The health and well-being of LGBT+ military personnel and veterans

人们对英国女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者和变性人(LGBT+)的经历知之甚少。最近对30篇关注在职和退役(退役)LGBT人员的健康和福祉的论文进行了审查(Mark，McNamara等人)。2019)没有发现英国对这一人群的研究，并指出很少有研究关注与军人社区相关的心理健康后果，如创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)、抑郁症或这一人群中的酒精滥用。研究也往往因群体不同而不同，关于心理健康的研究在变性人中更常见，而只有LGB人员和退伍军人被包括在关于物质滥用的研究中。因此，在英国武装部队(国防部2018)日益多样化的情况下，有必要了解这一人群的健康和福祉。这项研究与英国皇家军团(TRBL)合作，旨在通过使用调查数据和采访来了解英国武装部队中现役和退役LGBT+人员的健康和福祉，以弥补研究中的这一差距。来自英国军事人员的大型调查数据将被用来比较现役和退役LGB人员与非LGB人员的心理健康结果，并将利用访谈来探索是什么影响了退役LGBT+人员在整个兵役中的健康和福祉(例如，部署、耻辱、歧视、寻求帮助)。这项研究将得到少数群体压力理论(MST)(Meyer 2003)的支持，该理论提出，长期暴露在有压力的社会环境中，以及受害和耻辱，通过周围的应激源，如耻辱和歧视，或更近的应激源，如对感知到的耻辱的高度警惕，隐藏身份和对自己的社会身份的负面感觉，导致少数群体的幸福感变差。这一博士项目的发现将对支持和指导有关LGBT+人员和退伍军人的研究、政策和服务具有重要意义。调查结果将传播给英国政府和国防政策、军事慈善机构和LGBT+组织中的关键利益相关者，以及国家和国际会议。学生将受益于英国皇家军团的支持和参与，以及指导和实习的机会，以及监督团队的经验，特别是在CASE学生方面。

Very little is known about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) military personnel in the UK. A recent review of thirty papers looking at the health and well-being of serving and ex-serving (veteran)LGBT personnel (Mark, McNamara et al. 2019) found no UK studies on this population and noted that few studies had focused on mental health outcomes pertinent to the military community such as post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD), depression, or alcohol misuse among this population. Studies also tended to differ by group, with studies of mental health more common among transgender personnel while only LGB personnel and veterans were included in studies of substance misuse. As such, there is an important need to understand the health and wellbeing of this population amid increasing diversity among the UK Armed Forces (Ministry of Defence 2018).This study, in partnership with the Royal British Legion(tRBL), aims to address this gap in the research by using survey data and interviews to understand the health and well-being of serving and ex-serving LGBT+ personnel in the UK Armed Forces. Data from a large survey of UK military personnel will be used to look at the mental health outcomes of serving and ex-serving LGB personnel compared to non-LGB personnel and interviews will be used to explore what influences the health and wellbeing of ex-serving LGBT+ personnel across their military service (e.g., deployment, stigma, discrimination, help-seeking). This study will be underpinned by minority stress theory (MST)(Meyer 2003), which proposes that chronic exposure to stressful social situations, and victimisation and stigma, leads to poorer well-being among minority groups, through surrounding stressors such as stigma and discrimination or closer stressors such as heightened vigilance to perceived stigma, concealment of identity and negative feelings about one's social identity.This findings from this PhD project will have important implications for supporting and directing research, policy, and services regarding LGBT+ personnel and veterans. Findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders within UK government and defence policy, military charities, and LGBT+ organisations, as well as national and international conferences. The student will benefit from the support and involvement of the Royal British Legion and opportunities for mentoring and internships, the experience of the supervisory team, particularly in CASE studentships.