Medical and mental health needs of lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients in substance abuse treatment

Experiences of and recommendations for LGBTQ+-affirming substance use services: an exploratory qualitative descriptive study with LGBTQ+ people who use opioids and other drugs

“…Trainings for providers should therefore use an intersectional lens that highlights the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities, as well as how intersecting marginalized identities may compound SOGI minority stress responses like SU [ 78 , 79 ]. Previous research also echoes current participants’ recommendations that providers should avoid pathologizing or narrowly focusing on LGBTQ+ identities, and that intake forms should include open-ended SOGI questions to foster LGBTQ+-affirming interactions throughout treatment and to avoid pitfalls like assuming clients’ family structures [ 52 ]. To ensure that LGBTQ+ people are actively included in developing and guiding SU treatment policies and procedures, SU treatment programs and services could develop patient or community advisory boards comprised of LGBTQ+ people with lived SU experience.…”

“…We developed our semi-structured interview guide from extant literature on LGBTQ + barriers to accessing SU treatment services [ 36 , 49 – 52 ] and guidelines for affirming SU-related services [ 1 , 34 , 39 – 43 ]. Interview domains included: (1) background information (i.e., pronouns; sexual orientation; gender, racial and ethnic, and other identities, and the importance of those identities for the participant; employment status; living situation; substance use timeline); (2) experiences with opioid use treatment, including types of treatment received, treatment timeline, barriers and facilitators to entering treatment, thoughts and feelings at treatment entry, and general and SOGI-related discrimination and supportive experiences while in treatment; (3) experiences with treatment for SU other than opioids; (4) for those who had never received treatment, general thoughts about SU treatment (e.g., whether participants had considered entering treatment and why might they want to in the future; concerns about accessing treatment); (5) experiences with other services and programs for opioid or other SU, including 12-step and syringe exchange; (6) for those who had never engaged in these services, general thoughts about such services; and (7) recommendations for how to make SU treatment other related services LGBTQ+-affirming.…”