A qualitative study of the counselling experiences of sexual minorities

Due to negative bias, individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) or any other non-heterosexual and/or non-gender binary identity are at risk of experiencing a host of physical or mental health concerns. This risk has led to a disproportionately greater number of LGBTQ individuals seeking counselling, where many then experience further negative bias. The aim of this study was to delve deep into the counselling experiences of LGBTQ clients in southern Alberta, a region of Canada. To achieve this aim, a phenomenological method inspired by Max van Manen’s (2014) interpretive descriptive phenomenology was used. The research questions that guided this inquiry were “What are the counselling experiences of sexual minority adults?” and “What are the sociocultural mediators for counselling with sexual minority adults?” Eleven participants were guided through semi-structured interviews. The participants’ stories were then analyzed using thematic analysis. From this emerged several key themes.

Authors

• Wrightson, Chelsea R.
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education

• counselling experiences
• interpretive descriptive phenomenology
• LGBTQ adults
• LGBTQ counselling in southern Alberta
• negative bias
• sexual minority adults
• Dissertations, Academic

Identifier

hdl:10133/5448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/5448