The Northwest AHEC Practice Support Team is committed to promote understanding and improve the orientation of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) for North Carolinians. In order to support these goals, we will share a publication on SDOH each month on our Practice Support Blog.
In observance of Pride Month for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community, we are sharing an article that highlights and reports experiences of discrimination against LGBTQ adults in the United States. These experiences of discrimination contribute to poor health outcomes.
In this article, the authors concluded that policy and programmatic efforts are needed in all areas of health, education, etc. to reduce negative experiences and their health impact on sexual and/or gender minority adults, particularly those who experience compounded forms of discrimination.
Experiences of interpersonal discrimination were common for LGBTQ adults, including slurs (57 percent), microaggressions (53 percent), sexual harassment (51 percent), violence (51 percent), and harassment regarding bathroom use (34 percent). More than one in six LGBTQ adults also reported avoiding health care due to anticipated discrimination (18 percent), including 22 percent of transgender adults, while 16 percent of LGBTQ adults reported discrimination in health care encounters. LGBTQ racial/ethnic minorities had statistically significantly higher odds than whites in reporting discrimination based on their LGBTQ identity when applying for jobs, when trying to vote or participate in politics, and interacting with the legal system.
Check out our full list of Social Determinants of Health Resources below!