CARE Lab
LGBTQIA+ Older Adults
The intersection of LGBTQIA+ identity and older adulthood exposes individuals, families, and communities to intersecting oppressive forces that may negatively impact their mental health. Simultaneously, LGBTQIA+ older adults have unique resilience and coping that allows them to adapt to ageism more effectively than their cisgender, heterosexual peers. We examine factors that may impede positive mental health, such as barriers to health care and mental health care, housing discrimination, family rejection, and social isolation. However, we also explore intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community assets that facilitate growth, development, and positive mental health outcomes.
Publicatons & Projects
Publications and active projects related to this line of research are outlined below.
Internalized Heterosexism Trajectories
Westcott, J. B., Shaikh, A. N., & Miyazaki, Y. (under review). The effects of age and gender on internalized heterosexism over time among sexual minority adults in the United States.
Mental Health Care Access
Westcott, J. B., Fullen, M. C., Welfare, L. E., Grimes, T. O., Chan, C. D., & Kniola, D. J. (in preparation). Mental health care access amng older sexual minority women with disabilities.
Instrument Validation
Health Care Access
Resilience & Social Support
Westcott, J. B., Fullen, M. C., Welfare, L. E., Grimes, T. O., Chan, C. D., & Kniola, D. J. (in preparation). Moderating effects of resilience and social support on mental health outcomes among older sexual minority women with disabilities.
Treatment Preferences among LGBTQIA+ Older Adults
Westcott, J. B. & Rocconi, L. M. (in preparation). Measuring resilience and social support among older sexual minority women with disabilities: A confirmatory factor analysis.
Study in development to quantitatively examine health care access, contributors to mental health outcomes, and the influence of strengths among LGBTQIA+ older adults.
Study in development to conduct focus groups to determine treatment preferences based on factors that predict positive mental health.
Select Conference Presentations
1 / Social Support, Resilience, and Access
Westcott, J. B., Fullen, M. C., & Chan, C. D. (accepted to present 2024, April 13). Social support, resilience and access in older sexual minority women [30-Minute Research Education Session]. American Counseling Association Conference, New Orleans, LA.
2 / Health Care Access
Westcott, J. B., Welfare, L. E., Chan, C. D., & Grimes, T. O. (2023, September 9). Access to healthcare at the margins: Predicting access for older sexual minority women with disabilities [Poster session]. Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling Conference, Nashville, Tennessee.
3 / Holistic Wellness for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults
Fullen, M. C. & Westcott, J. B. (2020, December 16). What does aging well mean to you? A holistic approach to meaning-making for LGBTQ+ older adults. [Invited 1.5-hour seminar]. Nova Scotia University.