Project overview:

Members of the LGBTQ+ community use substances at a higher rate compared to the general population, and consequently, experience a greater level of substance-related harms. Interventions aimed at addressing this issue tend to be highly targeted and focus on formal care provision, such as counselling, peer support, or clinical interventions. Consequently, there has been little attention paid to the existing informal practices of care that individuals engage in to support each other within and across communities.

Co-designed with ACON, this qualitative study will use semi-structured interviews with members of the LGBTQ+ community and those who support them to explore the informal care practices and cultures of care that exist among LGBTQ+ communities regarding the use of alcohol and other drugs.

The key topics this study explores include:

The role these cultures of care play within community settings,
How these cultures are translated into practice,
The boundaries of these cultures and how individuals navigate these boundaries (i.e., who has access to these forms of care, and do individuals retain access to this care if they leave the community),
How individuals identify who may need care and how they navigate this situation (i.e., they see a community member who is struggling, but the individual does not necessarily see this themselves), and
How those who need care approach others for support.

Project Collaborators External:

Georgina Bell, ACON

Project Partner:

ACON

Design and Method:

Forty semi-structured, open-ended interviews will be conducted with individuals who identify as having received and/or provided care to someone from the LGBTQ+ community around their substance use.

Benefits:

ACON will be using the findings to develop tailored resources and peer-led support programs to assist individuals in the community who would like help providing care to others or are seeking support for themselves. By enhancing our understanding of the community-based harm reduction practices that LGBTQ+ people engage in, this study will enable community support organisations to optimise their service delivery and inform the development of stronger healthcare policy.