Social care assessment and LGBTQ+ older people: scoping

Introduction

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ+) people sometimes have difficulties when interacting with social work and social care and are often anxious about discrimination or abuse as a result of their sexual or gender identity. Older LGBTQ+ adults have described concerns about receiving personal care services in their homes. However, little is known about how older LGBTQ+ people experience the assessment process involved in accessing social care services. In particular, there is very little research knowledge about older LGBTQ+ people’s experiences of adult social care services. There is an even greater lack of knowledge about how social care professionals consider issues of gender and sexual diversity when assessing older LGBTQ+ people.

Objectives

This development project sought to identify the best ways of examining the social care workers assessments of older LGBT+ people to support the development of further research.

Methods

The project included a rapid evidence review of the literature to gather what is already known about this issue, and meetings with social care providers and LGBTQ+ older people support organisations.