LGBT Elderly and LTC

Heterosexism is an issue few people mention in long-term care. My position is one FOR the transformation of long-term care facilities to combat potential heterosexism and promote quality care for LGBT elders. This is because out of the millions of elderly or soon to be elderly within the American population, at least three million of them will be from the LGBT community.

Since they are homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered, stereotypes, and negative correlations are still associated to this group, it is important to provide changes and modifications in plans of care to suit the needs of LGBT elderly. (Grigorovich) Long-term care of LTC must be provided to all that require it, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification. They should feel comfortable within their environment and be treated with dignity and respect. While most LTC faculty won't admit to their biases, heterosexism still exists in LTC facilities.

In order combat this problem, the government must introduce policy reform that provides protection for the LGBT elderly population in regards to personal rights and visitation rights. "Patient non-discrimination policies could include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classifications. Visitation policies could explicitly grant equal visitation to LGBTQ patients and their visitors." (Schwinn and Dinkel 7) If these rights are protected under the law, even employees with clear biases will have to alter their treatment of LGBT elderly regardless of personal feelings on the matter.

Some LTC staff may not have biases and may simply be uneducated when it comes to LGBT issues. Additional training can help circumvent any hiccups in care by educating staff on some specific problems an LGBT elder may have. A study on LGBT awareness training yielded positive changes in how LTC cared for LGBT elderly.

"This study concludes that mainstream elder-service provider training on LGBT aging issues results in positive change." Staff may not know the needs of LGBT elderly because the LGBT elderly may hide their sexual preference or gender identity to avoid judgment. Training such as this will not only generate awareness among LTC staff, but will also help guide them in make appropriate choices and provide high quality care.

Education and training seem to be indicators of low quality care in general, but especially with the LGBT elderly community in long-term care facilities. As a 2015 article suggests, certified nurses rated low in terms of homophobia when it came to LGBT elderly whereas medical professionals that were not as trained (nurse assistants) gave higher scores showing homophobic tendencies. "Results indicate low levels of homophobia among the certified nurse assistants who participated.

Age and acquaintances accounted for most of the variance in the homophobia scores of the certified nurse assistants." (Dickey 563) This is not to say uneducated nurses or medical professional are homophobic, but lack of knowledge on the LGBT community may cause potential issues with understanding and compassion within the healthcare setting. Lack of knowledge appears to be a prevalent issue in LTC facilities as noted by a 2012 study.

"Data from this study suggest there are few opportunities for medical providers to access training and gain expertise in the provision of care to LGBT people." (Rutherford et al. 903) Because of this, medical staff are not able to handle the struggles and particular requirements an LGBT elderly person may have. Things like dementia for example, that may alter their behavior and remove some of an LGBT person's guard, could cause feelings of disgust from staff because they do not realize the kind of struggle LGBT elderly people endured.

To live a life of constantly being in the closet or facing public ridicule places stress on a person and this may be seen in an LGBT elderly patient through depression or in case of dementia, personality change. In conclusion, within the next few decades, the LGBT elderly community will grow and many within that population will need long-term care. Heterosexism remains an issue among LTC staff and can be.