Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Neuroqueering Art Therapy: Bringing Neurodivergent Gender Diversity Into The Creative Arts Therapy Room: A Literature Review, Avital Eisen

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Recent research across disciplines has established the significance of the overlap between neurodivergence and gender diversity, a truth long espoused by the community. Acting on this research, some mental health disciplines have begun addressing neurodivergent transgender and gender diverse people as a unified population in their research, but the field of art therapy has not yet followed suit. Theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, queer theory, and disability justice highlight the importance of centering the unique experiences and needs of neurodivergent gender diversity. Using these frameworks, this literature review synthesizes community knowledge with art therapy research on both neurodivergence and gender diversity, …

Sexual Health Education Scope And Sequence, Sara Wadsworth

Honors Projects

Based on a significant amount of prior research, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has been identified to be the most effective method of teaching sexual health education (SHAPE America, 2021; World Health Organization, 2023). Comprehensive sexual health education improves healthy behaviors and outcomes, provides useful information, and is positively perceived by students (Gardner, 2015; Kirby, 2002; Robinson et al., 2022). However, the United States’ current sexual health education has not implemented this ideal method, which is shown through state laws, students’ experiences, underdeveloped skills and flawed understanding of concepts, and – most importantly – a lack of resources for teachers (Foley, …

How Do Differences In Sex Education Alter Perception Of Consent?, Hannah G. Stone

ATU Research Symposium

The following research was conducted to answer the question: how do differences in sex education alter perception of consent? As of 2021, only 7 states and the District of Columbia mandate comprehensive sex education policies that include consent education, and in contrast, 17 states do not mandate comprehensive or non-comprehensive sex education (“Sex and HIV Education” 2021). Because sex education in schools is where a large proportion of young adults receive all of their instruction on sexual topics, it can be inferred that the lack of sex education would constitute a lack of consent education as well (Deluna 2019; “Section …

Balancing Wellness And Leadership: Exploring Black Women Administrators’ Subjective Well-Being, Resilience, And Radical Self-Care In Higher Education, Lashae Grottis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leaders in higher education experience high and unrealistic demands for their skills, time, and energy, causing stress, competing priorities, burnout, compromised health, and attrition. However, unlike other racial and gender groups, Black women higher education administrators experienced these challenges more intensely. As a result of chronic stress associated with being undervalued and overworked, discriminatory and unwelcoming workplaces, and intersectional biases, Black women leaders are leaving higher education workplaces. Despite the link between gendered racism and unwellness, little is known about the problem from a positive leadership perspective. This study addressed the lack of knowledge of the wellness strategies Black women …

The Impact Of The Gut-Brain Axis On Alzheimer’S Disease, Elissa Wakim

Best Integrated Writing

Elissa’s review for the Graduate Biomedical Review focuses on the links between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain; the gut-brain axis and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. As a student in the Microbiology and Immunology Masters Program Elissa was particularly interested in the gut microbiota and their connection to neurodegenerative disease. She tidily reviewed the literature and wrote a fascinating and compelling piece of work.

Best Integrated Writing 2024 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University. This is the first issue after a 5 year hiatus.

Intersectional Model Of Service Use: Understanding Transgender And Nonbinary Healthcare Access, Jarrod Call, Brendon Holloway

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people often have difficulty accessing healthcare services because of the systemic forces of transphobia and cisgenderism. Despite this, there is little theory specifically designed to examine healthcare access among TNB people. We conducted a literature review to identify studies examining TNB healthcare access. We screened a total of 2,050 unique articles for inclusion, resulting in a final sample of 46 articles that met the review criteria. Theories used and key findings were coded to inform the development of the Intersectional Model of Service Use (IMSU) for TNB people. The IMSU builds upon current theoretical frameworks including …

Understanding The Lgbtq+ Divide: A Review On The Impact Of Geographic Location And Political Climate On Lgbtq+ Patient Care In The United States., Conner Clark

Cooper Rowan Medical Journal

Background:

In the United States, laws and policies are proposed and passed daily that either protect or restrict transgender patients’ access to care. The objective of this study is to review the existing body of literature on the effect of state-level policy on transgender patients’ overall health.

