Evidence Based Health Promotion Scientific Abstract Introduction & Background: Mental Health resources are scarce in rural areas. In 2020, suicide was the third leading cause of death for African Americans ages 15 to 24; this is only one example of the mental health disparities experienced by minority groups. Purpose Statement and Research Question: We saught to answer: “Are there greater mental health disparities among sexual and ethnic minorities, such as LGBTQ+ groups or Middle Eastern women, compared to their heterosexual, majority counterparts; if so, is there anything we can do about the issue as nurses?” Literature Review: To match the guidelines for our assignment, which were to have an article younger than five years with an author who has nursing credentials. We used terms such as “mental health issues” and “minority groups” to drive our search, and from there we chose articles that best fit our own individual interests. Findings: From our research, we found that these groups tend to have a much poorer mental health status compared to their majority counterparts. In healthcare settings, sexual minorities tend to be generalized and treated without understanding of their differences; the same can be said for ethnic minorities, who are often treated by uneducated or biased healthcare workers. Conclusions and Nursing Interventions: There is a severe lack of specialized mental health teaching being given to healthcare workers. In implementing comprehensive care teaching programs, we could greatly improve the therapeutic mental health services being provided to these minority groups.

Background: Transgender or nonbinary (TNB) individuals in the United States experience higher rates of sexual and reproductive health disparities when compared to their cisgender counterparts, along with lower access to care. TNB people in the south experience higher rates of disparities. Societal, interpersonal, and individual barriers contribute to these disparities in the TNB population. However, there is a paucity of research examining the sexual and reproductive health experiences of TNB people living in Central Appalachia. Methods: An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) research design was used to collect and analyze semi-structured interviews with TNB individuals living in central Appalachia regarding their sexual and reproductive health experiences. Transcribed interviews were analyzed repeatedly by the primary investigator and the study equity committee to identify emergent themes which focused on understanding an individual’s lived experiences through interpretation. Results: Twenty participants from eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina from four Appalachian states within three Appalachian sub-regions participated in this study. Four themes were identified: a) perceptions and/or experiences receiving SRH healthcare shaped the individual’s self-agency regarding accessing and receiving SRH care, along with influencing their sense of self regarding their gender; b) heteronormative expectations within the medical field influenced interactions with providers and the care system; c) community is integral to SRH experiences, and d) policy and laws impact willingness and ability to access SRH care. Discussion: TNB individuals living in central Appalachia experience individual, interpersonal, community, and social factors that impact their sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences. By addressing these factors based on recommendations from participants, public health leaders, policy makers, and providers can improve sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences of TNB people living in central Appalachia.

Bakgrund: Majoriteten av transpersoner har upplevt kränkningar och diskriminering relaterat till deras könsidentitet. Det är särskilt viktigt att hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal besitter kunskap om patientgruppen transpersoner. Många transpersoner har däremot vittnat om negativa upplevelser i samband med hälso- och sjukvården. Rädslan för att bli diskriminerad kan resultera i att transpersoner erhåller försenad behandling eller helt uteblir från att söka sig till hälso- och sjukvården. Syfte: Att utforska sjuksköterskors kunskaper och erfarenheter av att möta transpersoner inom hälso- och sjukvården. Metod: Litteraturstudie utfördes med en kvalitativ ansats. Studien följde Polit och Becks niostegsmodell för litteraturstudier. Tolv vetenskapliga artiklar hittades genom databaserna CINAHL och PubMed vilket senare analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultat: Utifrån resultatet identifierades tre teman och fem subteman. Det första teman heter Utbildning och kompetens vars subtema är Grundutbildning och bibehållande av kunskap, Kunskapskällor och Kunskapsluckor. Det andra teman heter Barriärer i vårdmötet med subteman Allmän behandling och Diskriminering. Det sista teman heter Bemötande och kommunikation. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskor besitter inte den kompetens som behövs i vårdmötet med patientgruppen transpersoner. Det finns ett behov av forskning inom ämnesområdet för att uppmärksamma transpersoners vårdbehov och öka sjuksköterskors kompetens för att minska ojämlikheter i hälsa

Domestic violence shelters can vary greatly in the services available to victims and their families. The funding shelters receive can impact the shelter’s ability to provide specialized services. Since the availability of services might vary from shelter to shelter, victims can have different experiences based on their location. This cross-sectional study contacted representatives from nine shelters in the State of Florida and asked the representatives nine questions about the services which are available at their respective shelter. The findings from this research show that these nine shelters offer a greater number of services than the study expected. However, there is still a need to better fund domestic violence shelters so that these services can be available to every victim, no matter where the victim resides.

This thesis examines how trans people explore gender in live action role-playing games (hereafter: larps). It asks how larps function as spaces for gender exploration, in what ways trans people explore and express gender in larps, as well as how they make sense of, and articulate, this exploration and expression. In addition, the thesis has the secondary aim of exploring the use of larp design as an embodied data collection method. The research design consisted of the larp (Lost and) FOUND which was designed for the participants to play as part of the study, followed by a focus group interview as well as individual semi-structured interviews. The materials used in the thesis are the transcribed interviews as well as the larp. Four trans larpers from Europe participated in the study. They were all part of a specific larping tradition called Nordic larp. Through the design of the larp (Lost and) FOUND, as well as the theoretical and methodological work that underpins it, this thesis develops the method Research with Design, and situates it in relation to other research methods that include design practice. It argues for the method’s applicability beyond this study for research projects where participants’ recollection of and reflections on the research subject is of interest.  The analysis of the interview data suggests that the framing produced by the magic circle of a larp under the right circumstances can support trans larpers in exploring gender in larps. In addition, the thesis argues that validation from other larpers is important for positive experiences of gender exploration, and that such validation is intricately tied to matters of intelligibility. Finally, it illustrates the implications of larping being an embodied activity, by discussing how this simultaneously provides certain opportunities for gender exploration, while complicating others.

Trans and queer children are experiencing discrimination starting in the earliest years of schooling. In a paradoxical era of increased support for transgender and queer children on the one hand, and persistent gender violence on the other, this study examines how the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) gender policy is taken up in Early Childhood Education practice. In particular, I ask: (a) What are early childhood teachers’ understanding of NYCDOE’s policy? (b) How do the larger social and material contexts, shape teachers’ enactments of the policy? (c) What do teachers’ understandings and enactments of NYC gender policy look like in their everyday classroom practices? I use a critical policy-as-practice conceptual framework that does not take policy for granted but understands that embedded in all the policy processes, there is always a great deal of negotiation of power, where some stakeholders are empowered and other perspectives are silenced. Through semi-structured interviews with district policymakers, school administrators, and early childhood teachers, this study unveils how different actors took up NYCDOE’s gender policy in their practice, in accordance with their own ideas, motivations, and broader social and material contexts. Findings indicate that the policy formation processes excluded the knowledge and perspectives of school communities and grassroots trans activist movements. Principals and teachers had little knowledge of the Guidelines on Gender and resources available, while several policy content and procedures reproduced gender and racial violence. Moreover, the sediment construct of childhood innocence shaped early childhood teachers’ gender-justice practices. Shifting understandings of gender, without revising understandings of childhood, this study concludes, hinders the possibility of transformative change.

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