Increasing community support and preventing involuntary loneliness among older LGBTQ people in Sweden – A participatory action research project

Involuntary loneliness and lack of community support is more prevalent among older (60+) lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people compared to their heterosexual peers, in part due to chronic stress through stigmatization and lack of supportive intergenerational relationships and subcultural spaces.

Little is known about social needs of older LGBTQ people, particularly those receiving formal care and/or nearing the end-of-life, as research is often biased towards heteronormative relationships.

Based on a health promotion approach to palliative and end-of-life care, the ‘compassionate communities’ movement seeks to strengthen community action in relation to aging, dying, death, loss, and care, particularly for those with intersecting vulnerabilities.

However, LGBTQ people have not yet received much attention in this field or in related research.The aim of this postdoc project is therefore to investigate how community support can be increased to prevent involuntary loneliness for older LGBTQ people, particularly when experiencing life-threatening disease and/or nearing the end-of-life.

A second aim is to investigate how older LGBTQ people, other relevant stakeholders, and academic partners, can collaborate to identify needs in relation to community support and loneliness among older LGBTQ people, and build on existing resources to create change of value to those involved.A participatory action research approach will be applied in collaboration with community stakeholders, i.e. older LGBTQ people and organizations on national, regional, and community levels.

Stakeholder needs relating to community support and loneliness will be investigated and initiatives to address these needs will be developed and studied through iterative and collaborative cycles of planning, acting & observing, reflecting, and revising plan.

Continuing qualitative data generation will provide data for analysis throughout this process, that can inform these initiatives.