Creating Change: Politics, Evidence and Practice

The Health and Wellbeing of Young LGBTI People

Friday 14:00-14:30 YOUTH 07 THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF NEW ZEALAND YOUNG PEOPLE ATTRACTED TO THE SAME SEX OR BOTH SEXES

Mathijs Lucassen, University of Auckland

Contact: m.lucassen@auckland.ac.nz, www.youth2000.ac.nz

PRESENTER’S BIO:

Mathijs is a gay man and a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland; he is also a registered occupational therapist, having previously worked for child and adolescent mental health services at Auckland District Health Board.  He worked on Youth07 together with Dr Fiona Rossen, is Co-Director of the Centre for Gambling Studies, Elizabeth Robinson, senior research fellow and biostatistician at the School of Population Health, and Dr Simon Denny, the Principal Investigator of Youth07 and a consultant paediatrician who also works at the Centre for Youth Health, Counties Manukau District Health Board. 

ABSTRACT:

Aim:  To describe the health and wellbeing of Same/Both-Sex-Attracted youth from a national population sample of New Zealand secondary schools.

Method:  A further analysis was undertaken of Youth 07 data - the second nationally representative secondary school students health survey conducted in 2007.  The study base comprised a random sample taken from all secondary schools in New Zealand with more than 50 students enrolled in Year 9 and above.  An anonymous multi-media computer-assisted interview survey collected information on sex, sexual attraction, coming out as well as ten other areas pertaining to health.

Results:  Of the 8,002 randomly selected students that responded to the question on sexual attraction 4% were Same/Both-Sex-Attracted.  Most had not come out, and the majority felt that they could not talk to their family about their sexuality.  Despite this, almost all Same/Both-Sex-Attracted students reported positive and caring relationships with their parents and that they were happy or satisfied with life.  While most of these students appear to be doing well, there were some concerning health disparities when Same/Both-Sex-Attracted students were compared to their Opposite-Sex-Attracted counterparts.  In particular rates of alcohol and drug use, sexually transmitted infections and mental ill-health all appear elevated among Same/Both-Sex-Attracted students. The health and wellbeing of many Same/Both-Sex-Attracted students was negatively affected by their environment.  For example, more than half had been hit or physically harmed by another person in the previous year and of those that had been bullied, a third had been bullied because they were gay or because people thought they were.

Conclusion:   The findings from this representative sample of New Zealand secondary school students indicate some concerning differences between the health and wellbeing of Same/Both-Sex-Attracted students when compared to their Opposite-Sex-Attracted peers.

Friday 14:30-15:00 TALKING STRAIGHT - FINDING NEW WAYS TO CHALLENGE HOMOPHOBIA AND HETEROSEXISM IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS.

Jen Sainsbury, Foundation for Young Australians

PRESENTER’S BIO:

Jen Sainsbury is based in Melbourne and works for the Foundation for Young Australians in their Partner and Program Development Department. In 2009 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate the capacity of the education sector to challenge homophobia and heterosexism. With a background in education and a firsthand knowledge of the difficulties of challenging homophobia in faith based schools, Jen is interested in developing a collaborative approach to improving existing support structures for schools and educators to create safe, inclusive educational environments for young people.

ABSTRACT:

Jen Sainsbury has recently returned from a Churchill Fellowship investigating strategies to build the capacity of the education sector to challenge homophobia and heterosexism. In this paper she reflects upon her experiences working with and learning from leading international practitioners, including the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network in the USA, Stonewall in the UK, and Empowerment, the Dutch Expertise Centre on Sexual Diversity in Schools. These organisations offer some powerful and pertinent lessons for Australia. Interested practitioners from a range of sectors are invited to participate in a discussion around youth participation and activism, targeted research projects, school consultancy, and support for LGBT teachers, all set within the context of the role of schools and the education sector in improving the health, wellbeing and educational success of LGBT young people.

The presentation is available for download here.

Friday 15:00-15:30 'HOW ARE WE DOING?'; PEER SUPPORT AND QUALITATIVE EVALUATION APPROACHES AT FREEDOM CENTRE

Dani Wright, Curtin University's WA Centre for Health Promotion Research

Contact: info@freedom.org.au; www.freedom.org.au

PRESENTER’S BIO:

Dani Wright has been a Freedom Centre Coordinator or Volunteer at the WA AIDS Council for over 5 years. She has previous experience in sexual health and relationship education and working with people with disabilities. Dani has a Bachelor of Social Science with Honours from Edith Cowan University.

ABSTRACT:

How Are We Doing?; Peer Support and Qualitative Evaluation Approaches at Freedom Centre  Freedom Centre (FC), is a peer support and information service for young people with diverse sexuality and gender in Western Australia. It is a service of the WA AIDS Council and is funded by the WA Health Departments Division of Mental Health as part of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.  Conference delegates at this presentation will gain an understanding of the Evaluation Framework and procedures developed by Freedom Centre as part of the WA Centre for Health Promotion Researchs My Peer research project. The presentation will show how development with the My Peer project has enabled FC Staff and Volunteers to monitor and maintain the quality of service on a regular basis through participatory monitoring and evaluation of its drop-in centre and online forum services. It will examine how this enables Freedom Centre to assess the impacts it has on service recipients through hearing their stories.  Exploring the processes used by the Freedom Centre will enable conference delegates to consider applying similar processes to their own settings for service provision through using the My Peer Toolkit (comprising of an Evaluation Framework, Debrief Evaluation Form and Forum Moderation & Evaluation Procedures) and knowledge of FC's experiences using the Toolkit. The presentation will give delegates an understanding of Freedom Centres peer based model for service delivery qualitative project evaluation.