Open Collections

Goodyear, Trevor

University of British Columbia

The available literature identifies that Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (2S/LGBTQ+) youth between the ages of 14 and 29 experience inequities in both homelessness and substance use. Yet, studies to date have directed limited attention to how these issues intersect. This dissertation addresses this gap using knowledge synthesis and community-based photovoice methods. First, a scoping review study was conducted to summarize the international literature (N=27 published articles; 2000-2022) addressing health and social transitions among 2S/LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness, and to inform the qualitative study that is the focus of this dissertation. For this study, data collection occurred over nine months in 2023 in Vancouver, Canada, and involved 61 in-depth interviews and a participatory photography activity with 32 2S/LGBTQ+ youth who use drugs and experience homelessness and unstable housing. Analysis of these data leveraged narrative and reflexive thematic approaches alongside theoretical perspectives from critical homelessness, drug, and gender/sexuality studies. Study findings are presented in stand-alone articles. These focus on three interconnected lines of inquiry that explore: (i) how substance use features in pathways to homelessness; (ii) how drugs shape practices and contexts of homemaking; and (iii) how youth navigate and negotiate “outness” in the context of homelessness. Together, the studies provide critical direction for policy and service delivery, including for supports to further consider and attend to the social contexts, meanings, and effects of 2S/LGBTQ+ youths’ substance use in connection with homelessness, and to address upstream drivers of inequity.

Text

2024-10-22

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89257

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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