School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia.
School of Humanities, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Health Soc Care Community. 2020 Nov;28(6):2199-2207. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13032. Epub 2020 May 22.
While there is increasing awareness of the specific health and aged care needs of older lesbian and gay people, little is known about their needs and experiences of ageing in rural communities. In Australia, older people are over-represented in regional and rural areas, however, rural communities face particular challenges to age friendliness, including infrastructure and transport limitations, reduced health and social services. In this context, few studies explore older lesbians' gendered experiences of ageing in place. To address this gap in the literature, this article draws on qualitative interviews with 13 rural Tasmanian lesbians over the age of 55, exploring their perceived barriers and enablers for 'healthy ageing' in their communities. Findings reveal that geographical isolation was a literal barrier to accessing specialist healthcare and lesbian-inclusive services, which may be absent in rural areas. The women perceived community health initiatives and social activities aimed at 'healthy ageing' in rural towns as heteronormative and unappealing for lesbians. In some cases women reported experiencing homophobic discrimination in these social groups. In contrast, rural communities were positively associated with a good quality of life derived from closeness to nature and feelings of reciprocity with rural neighbours and communities. These findings suggest that specific approaches to lesbian-inclusive rural health and social care are required. Rural communities are well-placed to build on community strengths to ensure higher quality of place-based health and social care for isolated older people, including those of diverse genders and sexualities.
虽然人们越来越意识到老年同性恋者的特殊健康和老年护理需求，但对于他们在农村社区的老龄化需求和体验却知之甚少。在澳大利亚，老年人在区域和农村地区的比例过高，然而，农村社区在友善老龄化方面面临着特殊的挑战，包括基础设施和交通限制、减少的健康和社会服务。在这种情况下，很少有研究探讨老年女同性恋者在当地的性别化老龄化体验。为了弥补这一文献空白，本文借鉴了对 13 名 55 岁以上塔斯马尼亚农村女同性恋者的定性访谈，探讨了她们在社区中“健康老龄化”的感知障碍和促进因素。研究结果表明，地理位置隔离是获得专业医疗保健和女同性恋者包容服务的实际障碍，而这些服务在农村地区可能不存在。这些女性认为农村城镇中针对“健康老龄化”的社区健康倡议和社会活动是异性恋规范的，对女同性恋者没有吸引力。在某些情况下，女性报告在这些社交群体中经历过同性恋歧视。相比之下，农村社区与自然的亲近感以及与农村邻居和社区的互惠感带来了良好的生活质量，这是农村社区的积极特征。这些发现表明，需要采取具体的方法来为女同性恋者提供包容的农村健康和社会关怀。农村社区具有良好的条件，可以利用社区的优势，确保为孤立的老年人提供更高质量的基于地点的健康和社会关怀，包括不同性别和性取向的老年人。