Methods:

Primary literature was identified through PubMed and the National Institutes of Health. Search terms included keywords related to the following concepts: LGBTQ terms, differentiating terms, regional terms, and health outcome terms. Inclusion criteria: Quantifiable studies conducted on the American LGBTQ and Transgender population from January 2015 to April 2023. Exclusion criteria: Studies …

Brief Of Amici Curiae In Support Of The United States: Moyle & Idaho V. United States, David S. Cohen, Greer Donley, Rachel Rebouché

Amici Briefs

This amicus brief, submitted to the Supreme Court in Moyle v. United States, argues that Moyle, and the impending circuit split surrounding it, is a symptom of a larger workability problem with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization framework. Dobbs is already proving, in its brief existence, to be unworkable, and must be overturned. In short order, the Dobbs ruling has ushered in an era of unprecedented legal and doctrinal chaos, precipitating a fury of disorienting legal battles across the country. The Dobbs framework has created destabilizing conflicts between federal and state authorities, as in the current …

Sexual Minorities Are More Depressed And Anxious Than Heterosexuals In The U.S., Especially Among Women, Joshua Grove

Population Health Research Brief Series

Depression and anxiety are harmful to health. People who suffer from depression or anxiety are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors and have higher risk of various chronic diseases and premature death. This data slice uses data from the 2022 National Wellbeing Survey to explore the prevalence of depression and anxiety among U.S. adults ages 18-64. The results show that sexual minority adults are significantly more likely than those who identify as heterosexual to suffer from depression and anxiety, and differences in prevalence rates between sexual minority and heterosexual women are larger than the differences between men.

Microaggressions: Investigating Physical Therapy Student Perspectives During Clinical Experiences, Dakota Studley, Jocelin Friedman, Ashley H. Campbell, Laurie Shimko, Megan B. Flores

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose: Microaggressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group” (Gilliam & Russel, 2021). The effect of microaggressions has been explored among medical students, however, there is limited literature identifying the frequency and effect of microaggressions on Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of DPT students on clinical experiences to determine: 1) the frequency that students experience microaggressions, and 2) the impact of microaggressions on self-efficacy.

Methods: …

Characterization Of Prostate Cancer In Transgender Women, Simita Gaglani, Rajveer Purohit, Ashutosh Tewari, Dara Lundon, Natasha Kyprianou

Research Symposium

Background: The risk of developing prostate cancer (PC) in transgender women is unknown. Many patients are unaware that the prostate is not removed during male-to-female surgical transition. It is unclear what the exposure of estrogens and androgen blockers in these transgender patients has on the prostate. Our aim was to examine and characterize the different presentations of PC in published cases and augment this with an additional case series from one institute.

Methods: A retrospective review of prospectively maintained medical records was performed identifying features of PC diagnoses in transgender women. These included age, duration of feminizing hormone therapy, PSA …

One Size Doesn’T Fit All: Attitudes Towards Work Modify The Relation Between Parental Leave Length And Postpartum Depression, Christine Y. Chang, Sabrina R. Liu, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women’s attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work …

A Pre-Medical Student’S Reconciliation Of Feminist Narratives Regarding Women’S Health: A Consideration Of Perspectives On Childbirth In The U.S., Laura Clayton

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Many feminists argue that one major negative aspect of reproductive healthcare in the U.S. is the common over-medicalization of women during childbirth, including potentially unnecessary procedures such as cesarean-section and episiotomy. As a solution, they advocate for increased involvement of midwives in childbirth practices, as midwives allow women to give birth at home with minimal medical intervention. This paper analyzes the benefits of midwifery as well as the current increased risk associated with homebirth in the U.S. Additionally, it questions the damaging stigma associated with assumptions of cesarean-section as a suboptimal outcome. A false dichotomy has developed in our culture …

Exploring The Experience Of Sexuality And Gender During The Healthcare Transition Of The Youth With Cerebral Palsy, Umma Salma

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Transition from the pediatric to adult health care system is an important phase of healthcare for youth with cerebral palsy (CP). Sexuality and gender are two very important components of health that are mostly ignored in the healthcare transition process. It is possible that health care providers only see a client’s disability, and therefore, key aspects of sexuality and gender diversity may be ignored, or deemed irrelevant as a result of their disability status. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to explore how gender and sexuality may influence the experience of health care transition for youth with cerebral …

Responding To Disproportionate Skin Cancer Rates Affecting Adult Men Aged 18-60, Aaron Thompson

Capstone Collection

Skin cancer is a deadly disease that kills significantly more men than women every year. At the same time, women are more than twice as likely to apply daily sun protection factor (SPF) than men. This research study explores how key stakeholders within the skin care industry have responded to the data showing increasing disparities between male and female skin cancer rates. To fulfill the objectives of this research study, qualitative data was collected from six semi-structured interviews with adult males between the ages of 18 and 60. The interviews were intentionally designed to engage with the American, adult male’s …

Occupational Therapy's Role In Providing Gender-Affirming Care For Transgender And Gender Diverse Individuals, Anna Rhodes, Mary A. Smith, Kristin Willey

