"We Can Be Our Best Alliance": Resilient Health Information Practices of LGBTQIA+ Individuals as a Buffering Response to Minority Stress

Author(s)

Valerie Lookingbill, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
A. Nick Vera, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Travis L. Wagner, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Vanessa L. Kitzie, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow

ORCID iD

Lookingbill: 0000-0003-1453-2633

Vera: 0000-0001-5715-7293

Wagner: 0000-0002-6000-157X

Kitzie: 0000-0002-6499-9584

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Abstract

This article examines the resilient health information practices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) individuals as agentic forms of buffering against minority stressors. Informed by semi- structured interviews with 30 LGBTQIA+ community leaders from South Carolina, our findings demonstrate how LGBTQIA+ individuals engage in resilient health information practices and community-based resilience. Further, our findings suggest that LGBTQIA+ communities integrate externally produced stressors. These findings have implications for future research on minority stress and resiliency strategies, such as shifting from outreach to engagement and leveraging what communities are doing, rather than assuming they are lacking. Further, as each identity and intersecting identities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella has unique stressors and resilience strategies, our findings indicate how resilience strategies operate across each level of the socio-ecological model to better inform understanding of health information in context.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_1

Publication Info

Postprint version. Published in Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue: 16th International Conference, iConference 2021, ed. Katharina Toeppe; Hui Yan; Samuel Kai Wah Chu, Volume 12646, 2021, pages 3-17.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2021

APA Citation

Lookingbill, V., Vera, A. N., Wagner, T. L., & Kitzie, V.L. (2021, May). “We Can Be Our Best Alliance”: Resilient Health Information Practices of LGBTQIA+ Individuals as a Buffering Response to Minority Stress. In Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue: 16th International Conference, iConference 2021, Beijing, China, March 17–31, 2021, Proceedings, Part II (Vol. 12646, p. 3). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_1

Rights

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2021