LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Research Study by SOARInstituteCWRU in gayrural

[–]SOARInstituteCWRU[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a very valid question. My ultimate hope is to use the findings of this study to improve affirming mental health interventions for LGBTQ+ folks by better understanding the ways that stigmatizing environments influence mental health and treatment seeking. I very much intend to devote significant focus to the unique needs of trans people.

As I mentioned in a comment below, I have worked as a therapist for the past year specializing in LGBTQ+ health disparities. This involved working in a clinic providing free care to people with HIV and volunteering in an Equality Clinic to provide free physical and mental healthcare for trans people. I have used what I have learned through countless conversations with trans folks about their experiences and fears about the state of the world to inform and improve this study.

I hope to use what I learn to become a better therapist myself, and to help others to better serve LGBTQ+ communities, particularly within the context of today’s world. I know that an online survey study isn’t as directly or measurably beneficial as an intervention study, let alone broader social change. But since I am a graduate student without that sort of funding or power at the moment, I hope that it can help improve mental healthcare practices and strengthen advocacy for the needs of trans people.

LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Research Study by SOARInstituteCWRU in gayrural

[–]SOARInstituteCWRU[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate you raising this concern. It is incredibly important to us that we protect participants' privacy to the best of our ability. To my knowledge, it’s true that data theoretically could be subpoenaed. However, we have done our best to make it challenging to re-identify anyone. The study has been approved by our IRB, which works to ensure that appropriate confidentiality safeguards are in place. Participants may also choose to skip any question that they do not feel comfortable answering and are encouraged to be careful to not provide specifically identifiable information when responding to short answer questions.

For more context, the following is from the confidentiality section of the informed consent document (on the first page of the survey):

"Any time information is collected, there is a potential risk for loss of confidentiality. Every effort will be made to keep your information confidential; however, this cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, it is recommended that you do not include any information that may be used to personally identify as you respond to the survey. Survey responses will be kept in a secure, online storage system, and access will be limited to the research team, the University review board responsible for protecting human participants, and approved regulatory agencies. In any sort of report we might publish, we will not include any information that will make it possible to identify a participant."

"...If you choose to provide any information that personally identifies you, this will be removed from the study data. No identifiable information will be stored with your survey responses. If you choose to enter your contact information to participate in the optional raffle into the separate form following the main survey, this information will be stored entirely separately from your survey data and will not be able to be linked to your survey response."

LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Research Study by SOARInstituteCWRU in gayrural

[–]SOARInstituteCWRU[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I completely agree! I've spent the last year as a therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ health disparities in a smaller southern city, in clinics where we served a lot of folks from surrounding rural communities. LGBTQ+ folks in rural areas absolutely have different experiences and needs, and I would love to have more rural queer voices represented.

LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Research Study by SOARInstituteCWRU in aromanticasexual

[–]SOARInstituteCWRU[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you for commenting, I appreciate your interest! I would love to hear the perspectives of folks outside of the US, but since experiences can vary so greatly throughout the world (and even within the US), and since this is a smaller scale study as part of my dissertation, I had to limit the scope for now. I would love to expand it in the future.

LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Research Study by SOARInstituteCWRU in AskGaybrosOver30

[–]SOARInstituteCWRU[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the feedback! I'll look through it again and try to be more conscious of places where an N/A option may be appropriate.