Risk factors to mental health challenges among the LGBTI+ community in Gaborone, Botswana.
David S Mangwegape, Mofatiki E Manyedi, Boitumelo J Molato
PMID 38832370WHAT IT FOUND
LGBTI+ participants described stigma, misgendering, rejection, stigmatising healthcare encounters and unaffordable hormone treatment as sources of mental distress.
Nurses can use chosen names and pronouns and avoid unnecessary undressing.
Key findings
01Participants linked mental health challenges to stigma, discrimination, misgendering and unhealthy coping.
02Participants described being made to undress unnecessarily and being asked inappropriate questions during healthcare encounters.
03Participants linked social challenges such as identity issues, unaffordable hormone treatment and surgeries, relationship strain and unfamiliarity with transgender identities to mental health.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a qualitative study, so it describes experiences and cannot show that any treatment or nursing action improves mental health. The sample was purposive and recruited through an advocacy organisation in Gaborone, so findings may not represent all LGBTI+ people or settings. The study grouped different sexual and gender identities together, which may obscure subgroup-specific experiences. Interviews were conducted by phone during the pandemic, which may have affected what participants felt safe to disclose.
Declared interests
The article states that the research received no specific grant from any funding agency.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that a treatment works. This was a qualitative study of lived experience, not an intervention trial.