scholarly journals A Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Alleviate Stress From Discrimination Among Young Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color: Protocol for a Pilot Optimization Trial (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie H Cook ◽  
Erica P Wood ◽  
Nicholas Mirin ◽  
Michelle Bandel ◽  
Maxline Delorme ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Young sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) of color may face unique experiences of discrimination based on their intersectional positions (eg, discrimination based on both racial or ethnic identity and sexual identity). Emerging evidence suggests that mindfulness practices may reduce stress from discrimination and improve overall well-being among young SGM. Moreover, the omnipresence of smartphone access among racial or ethnic and sexual minority communities provides a method through which to administer mindfulness-based interventions among young SGMs of color. OBJECTIVE This paper outlines the protocol of the Optimizing a Daily Mindfulness Intervention to Reduce Stress from Discrimination among Young Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color (REDUCE) study, a pilot optimization trial of a smartphone-based mindfulness intervention that was developed in conjunction with the Healthy Minds Program (HMP) with the aim of reducing stress from discrimination among young SGMs. METHODS In total, 80 young (ages 18-29 years) SGMs of color will be enrolled in the study. The HMP is a self-guided meditation practice, and participants will be randomized to either a control condition or an intervention that uses a neuroscience-based approach to mindfulness. We will use the multiphase optimization strategy to assess which combination of mindfulness interventions is the most effective at reducing stress from discrimination among young SGMs of color. A combination of mindfulness-based meditation intervention components will be examined, comprising mindfulness-based practices of awareness, connection, and purpose. Awareness refers to the practice of self-awareness, which reduces the mind’s ability to be distracted and instead be present in the moment. Connection refers to the practice of connection with oneself and others and emphasizes on empathy and compassion with oneself and others. Purpose encourages goal-making in accordance with one’s values and management of behavior in accordance with these goals. In addition, we will assess the feasibility and acceptability of the HMP application among young SGMs of color. RESULTS The REDUCE study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of New York University, and recruitment and enrollment began in the winter of 2021. We expect to complete enrollment by the summer of 2022. The results will be disseminated via social media, journal articles, abstracts, or presentations, as well as to participants, who will be given the opportunity to provide feedback to the researchers. CONCLUSIONS This optimization trial is designed to test the efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of implementing an application-based, mindfulness-based intervention to reduce stress from discrimination and improve well-being among young SGMs of color. Evidence from this study will assist in the creation of a sustainable, culturally relevant mobile app–based mindfulness intervention to reduce stress from discrimination among young SGMs of color. CLINICALTRIAL Clinicaltrials.gov NCT05131360; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05131360 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/35593

Author(s):  
Scott D. Rhodes ◽  
Lilli Mann-Jackson ◽  
Jorge Alonzo ◽  
Jonathan C. Bell ◽  
Amanda E. Tanner ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Brandon J. Weiss ◽  
Bethany Owens Raymond

Rates of anxiety disorders are significantly elevated among sexual and gender minorities. In this chapter, the minority stress model is discussed as a framework for conceptualizing anxiety among sexual and gender minorities, and the authors review the literature on the relationships between specific minority stressors and symptoms. The authors examine prevalence rates of anxiety disorders among sexual minorities and gender minorities, separately and in comparison to heterosexual and cisgender individuals. Also reviewed is the literature on anxiety disorders among sexual and gender minorities with a racial or ethnic minority status. Current assessment and treatment approaches are identified and reviewed. Finally, limitations to the current literature base are discussed and recommendations are provided for future studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 817-817
Author(s):  
Shana Stites

Abstract Many studies find gender differences in how older adults’ report on their memory, perform on cognitive testing, and manage functional impairments that can accompany cognitive impairment. Thus, understanding gender’s effects in aging and Alzheimer’s research is key for advancing methods to prevent, slow, manage, and diagnosis cognitive impairment. Our study, CoGenT3 – The study of Cognition and Gender in Three Generations – seeks to disambiguate the effects of gender on cognition in order to inform a conceptual model, guide innovations in measurement, and support future study. To accomplish this ambitious goal, we have gathered an interdisciplinary team with expertise in psychology, cognition, sexual and gender minorities, library science, measurement, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, and gender and women’s studies. The team benefits from the intersections of expertise in being able to build new research ideas, gain novel insights, and evaluate a wide-range of actions and re-actions but this novelty can also raise challenges.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Bishnu Kumar Adhikari

The third gender in contemporary societies is viewed from different angle. They have been facing different problems because of their sexuality. The objective of the paper is to explore the working condition, problems and its impact on the health of sexual and gender minorities in community. The descriptive research design was adopted in this study. It was based on field study in Kathmandu valley. Interview schedule has been applied as tool of data collection. The study was delimited to the LGBTI registered under BDS only. Altogether 100 respondents were selected out of total (111) purposively. Most of the LGBT (53.6%) were involved in private sector and 34.56% were working as sex worker. The respondents (38.47%) reported that they were dismissed from the job and 12.5% suffered from sexual exploitation and rape. Similarly, 32.78% suffered from mental tension and 20% suffered from depression. Social support, information education and awareness programs targeting the LGBT and studies covering a diverse population are recommended.


2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-333
Author(s):  
Ning Hsieh ◽  
Stef M. Shuster

Research on the social dimensions of health and health care among sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) has grown rapidly in the last two decades. However, a comprehensive review of the extant interdisciplinary scholarship on SGM health has yet to be written. In response, we offer a synthesis of recent scholarship. We discuss major empirical findings and theoretical implications of health care utilization, barriers to care, health behaviors, and health outcomes, which demonstrate how SGMs continue to experience structural- and interactional-level inequalities across health and medicine. Within this synthesis, we also consider the conceptual and methodological limitations that continue to beleaguer the field and offer suggestions for several promising directions for future research and theory building. SGM health bridges the scholarly interests in social and health sciences and contributes to broader sociological concerns regarding the persistence of sexuality- and gender-based inequalities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 758-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Henrickson

The Dame Eileen Younghusband Lecture is presented every two years at the joint world conferences of international social work. In 2016 it was presented in Seoul and was based on the conference theme ‘promoting the dignity and worth of people’. The lecture includes a review of heroes, legal, political and social successes, and challenges for sexual and gender minorities around the world. It challenges the binary of gender and sexuality. The privilege of social work is to choose either to challenge or to reproduce oppression based on sexuality and gender, and protect the dignity and worth of all peoples.


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