Is the Mental Healthcare System Meeting the Needs of Sexual and Gender Minorities?

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Jan. 24, 2017 - PRLog -- A study of mental health care and untreated depression among participants in Ontario, Canada, showed up to a 2.4 times greater self-perceived unmet need for transgender individuals and bisexual women compared to heterosexual, cisgender women. The reported differences in unmet need could be partly explained by social factors including discrimination, limited social support, and exclusion from healthcare services, as described in an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/). The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2015.5677)  website until February 24, 2017.

In the article entitled "LGBT Identity, Untreated Depression and Unmet Need for Mental Health Services by Sexual Minority Women and Trans-identified People (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2015.5677)," researchers report that transgender individuals expressed the highest rates of unmet mental health care and untreated depression, followed by cisgender bisexual women, and cisgender lesbians. Leah Steele, MD, PhD, St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada), led a group of authors also from York University and Women's Health in Women's Hands (Toronto).

"The results of this study illustrate the disparities in access to mental health care for sexual and gender minority populations, which can contribute to higher levels of untreated depression and other mental health conditions," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health. "Interventions aimed at improving access to mental health care in under-served LGBT communities would be an important step forward."

About the Journal
Journal of Women's Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh), published monthly,is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh)  website. Journal of Women's Healthis the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health (http://www.academyofwomenshealth.org/)  and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy
Academy of Women's Health (http://www.academyofwomenshealth.org/)  is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan. Journal of Women's Health and the Academy of Women's Health are co-presenters of Women's Health 2017: The 25th Anniversary Congress which will take place April 28-30, 2017 in Washington, DC.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/)  is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Transgender Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/)  website.