A longitudinal investigation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness

The objective of this study was to examine the impacts of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on various dimensions of wellbeing among 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness over a 12-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2SLGBTQ+ youth (recruited using a convenience sampling method) par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 18; no. 7; p. e0288591
Main Authors: Abramovich, Alex, Pang, Nelson, Kim, Kawon Victoria, Stark, Rowen K., Lange, Shannon, Chaiton, Michael, Logie, Carmen H., Hamilton, Hayley A., Kidd, Sean A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 17.07.2023
Subjects:
Alcohol
Alcohol use
Anxiety
Care and treatment
Comparative analysis
Consent
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Data
Data analysis
Data collection
Depression, Mental
Drug use
Earth Sciences
Families & family life
Gift cards & certificates
Health aspects
Health care
Health care access
Health risks
Health services
Heterosexuality
Homeless people
Homeless youth
Homelessness
Information management
Investigations
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health care
Mental health services
Pandemics
Peer tutoring
Polls & surveys
Psychiatric services
Psychological aspects
Public health
Questionnaires
Research and Analysis Methods
Research ethics
Sampling
Sampling methods
Self destructive behavior
Sexual minorities
Social Sciences
Statistical analysis
Suicide
Surveys
Teenagers
Tests
Well being
Youth
Canada
Ontario
Ontario Canada
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
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Summary:The objective of this study was to examine the impacts of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on various dimensions of wellbeing among 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness over a 12-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2SLGBTQ+ youth (recruited using a convenience sampling method) participated in three online surveys to assess mental health (depression, anxiety, suicidality), substance and alcohol use, health care access, and violence for 12-months between 2021-2022. Quantitative data analysis included non-parametric one-sample proportion tests, paired t-test and McNemar's test. Longitudinal data collected across all three timepoints were treated as paired data and compared to baseline data using non-parametric exact multinomial tests, and if significant, followed by pairwise post-hoc exact binomial tests. For the purposes of analysis, participants were grouped according to their baseline survey based on pandemic waves and public health restrictions. 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness (n = 87) reported high rates of mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression, over 12-months during the pandemic. Youth participants reported experiencing poor mental health during the early waves of the pandemic, with improvements to their mental health throughout the pandemic; however, results were not statistically significant. Likewise, participants experienced reduced access to mental health care during the early waves of the pandemic but mental health care access increased for youth throughout the pandemic. Study results showed high rates of mental health issues among 2SLGBTQ+ youth, but reduced access to mental health care, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlight the need for 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive and affirming mental health care and services to address social and mental health issues that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
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KVK, SL, MC, CHL, HAH and SAK also contributed equally to this work.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0288591