Empowering LGBTQ parents: How to improve maternity services and child healthcare settings for this community – ‘She told us that we are good as a family’

Abstract

Parental empowerment plays an essential role in maternity and child healthcare. Professionals delivering these services are ideally placed to improve parents' empowerment and well-being. This study aims to describe the supporting factors of parental empowerment from the perspective of self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or queer (LGBTQ) parents in Finland. The study was conducted using a qualitative inductive design, and 22 parents participated. Interviews were conducted between July and September of 2016 and analysed using inductive content analysis. Four categories emerged: 1) Parents' willingness to create socially recognized families, 2) Parenthood support, 3) Respectful partnership with all parents, and 4) Accessible services. Services were more empowering when parents were treated with dignity. This focus requires gender-neutral communication and a clear sense of security for parents. The findings indicate more education on LGBTQ-related issues is still needed.

The views and experiences of LGBTQ+ people regarding midwifery care: A systematic review of the international evidence

“…Increasingly identities, families and social structures are complex which requires sophisticated and sensitive awareness by midwives and this now needs to include an understanding of gender and sexuality. Midwives work with all family types, and this means that there is a need to understand the unique health and social issues of all populations, including LGBTQ+ people (Kerppola et al 2020). Practice should not be based around the assumption that clients are in 'traditional' relationships, or that they identify with traditional gender identities or sexual orientations (Klittmark et al, 2019).…”

Professionals' experiences of supporting two‐mother families in antenatal and child health care in Sweden

“…The category supporting through empowerment illustrates the participants' ambition to create an inclusive environment by furnishing the waiting room with rainbow flags and appropriate pictures. A supportive environment where parents feel confident and relaxed is reported to be essential by same-sex parents [27]. Health care professionals exhibited cultural sensitivity when asking open-ended questions and using the term "partner" to avoid cultural stereotyping.…”

The procreative identities of men in same‐sex relationships choosing surrogacy: A new theoretical understanding

“…Surrogates and men in same‐sex relationships often collaborate to ensure a successful legal process and to empower men's involvement in maternity wards. Extant scholarship on parental empowerment shows that health professionals' communication and attitudes are critical to fathers' involvement post‐birth (Kerppola et al, 2020). However, heteronormative and gendered lenses dominate nursing and medical education.…”

“…Repeated interactions result in having to clarify or explain their family structure and their relationship to their child. Microaggressions are also broadly evident in administrative and enrolment forms for children's schools, camps, extracurricular activities, and field trips, when arranging childcare, or navigating the pediatric healthcare system (Crouch et al, 2014; A. Goldberg et al, 2018; Green et al, 2019; Kerppola et al, 2020). With an absence of supportive, inclusive, and affirming community‐based resources and services amid pervasive and systemic heteronormative biases across their own and their children's social ecology, men in same‐sex relationships may face increased health and mental health risks in their transition to parenthood.…”