Racialized Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (GBTQ) Men's Suicidality in Canada: Religious and Spiritual...

The protective effects of religiosity and spirituality against mental illness and suicidality have been widely established, but the ways these dimensions characterize racialized GBTQ men's suicidality is poorly understood. Drawing on interpretive descriptive methodology and using virtual photovoice methods, individual Zoom interviews were conducted with 32 Canadian-based racialized GBTQ men to explore the connections between their religiosity, spirituality, and suicidality. Using constant comparison analytics, three distinct yet interconnected themes were inductively derived: (a) Differentiating religiosity and spirituality, (b) seeking solace and assurance, and (c) cultivating unwavering faith. In differentiating religiosity and spirituality, participants described reimagining spirituality to waylay the impact of religious trauma while working to reconcile their sexual/gender minority identities and cope with suicidality. In seeking solace and assurance, participants entrusted their emotional pain to a higher power to ease the hopelessness and suicidality that beset them amid the absence of social supports. Lastly, by cultivating unwavering faith, participants summoned spiritual resilience as the foundation for overcoming minority stressors and promoting their mental health in the long term. These findings can guide tailored mental health promotion and suicide prevention interventions to be more responsive to racialized GBTQ men's religious and spiritual needs.