Eldridge, Kate Emley
(2019)
"We know who we are": centering queer and trans youth narratives in the move toward affirmative healthcare.
Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Healthcare in the United States is not accessible to everyone due to the medicalization of certain socially situated identities such as sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, and age, and race. Each of these identities are all interconnected in how the medical system treats individuals with varieties of these identities. There is little in-depth exploration of the personal health narratives of queer and trans youth. Due to this lack of knowledge, queer and trans youth often experience discrimination from providers which affects their utilization of health services and long-term health. Resources that try to fill this gap are often based in the opinions of providers and parents, not in the opinions of the youth themselves. Utilizing nine interviews and three focus groups, this project seeks to provide a resource based on narratives from queer and trans youth on their relationships with healthcare providers to understand how to foster positive relationships between this community and their doctors. My findings indicate that the most prominent concerns of queer and trans young people are based in their negative experiences with doctors who either actively keep certain care inaccessible to them or ignore their pleas for help in navigating the various barriers and borders to get adequate sexual or gender-based healthcare. The specific ways in which care providers make care inaccessible or refuse to help these individuals seem to vary highly depending on the patients’ racial or ethnic identities as well as their age. Future research should take these other identities into account when trying to understand the current state of LGBTQ youth healthcare and emphasize the role of doctors in making sexual and gender healthcare inaccessible for this group of individuals. In order to create a more accessible and adequate healthcare system for queer and trans young people, health care providers need to take on the responsibility to confront their biases against this group through workshops and community events run by people who confront the barriers to getting LGBTQ youth healthcare.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Eldridge, Kate Emley | kee30@pitt,edu | kee30 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
25 April 2019 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
1 April 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
25 April 2019 |
| Submission Date: |
18 April 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
133 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
David C. Frederick Honors College
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology |
| Degree: |
BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Undergraduate Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBT Healthcare, LGBT Youth, Trans Kids, Queer, Affirmative Healthcare, Reparative Healthcare, Youth Advocacy, Trans Children, Children, Childhood, Young People, Medical Anthropology |
| Related URLs: |
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| Date Deposited: |
25 Apr 2019 19:28 |
| Last Modified: |
25 Apr 2019 19:28 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/36541 |
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