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Stehr, Rodney Epeli

University of British Columbia

Background: Physical distancing measures implemented to address the spread of COVID-19 between 2020 and 2021 introduced challenges for accessing mental healthcare and social support for queer youth. COVID-19 disrupted the provision of mental healthcare, social support, and in-person approaches to qualitative research. Thus, there is a critical need to understand how queer youth’s experiences of mental health have been impacted by COVID-19 and the associated with pivoting from in-person to virtual data collection methods to study these impacts. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are to: 1) Document my experiences pivoting from an in-person to virtual data collection methods, and 2) Identify how evolving experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic impact the mental health experiences of queer youth. Methods: Using a social constructivist framework, I thematically analyze digital diary entries and data from semi-structured interviews collected between November 2020 and June 2021 in Vancouver, Canada, from a sample (n=15) of queer youth recruited using purposeful and snowball sampling. Findings: The findings of this thesis describe how digital diary methods and remote semi-structured interviews provided opportunities for exploring unanticipated areas of inquiry and opportunities for participants previously experiencing barriers to in-person research. However, this approach also featured several limitations, including instances where poor internet connectivity resulted in Zoom calls being cut off multiple times and difficulty in maintaining private space during remote interviews where guardians interrupted interviews. Physical distancing measures had unintended negative effects on the mental health experiences of queer youth by interrupting processes of identity-development, isolating queer youth and leading them to rely on limited in-person social supports and introducing barriers to virtual mental health support for queer disabled youth. Conclusion: These findings show how combining remote interviewing and digital diary methods provide equity-enhancing opportunities for disabled and immunocompromised queer youth, how queer social capital plays an important role in queer youth’s ability to transition their mental healthcare and social lives online, and the necessity of accessibility being built-in at each point of virtual clinical care. Finally, they highlight how moralizing discourses around COVID-19 guideline compliance entrench existing mental health inequities by isolating them and subjecting them to discrimination.

Text

2024-03-31

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82432

Interdisciplinary Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/