date, no studies have assessed the implementation of the VA's efforts to create a welcoming environment for LGBT veterans. This study fills that gap by using rhetorical genre studies to analyze how official VA.gov websites position and address LGBT veterans. Our results indicate that rhetorical and discursive strategies deployed on the VAMC web sites betray information asymmetries reflecting varying levels of ambition and commitment to inclusion of LGBT veterans. With a focus on techne, we conclude with research‐based recommendations for VA practitioners, administrators, and policymakers to improve patient‐provider communication through public digital rhetorics.

Will Veterans Answer Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Questions?

The Veterans Health Administration does not routinely collect and document sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data, despite existing health disparities among sexual and gender minority Veterans. Because of the legacy of previous Department of Defense (DoD) policies that prohibited disclosure of sexual or gender minority identities among active duty personnel, Veterans may be reluctant to respond to SOGI questions. This population-based study assesses item nonresponse to SOGI questions by Veteran status. This is a secondary analysis of data from a population-based sample of adults in 20 US states that elected to administer a SOGI module in the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey. Prevalence of SOGI refusals and responses of "don't know" were compared for Veterans and non-Veterans. Veterans (n=22,587) and non-Veterans (n=146,475) were surveyed. Nearly all Veteran respondents (≥98%) completed the SOGI questions, with 95.4% identifying as heterosexual, 1.2% as gay or lesbian, 1.2% as bisexual, and 0.59% as transgender. A significantly lower proportion of Veterans than non-Veterans refuse to answer sexual orientation (1.5% vs. 1.9%). There was no difference between Veterans and non-Veterans in responses for gender identity. Veterans are just as likely as non-Veterans to complete SOGI items in survey research. Asking Veterans about SOGI is unlikely to yield significant nonresponse. These data suggest that future research should investigate Veterans' perspectives on being asked about SOGI in research settings and as part of routine clinical care.

Expanding Work to Address Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans: Reply to Lutwak and Kayman.

Expanding Work to Address Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans: Reply to Lutwak and Kayman.

Re: Transforming a System: Improving Patient-Centered Care for Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans, by Kauth and Shipherd (LGBT Health 2016;3:177-179).

Re: Transforming a System: Improving Patient-Centered Care for Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans, by Kauth and Shipherd (LGBT Health 2016;3:177-179).

An empirical investigation of challenges and recommendations for welcoming sexual and gender minority veterans into VA care.

Approximately 1 million gay and lesbian Americans are veterans. With the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system is focusing on the unique needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) veterans. As a result of research in the private sector documenting stigmatizing attitudes and discrimination toward LGBT individuals in health care settings, the Institute of Medicine and The Joint Commission published recommendations for responding to the needs of LGBT individuals. However, minimal research has examined the unique needs of LGBT veterans and their experiences in VA. This 2-site (Oklahoma City, OK; Houston, TX), mixed-methods study included 202 VA providers and 58 LGBT veterans. Experiences at VA, comfort in providing/receiving care, barriers LGBT veterans face in coming to VA, and recommendations for making VA more welcoming were assessed. Six focus groups and 6 individual interviews were conducted with veterans, and providers completed anonymous surveys. Less than one third of LGBT veterans and providers viewed VA as welcoming to LGBT veterans. Half of providers indicated they do not assess sexual orientation with any of their patients. Furthermore, half of providers reported that they do not alter their treatment plans even if they know the veteran is lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Many constructive suggestions regarding how VA

Communication between VA providers and sexual and gender minority veterans: A pilot study.

Approximately one million gay and lesbian Americans are veterans, and rates of engagement in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system may be increasing for both sexual and gender minority veterans. Very little research has examined the experience of these veterans when receiving care at VA health care facilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences, beliefs, and preferences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) veterans in their communication with VA health care providers. LGBT veterans (n = 58) participated in focus groups or individual interviews and completed self-report measures at two southern VA hospitals. Approximately 2/3 of veterans report that none of their VA providers have specifically asked about their sexual orientation, and 24% of the veterans indicate that they have not disclosed their orientation to any VA provider. Although some veterans want providers to initiate these discussions, veterans also expressed fears about disclosure and its possible negative consequences. Similarly, LGBT veterans report varied opinions about the appropriateness of routine assessment of minority status. Only 28% of these veterans experience VA as welcoming to them as LGBT veterans. Systematic training is needed for all VA providers about the rationale for assessing sexual and gender orientation. Staff education should include specific skills for initiating these assessments, and ways of responding to veteran concerns about discussing this topic in the VA health care system.

Understanding Health-Care Needs of Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans: How Targeted Research and Policy Can Improve Health.

Given the size of the patient population of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), it is likely the largest single provider of health care for sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals in the United States, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. However, current VHA demographic data-collection strategies limit the understanding of how many SGM veterans there are, thereby making a population-based understanding of the health needs of SGM veterans receiving care in VHA difficult. In this article, we summarize the emergent research findings about SGM veterans and the first initiatives that have been implemented by VHA to promote quality care. Though the research on SGM veterans is in its infancy, it suggests that SGM veterans share some of the health risks noted in veterans generally and also risks associated with SGM status. Some promising resiliency factors have also been identified. These findings have implications for both VHA and non-VHA systems in the treatment of SGM veterans. However, more research on the unique needs of SGM veterans is needed to fully understand their health risks and resiliencies in addition to health-care utilization patterns.

Blosnich et al. Respond

We are encouraged by Lutwak and Dill's letter, and we agree that health care competency, accessibility, and equity are among the key goals that should drive service to our veterans. Because a burgeoning research base documents health issues among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (i.e., sexual and gender minority) veterans, we are likely to see disparities similar to those currently identified in nonveteran sexual and gender minority populations (e.g., smoking, suicide risk, victimization). However, there also may be unique issues among sexual and gender minority veterans yet to be uncovered (e.g., trauma from childhood adversity interacting with military trauma). Surveillance of disparities is crucial, and there are critical needs for intervention and implementation science to address disparities. Here we take the opportunity to comment on the latter to briefly highlight that action is indeed taking place both within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and within health care practice and research in general. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 14, 2012: e1-e2. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300815). Language: en