Summer 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

There is limited information, education, and training available on providing care for the transgender and gender-diverse population, and many healthcare providers lack the specific knowledge needed to provide adequate, culturally competent care. A needs assessment was conducted to better understand what healthcare practitioners wanted to know regarding this topic, as well as what trans and gender-diverse individuals wanted their healthcare practitioners to know about their care. This needs assessment was anonymous and answers were not published. The responses were analyzed by the author to identify themes and develop learning objectives for the creation of educational materials. Five educational modules were …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Adolescent Girls In Residential Treatment: Relationship With Trauma Symptoms, Substance Use, And Delinquency, Akemi E. Mii

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to negative events during childhood or adolescence including abuse, maltreatment, and exposure to household dysfunction (Kalmakis & Chandler, 2014). ACEs are associated with negative outcomes including mental and behavioral health concerns and offending (Fox et al., 2015). The risk of negative outcomes associated with ACEs increases when an individual experiences polyvictimization (experiencing multiple types of adverse events; Felitti et al., 1998; Finkelhor et al., 2011). A majority of adolescents served by residential treatment programs (RTPs) have experienced polyvictimization (Briggs et al., 2013). Research examining juvenile offending and youth delinquency has focused on boys. Thus, research …

Assessing Sexual Minority Women’S Barriers And Facilitators To Seeking And Accessing Mental And Physical Healthcare: A Mixed Methods Study, Charlotte A. Dawson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority women (SMW) experience greater mental and physical health concerns when compared to heterosexual women. Three key areas of health SMW report these disparities are: mental health, binge eating/body size, and sexual and reproductive health. SMW also report difficulties accessing healthcare in these three areas. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was utilized to assess barriers and facilitators to healthcare access for young SMW. Study 1 included 20 semi-structured interviews with SMW, resulting in themes of barriers and facilitators identified by participants. These themes were converted into scale items. In Study 2, an expert panel of mental and physical …

The Dilemma Of Socrates’ Position: Interview Methods And Feminist Empirical Bioethics, Michiel De Proost

The Qualitative Report

There is a growing body of bioethics research that addresses the importance of adapting empirical, predominantly qualitative, methods to generate debate on ethical arguments. However, there is an absence of illustrative work examining how this could be realised from a feminist perspective. This article, seeking to address the research gap, examines interview methods through a reflexive lens. Drawing on the doctoral research I conducted through interviews with women who were interested in social egg freezing (i.e., healthy women freezing their eggs in anticipation of future infertility), I describe how I encountered a dilemma because of my gendered positionality and the …

Assessment Of Personal Care Product Use And Perceptions Of Use In A Sample Of Us Adults Affiliated With A University In The Northeast, Adana A. M. Llanos, Amber Rockson, Kylie Getz, Patricia Greenberg, Eva Portillo, James A. Mcdonald, Dede K. Teteh, Justin Villasenor, Carolina Lozada, Jamirra Franklin, Vaishnavi More, Zorimar Rivera-Núñez, Carolyn W. Kinkade, Emily S. Barrett

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Evidence supports unequal burdens of chemical exposures from personal care products (PCPs) among some groups, namely femme-identifying and racial and ethnic minorities. In this study, we implemented an online questionnaire to assess PCP purchasing and usage behaviors and perceptions of use among a sample of US adults recruited at a Northeastern university. We collected PCP use across seven product categories (hair, beauty, skincare, perfumes/colognes, feminine hygiene, oral care, other), and behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions of use and safety across sociodemographic factors to evaluate relationships between sociodemographic factors and the total number of products used within the prior 24–48 h using …

Exploring The Effects Of Intersectionality On Mental Health And Identity Development With Adolescents Through Culturally Humble Art Therapy, Cal Loiselle

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This study investigated the implementation of culturally humble art therapy directives centered around identity development and social justice with adolescents. Intersectionality theory was applied to examine the ways operating from a culturally humble lens benefits clients and art therapists. Existing research supports the application of cultural humility with various populations as a method of validating client’s experiences and strengthening the therapeutic alliance. A series of art therapy interventions were implemented at a private non-profit children's psychiatric hospital with the adolescent inpatient units. The participants were between the ages of 13-18 and receiving treatment for mental health conditions, short-term stabilization, and …

How Art Therapy Can Be Used To Teach Queer Inclusive Sex Education To Queer Youth: A Literature Review, Olivia Souza

