Interpersonal Trauma, Marginalization, and Low-Resource Settings: Understanding Sexual and Gender Minority People's...

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Psychology

Background:

• Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals experience higher rates of interpersonal trauma.
• Significant barriers exist in accessing affirmative and supportive care for SGM populations.
• Low-resource settings exacerbate challenges in trauma recovery and mental health support for SGM individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore help-seeking behaviors and care utilization among SGM individuals with histories of interpersonal trauma in low-resource areas.
• To identify social and structural factors influencing the decision to seek and engage with support services.
• To understand the lived experiences of SGM individuals navigating trauma-related care.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods approach utilizing online needs assessment surveys with quantitative and qualitative components.
• Descriptive statistics to analyze sample characteristics, help-seeking, and care utilization.
• Conventional content analysis to explore contextual factors in seeking and utilizing services.

Main Results:

• 38.2% of participants sought mental health treatment for interpersonal trauma in the past year.
• Nearly a third lacked confidence in finding SGM-affirmative providers; 18.2% experienced SGM conversion efforts.
• Qualitative themes revealed barriers including anticipated stigma, relational responses, provider invalidation, geographic isolation, and structural inequities.

Conclusions:

• Socioecological factors such as stigma, trust, provider interactions, geographic isolation, and structural inequities critically shape trauma care-seeking pathways for SGM individuals.
• Addressing these multifaceted barriers is crucial for improving access to and engagement with affirmative trauma support services.
• Findings highlight the need for culturally competent and structurally equitable approaches to SGM mental healthcare.