Perspectives of Parents of LGBTQ+ Youth with Mental Health Service Needs in the US Southeast: Challenges, Needs, and Recommendations for Improving LGBTQ+ Youth and Family Support
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Consistent evidence finds supportive, affirming parents have a significant positive impact on LGBTQ + youth mental health. Yet few studies have examined the experiences of parents of LGBTQ + youth with mental health service needs, a notable gap in the literature given the considerable proportion of LGBTQ + youth with mental health difficulties. Objectives: The current study aimed to characterize the experiences of parents of LGBTQ + youth in navigating services for their child to inform future parent-focused resource and intervention development. Methods: = 12 parents of LGBTQ + children (ages 9-17) with a history of mental health service use residing in the Southeastern U.S. were recruited to participate in one of three semi-structured focus group interviews. Focus group interviews were audio recorded and transcribed; data were coded using flexible and reflexive six-step thematic analysis approach. Results: Three key themes emerged: (1) parents' challenges related to accessing and navigating mental health services for their LGBTQ + children, (2) parents' need for their own resources and support as they navigate these challenges, and (3) parent-identified recommendations to improve LGBTQ + youth and family support. Subthemes highlighted the complexities parents face given their dual role in both affirming their child's identities as well as supporting their child's mental health needs, particularly within the sociopolitical context of the Southeastern U.S. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate the need for affirming and accessible mental health resources for LGBTQ + youth and families in Southeastern U.S. as well as the need for parent-focused resources to better support parents of LGBTQ + youth experiencing mental health problems. Based on parents' perspectives, we offer a set of recommendations for child and adolescent mental healthcare providers and organizations for supporting LGBTQ + youth and families.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".