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

在英国，人们对女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和变性人（LGBT+）军人的经历知之甚少。最近对30篇研究现役和退役（退伍军人）LGBT人员健康和福祉的论文（Mark, McNamara et al. 2019）的综述发现，英国没有针对这一人群的研究，并指出，很少有研究关注与军事社区相关的心理健康结果，如创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、抑郁症或这一人群的酒精滥用。研究也往往因群体而异，对跨性别人员的心理健康研究更为常见，而对物质滥用的研究只包括LGB人员和退伍军人。因此，在英国武装部队日益多样化的背景下，了解这些人口的健康和福祉是非常必要的（国防部2018年）。本研究与英国皇家军团（tRBL）合作，旨在通过调查数据和访谈来了解英国武装部队现役和退役LGBT+人员的健康和福祉，从而解决研究中的这一空白。来自英国军事人员的大型调查数据将用于研究现役和退役LGB人员与非LGB人员相比的心理健康结果，访谈将用于探索在服役期间影响退役LGBT+人员健康和福祉的因素（例如，部署，耻辱，歧视，寻求帮助）。这项研究将以少数群体压力理论（MST）（Meyer 2003）为基础，该理论提出，长期暴露于有压力的社会情境，受害和耻辱，会导致少数群体的幸福感较差，这是通过周围的压力源，如耻辱和歧视，或更近的压力源，如对感知到的耻辱的高度警惕，隐瞒身份和对一个人的社会身份的负面感受。这个博士项目的研究结果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。调查结果将分发给英国政府和国防政策、军事慈善机构、LGBT+组织以及国家和国际会议的主要利益相关者。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学生中。

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.