Findings from the RaRE Study for the HEAR Network Conference Presented by Josetta Malcolm Head of Client Services

The RaRE Study What is it? It’s a research project funded by the Big Lottery; it started in 2010 and will be finishing in December 2015 What’s it about? It’s trying to understand why LGB&T people suffer from more mental health problems than heterosexual & cisgender people Who is running it? Led by PACE – Nuno Nodin Research Co-ordinator, in partnership with three universities: Ian Rivers, Brunel University; Allan Tyler, London South Bank University and Elizabeth Peel, University of Worcester

Why are we doing it? Previous research indicates that compared to heterosexual people: LGB&T youth are more likely to attempt suicide Lesbian and bisexual women are more likely to have drinking problems Gay and bisexual men are more likely to have body image problems

Breakdown of survey sample By sexual orientation and gender identity Hetero (n=700)GL (n=949)Bisexuals (n=302) Female 75.7% (530)36.9% (350)60.6% (183) Male 23.4% (164)61.4% (583)34.4% (104) Other 0.9% (6) 1.7% (16) 5.0% (15) Cis (n=1958)Trans* (n=120) Female 55.7% (1090)30.0% (36) Male 43.4% (850)25.0% (30) Other 0.9% (18)45.0% (54) Inclusion criteria: Age >17; living in England

Disability status HETERO (n=700)GL (n=949)BISEXUALS (n=302) YES 10.0% (70)16.1% (153)23.8% (72) NO 90.0% (630)83.9% (796)76.2% (230) Do you consider yourself to be disabled? CIS (n=1958)TRANS (n=120) YES14.8% (1669)33.3% (40) NO85.2% (289) 66.7% (80)

Comparative results Suicide and self-harm LGB vs hetero (ages ≤26) Indicator/SOHetero (n=196)LGB* (n=289) Suicide attempt at least once17.9 % (35)33.9 % (98) Suicide thought at least once48.0 % (94)69.9 % (202) Suicide thought last year20.4 % (40)34.6 % (100) Self-harm done at least once38.3 % (75)57.1 % (165) Self-harm done last year17.9 % (35)28.4 % (82) Self-harm thought at least once46.4 % (91)73.0 % (211) Self-harm thought last year27.0 % (53)41.9 % (121) * Excludes participants identified as sexual Orientation “Other” All differences are statistically p≤.01

Comparative results Suicide and self-harm Cis vs Trans* (ages ≤26) Indicator/SOCis (n=458)Trans* (n=27) Suicide attempt at least once26.2 % (120)48.1 % (13) Suicide attempt last year7.2 % (33)29.8 % (8) Suicide thought at least once59.4% (272)88.9 % (24) Suicide thought last year27.1 % (124)59.3 % (16) Self-harm done at least once47.4 % (217)85.2 % (23) Self-harm done last year22.1 % (101)59.3 % (16) Self-harm thought at least once63.5 % (291)92.6 % (25) Self-harm thought last year33.8 % (155)70.4 % (19) All differences are statistically p≤.01

Quote “It was difficult at school because people knew at school and I was like the only person in the entire school that was kind of openly out and I did get a certain amount of crap for that, so that was hard. But I mean it wasn't, I think when people found out that I had tried to kill myself, people were like "Oh is it because you're finding it really difficult being a lesbian or something" and I was like no, it's really not about that. The difficulties were more to do with people's responses rather than me internalising.” (Esther, 32, “gender queer”; suicide attempt at age 17)

What do we want to achieve? To reduce mental health differences in LGBT people by influencing local and national policy and practice We want to work collaboratively with local and national organisations and authorities in changing LGB&T people’s mental health service provision Contact Nuno on: –

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