This fall an LGBT-specific health journal will launch, the first of its kind.
LGBT Health will be peer-reviewed, addressing the unique issues LGBT individuals face under the current healthcare system and cultural atmosphere. Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. hopes to draw support and awareness of LGBT healthcare both in the United States and worldwide.
Editor-in-Chief William Byne, M.D., Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York), explains,
The Journal will assess the healthcare needs of each population that comprises the LGBT community, and identify gaps in knowledge as well as priority areas where policy development and research are needed to achieve healthcare parity for sexual and gender minorities.
In the U.S. alone, more than 4 million adults identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and around 700,000 identify as transgender. These numbers don’t account for those who are not publicly out. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently sponsored an investigation conducted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that determined that LGBT healthcare knowledge and understanding is hugely lacking, due to lack of funding and the controversial nature of LGBT identities and issues.
LGBT healthcare has typically been dealt with as if the LGBT category is one giant umbrella identity, making it difficult to address the specific needs and experience of each person falling under a specific identity. Not only does each letter of LGBT encompass a unique population with different healthcare needs than the others, each group is also affected by “social factors such as age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographical region, as well as the general stigma of being a gender or sexual minority.”
Articles will encompass research and information regarding:
Population studies; basic, translational and health services research; best practices and policies; professional training and education; and cultural competence in the delivery of healthcare to members of the LGBT population from childhood through the older adult years. Specific content areas will include healthcare disparities, barriers to healthcare, reproductive health and assisted reproduction, parenting and family concerns, physical and mental well-being and the health and preventive services appropriate to members of each sexual or gender minority group.
LGBT Health will utilize the expertise of a wide range of “researchers, clinicians, academics and policymakers to improve the health, well-being and patient outcomes of the LGBT population. The journal will be published quarterly both in print and online with open access options.” To receive email alerts about LGBT Health, contact journalmarketing3@liebertpub.com.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