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review examines the potential of art-making as a tool to educate and inform queer youth about queer sexual experiences. Many queer individuals lack information about safe and healthy sex due to the exclusion of queer experiences in sex education programs. Current sex programs solely focus on abstinence and heterosexual experiences, leaving queer youth in the dark about what to expect from future sexual experiences they may have and how to practice safe queer sex. Through a search of the literature, it was discovered that there is a gap in research using art therapy in this specific context. Through …

Playing With Policy: What Insights Arise From Transgender Adults After Participating In A Legislative Theatre Exercise, Skylar A. Stratemeyer

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The transgender community is underrepresented in the current body of academic research, underserved in the current clinical model of healthcare services, and legislatively oppressed on a state and federal level in the United States. As of March 2023, more than 400 anti-LGBTQI laws have been introduced on a state level in 2023 alone (ACLU, 2023). In response to the hostile Western sociopolitical climate, this thesis will focus on what insights arise from transgender adults and cisgender allies (N = 12) after participating in a dramatherapeutic group therapy session that explored current anti-trans legislation and highlighted the legal needs of …

Healthcare Disparities In The Lgbtqia+ Community: A Scoping Review Of Community Vs Provider Experiences, Uttara Hardikar, Alisha Vincent, Venkateswar Venkataman, Millicent Channell

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: It is well-established that healthcare disparities exist in the LGBTQIA+ community. The divide is a growing concern exacerbated by recent changes in the healthcare and sociopolitical climate. To eliminate this divide and find ways to deliver better outcomes to the LGBTQIA+ is a dire need. This report analyzes the possible reasons from the community as well as the providers perspective, with a goal to find best practices that could be implemented in both components.

Methods: A scoping literature review was carried out as described below to collect perspectives from both sides: patients as well as providers.

Results: From patient …

Sexual Activity And Intimacy Within Occupational Therapy Practice, Anya Levanduski, Susan Macdermott

Spring 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Sexual activity is often the forgotten ADL, that is underdressed in practice, and not spoken about in academia. This presentation aims to explore the role of occupational therapy addressing sexuality and intimacy following the onset of long term physical or neurological disabilities. This project outlines the role of OT in emerging practice in advocating for the development of a referral pathway specific for sexual activity and intimacy, and OT within an emerging setting.

Transcendence: Exploring The Connections Between Transgender/Gender Non-Conforming Identities And Experiences Of Nature Through Art, Mc Jackson

Undergraduate Theses

“Transcendence: Exploring the connections between transgender/gender non-conforming identities and experiences of nature through art” is the written portion of a creative thesis revolving around an immersive art installation and short film. Transcendence, the installation, was created to promote connection by exploring the overlap between transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) experiences and experiences of nature. Part of this installation is a short film of interviews conducted with transgender and GNC individuals about nature, their gender experiences, and the transcendent nature of the two. The written thesis analyzes existing literature on nature as a restorative, therapeutic, spiritual setting, offers insight into …

Inner Portraits, Bethany Salisbury

Graduate Theses

This paper investigates the many interconnected layers of women’s mental health through portraiture and how animal and plant symbolism can represent the way women's hormones and bodily health affect their mental health. I reveal how the artwork created presents these connections and inner mental health narratives to the viewer, creating a space of empathy, destigmatization, and self-reflection. This body of portraiture art connects five women through a series of both two-and three-dimensional portraits based on interviews using my own adaptation of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoots’ (1983) portrait methodology.

Women and non-binary individuals have always dealt with difficult interactions of bodily and mental …

Possible Effects Of Sexual Health Education On Health Behaviors And Indicators, Chloe Lafosse

Honors Scholar Theses

Sexual health education has long been evolving, and while a mountain of research has built a compelling case for continuing its improvement, the authors of the present paper were interested in evaluating the efficacy of state education standards in 2009, 2014, and 2019 on a multitude of sexual health outcomes in 2019. We concluded that throughout all three years, states with higher educational requirements could in fact produce better health outcomes, but those outcomes were heavily targeting delaying pregnancy. The educational requirements appeared to have neglected all other aspects of sexual health, including STD prevention, even though STD-based education was …

The Effect Of Lockdowns On The Status Of Women In The World, Angelika B. Magno

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious respiratory illness that causes moderate to severe symptoms that can be fatal to older people or those with other underlying health concerns. Considered a global pandemic, this disease spreads rapidly across the world, calling for a need for the implementation of lockdowns. This study examines the effects of lockdowns on joblessness among women, controlling for household conditions, namely, perceived household responsibility, hours allotted for household chores, and safety at home. Data for lockdowns were sourced from Google’s Community Mobility reports, whereas joblessness among women and household conditions were sourced from Facebook’s Survey on Gender …