Kitzie Vanessa
University of South Carolina, School of Information Science.
J Lesbian Stud. 2024 Sep 22:1-34. doi: 10.1080/10894160.2024.2403877.
This qualitative research examines how sapphic people (i.e., umbrella term inclusive of lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual trans femmes, mascs, nonbinary people, and ciswomen) in South Carolina navigate informational barriers within healthcare systems. An information practices lens that examines how sapphic people create, seek, use, and share information to achieve desired healthcare outcomes describes such navigation. The research focuses on how intersectional identities, with a particular emphasis on age and considerations of race/ethnicity, geography, and gender, mediate these practices and their outcomes. The research uses participant data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 34 sapphic people about their health information practices. Participants varied in age and generational representation from 18 through 64. Data analysis utilized qualitative coding to compare how participants experience and circumnavigate health information barriers across age and generation. Data analysis highlighted age-related and generational barriers and facilitators in health information practices within SC sapphic communities. These barriers, shaped by cultural and community dynamics, affected how participants sought and shared health information. Older participants faced barriers rooted in historical experiences, leading to mistrust of healthcare systems, while younger ones encountered challenges imposed by adults. Despite differences, both groups sought sources aligned with their identities and shared frustrations with changing LGBTQIA + language. Across generations, there was a consistent effort to support younger members through protective and defensive health information practices. Implications of these findings identify strategies for healthcare providers and information professionals to dismantle health and healthcare information barriers experienced by those under the LGBTQIA + umbrella who experience less visibility than white gay men from urban areas-additional implications center on strategies for sapphic communities to engender communal care spanning generations.
这项定性研究考察了南卡罗来纳州的女同性恋者（即包括女同性恋、双性恋和泛性恋的跨性别女性、男性、非二元性别者和顺性别女性在内的统称）如何在医疗系统中应对信息障碍。一种信息实践视角审视了女同性恋者如何创造、寻求、使用和分享信息以实现理想的医疗结果，以此描述这种应对方式。该研究聚焦于交叉身份认同如何调节这些实践及其结果，尤其强调年龄以及种族/族裔、地域和性别的考量。研究使用了来自对34名女同性恋者进行的半结构化访谈和焦点小组的参与者数据，内容涉及她们的健康信息实践。参与者年龄各异，年龄跨度从18岁到64岁，代表了不同年代。数据分析采用定性编码，以比较不同年龄和年代的参与者如何体验和规避健康信息障碍。数据分析凸显了南卡罗来纳州女同性恋社区在健康信息实践中与年龄相关的和不同年代的障碍及促进因素。这些障碍受文化和社区动态的影响，左右了参与者寻求和分享健康信息的方式。年长的参与者面临源于历史经历的障碍，导致对医疗系统的不信任，而年轻参与者则遭遇成年人带来的挑战。尽管存在差异，但两组人都寻求与自身身份相符的信息来源，并对LGBTQIA +语言的变化感到沮丧。在不同年代中，都存在通过保护性和防御性健康信息实践来支持年轻成员的持续努力。这些研究结果的意义在于，为医疗服务提供者和信息专业人员确定了消除LGBTQIA +群体中那些比城市白人男同性恋者知名度更低的人群所面临的健康和医疗信息障碍的策略，其他意义则集中在女同性恋社区促成跨代社区关怀的策略上。
