Beyond Survival: Social Awareness & Critical Introspection Among LGBTQ+ Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background & Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified social, political, and economic inequalities, disproportionately affecting LGBTQ+ individuals. Many faced discrimination, isolation, and limited access to affirming resources.

Assumptive world theory suggests that traumatic events can challenge people’s fundamental beliefs about the world. In the process of reconfiguring their assumptive world, people often experience positive growth as they learn how to cope, develop new relationships, and find purpose and meaning. Despite some research about efforts to build resilience, mutual aid, and digital communities among LGBTQ+ people during the pandemic, there is a gap in knowledge about how pandemic changes may have influenced the insights of LGBTQ+ adults about the socio-political environment and ways they wanted to be engaged and promote change.

This study addresses two research questions:

• How has the pandemic impacted LGBTQ+ adults’ social awareness of larger socio-political factors and of themselves?

• What forms of critical introspection have occurred among LGBTQ+ adults?

Methods

This research was part of a larger multimedia study of how LGBTQ+ adults in the Southeastern United States found ways to cope, thrive, and resist oppression during COVID-19. The project collected multimedia data about LGBTQ+ adults’ lives during 2020-2021 through monthly diary entries. A subset of participants (n=8) were invited to engage in quarterly Zoom interviews. Monthly diaries focused on topics such as adaptability, identity, and politics. A community advisory board guided the project’s design and recruitment.

To be eligible for this study, individuals had to identify as LGBTQ+, be aged 18 or older, and live in one of nine southern states. Study announcements were shared with local LGBTQ+ community organizations, listservs, and on social media.

Within the study sample (N=30), most (60%, n=18) identified as white, 23.3% (n=7) as Black, and 13.3% (n=4) as another race or ethnicity. Forty percent (n=12) were cisgender men, 30% (n=9) were transgender/non-binary, and 26.7% (n=8) were cisgender women. Ages ranged from 18-73 (M=36).

We analyzed text-based diary and interview data using a 4-step content analysis process in Nvivo software.

Results

Four primary themes were identified:

1. Personal Growth – shifts in behaviors and thinking about one’s identity, relationships, and efforts towards growing and learning. This included subthemes of self-actualization, learning and acceptance, and emotional awareness and regulation.

2. Social Cohesion – the ongoing process of developing well-being, sense of belonging, and voluntary social participation.

3. Politics and political tension – included subthemes on engagement across political differences, social tension, and media and politics.

4. Social Justice – encompassed changes in perceptions and engagement with equity and justice work. Subthemes included increased awareness/engagement and disappointments with social movements.

Conclusions & Implications

This study has implications for both clinical practitioners (in understanding how LGBTQ+ are perceiving themselves and the world around them and acting based upon those perceptions) and macro practitioners (in understanding how this population is engaging in social relationships, perceiving the political environment, and participating in activism). We will detail considerations for working with LGBTQ+ adults in coming years as society continues to see major political and social changes.