Health Needs and Experiences of a LGBT Population in Georgia and South Carolina.

The 2016 Municipal Equality Index rated Augusta, the largest city in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA), as one of the least lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) friendly cities in America. To understand the context of our region in relation to LGBT wellness, we conducted the first LGBT health needs assessment of the CSRA, assessing physical and mental health status and health care needs and experiences in the community. Participants (N = 436) were recruited using venue and snowball sampling and completed an anonymous online survey. Overall, the health problems experienced (i.e., obesity, depression) were not uniformly experienced across sexual orientation and gender identity; some groups experienced significantly higher rates of these conditions than others. Similarly, transgender individuals in particular reported higher rates of negative experiences with health care providers. Regional and national dissemination of these findings is critical to reducing health disparities and improving wellness of our local LGBT community.

Predictors of anxiety among sexual minority individuals in the Southern US.

Sexual minority individuals experience a disproportionate burden of mental health issues, particularly in less populous cities of the southern United States. Unique identity-related stressors may explain these disparities. The current study examines relationships between sexual minority stress, identity, and anxiety in sexual minority individuals from a small metropolitan area of the South. Sexual minority individuals (N = 249) from the Central Savannah River Area completed a survey assessing minority stress (i.e., identity-based discrimination, internalized homophobia), identity (i.e., outness comfort, community connectedness) and history of anxiety as part of a larger lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer community health needs assessment. All minority stress variables were significantly, positively associated with an anxiety history whereas community connectedness was significantly, negatively associated with anxiety history at the bivariate level. A multiple logistic regression model revealed that assault history was significantly associated with increased odds of anxiety history, whereas community connectedness was associated with decreased odds of anxiety history. These results demonstrate an influence of discriminatory experiences on anxiety in sexual minority individuals of the South and the protective value of community connectedness. Providers and advocates should work at the individual, community, and systemic levels to eliminate lesbian, gay, bisexual discrimination and facilitate community involvement, thereby reducing mental health disparities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Contextualizing Competence: Language and LGBT-Based Competency in Health Care.

Changes in the language and terminology used to refer to individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), as well as how best to discuss issues of sexual and gender identity, can prove challenging for health care providers due to (1) lack of training; (2) interdisciplinary issues; and (3) prejudices on personal and institutional levels. Given the importance of language in the relationship between health care provider and patient as well as the myriad ways in which language can reflect knowledge, skills, and attitudes, we contend that language is both a facilitator and inhibitor of competence. In this article, we discuss language as a means of exhibiting cultural competence as well as the barriers to facilitating this degree of competence. Communicative competence, a concept traditionally used in linguistics, is discussed as a framework for contextualizing LGBT-specific cultural competence in health care. Ideally, a professional will be considered competent once they (1) acquire a foundation in issues associated with LGBT individuals, as well as a basic understanding of appropriate vocabulary' (2) reconcile personal beliefs with their professional role; (3) create an inclusive healthcare environment such that the influence of personal biases does not negatively impact care; and (4) use identifiers suggested by the patient.