A team of ecological-community psychologists from the Michigan State University Department of Psychology have received a $65,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation to assess LGBTQ+ health disparities and variations in healthcare access in Michigan.
This year long study will look at the specific risk and protective factors related to the health and healthcare experiences of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ residents. The researchers will use community-engaged dissemination methods to share the results of this project with healthcare providers across Michigan.
"Marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ communities, experience a range of stressors that drive health disparities, as well as barriers to adequate and affirming healthcare. We are doing this work to better understand the types of contextual factors that influence health and healthcare experiences,” said Dr. Jae Puckett co-lead of this study and faculty in MSU’s psychology department. “Through shedding light on these areas, providers may have better insights into their patients' experiences, and we hope that this will also translate into better quality and more affirming healthcare experiences."
The research team, which is co-led by ecological-community psychologist Dr. Aldo Barrita, will hold a series of virtual community meetings with LGBTQ+ individuals who live across the state of Michigan to help gather community input. This input will help influence surveys that will be distributed to 500 LGBTQ+ individuals to assess their health and healthcare experiences.
“Receiving this grant is especially meaningful at a time when funding for research focused specifically on health and well-being among marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ+, has become increasingly limited,” said Dr. Barrita. “This support allows us to continue asking questions essential to understanding the experiences, challenges, and strengths of LGBTQ+ people in Michigan, rather than treating these communities as an afterthought in broader research.”
The researchers note that having the resources to document these experiences is critical for advancing research and generating evidence to inform programs, services, and policies to better support the people of Michigan.