Society for Social Work and Research

As older adults become increasingly diverse in American society, new challenges emerge in social work research, practices and policies. To date, we have little knowledge of health disparities among older adults, especially among those lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT). The Center for Disease Control (2011) identifies research on sexual orientation as one of the biggest gaps in health disparities in research. Recently a few population-based health studies have included sexual orientation questions, but they do not provide sufficient sample size to investigate health disparities among older adults. Another challenge is that even though Healthy People 2020 established a goal of reducing health disparities among LGBT individuals, it is difficult to develop interventions due to lack of knowledge on the risk and protective factors associated with health disparities among LGBT older adults. In addition to ageism, unique stressors, such as discrimination and victimization, may place added burden on LGBT older adults (Meyer, 2003). Such multiple stressors may cause LGBT older adults to have limited resources and prevent them from maximizing their physical and psychological well-being and quality of life. Yet, such hypotheses have not been adequately tested due to insufficient data. Research is needed to gather data on this hard-to-reach population, identify their unique health needs and concerns, and develop culturally appropriate interventions to reduce health disparities among LGBT older adults.

In this symposium a panel of experts will discuss health disparities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults, 50 years of age and older, in the United States, by drawing upon two new data sources, including an annual population-based survey and the first national project addressing the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults. The four papers included in this symposium will shed light on the importance and necessity of integrating knowledge about health-related concerns of historically disadvantaged older adults into social work discourse.

In the first paper, by utilizing population-based data from the Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N=83,913), [NAME] and colleagues examine health disparities by sexual orientation among older adults and will highlight key health concerns and subgroup differences. [NAME] and colleagues explore psychological well-being among LGBT older adults and its predictors including life stressors and social support by analyzing data from a national survey of LGBT older adults (N=2, 560). [NAME] and colleagues investigate risk and protective factors associated with health-related quality of life among those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS by analyzing a subsample of the national survey. [NAME] and colleagues investigate the use of respondent driven sampling (RDS), as an innovative sampling methodology to increase capacity to reach such hidden and marginalized populations.

This symposium provides critical insights on health disparities in marginalized communities, innovative sampling methodologies to conduct research in hard-to-reach communities, and service and policy implications to promote healthy aging in our increasingly diverse society.