Social Media and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Health: A Primer for Health Librarians

• Published in: The journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association Vol. 37; no. 2; p. 82
• Main Authors: Scott, Brooke Ballantyne, Hawkins, Blake
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thunder Bay Canadian Health Libraries Association 01.01.2016
• Subjects: LGBTQ community; LGBTQ people; Librarians; Social networks

Introduction: Since the early 2000s, there has been a limited amount of scholarship by librarians concerning the LGBTQ population, their health, and their engagement or practices with health information and services. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings that demonstrate the complexities concerning LGBTQ health and information interactions in the context of advancements in social media. Methods: The research question guiding our project is "how does social media connect members of the LGBTQ community to healthcare?" We completed a scoping review using MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. We limited to publications from 1990 2015, and to English language. We found 93 articles across these databases, which was reduced to 77 after deduplication, and further reduced to 28 after culling for relevance to our research question. In 2000 and 2001, two articles were written regarding why health librarians should care that LGBTQ health could differ from that of other populations. Since the early 2000s, there has been limited scholarship concerning LGBTQ people and health librarianship. It is our aim to fill this 15-year gap and argue that health librarians, who have a significant role in social media and healthcare, should also be aware of these interactions. Results: The literature demonstrated that there have been advances over time concerning LGBTQ people and how social media is used to connect them to healthcare information and services. Prior to the early 2000s, the methods used were more on the microscale of information engagement. From the mid-2000s onward, however, the usage of social media has allowed for interactions on the macroscale between the LGBTQ community and healthcare. Currently, the usage of social media towards LGBTQ users is more prevalent in the USA. Other findings include the recruitment and training of peer educators (using established models and guidelines) for health outreach on social media platforms, strong partnerships between the LGBTQ community and universities and public health organizations, and the importance of understanding and respecting both online and LGBTQ culture in health interactions. Populations studied are mostly MSM (men who have sex with men), and therefore research hasn't reached other important subsets of the LGBTQ community in regards to social media connecting them to healthcare. Discussion: There are a variety of ways that social media is being used for LGBTQ health, and themes from the literature that should become more known amongst health librarians.