How can we make research more relevant to 2SLGBTQ+ communities? Ask 2SLGBTQ+ people to set the priorities

Tin Vo at Munich Pride in 2024

At a time when 2SLGBTQ+ communities worldwide are facing rising persecution and discrimination, University of Toronto social work researcher Tin D. Vo is launching two research projects aimed at bringing 2SLGBTQ+ individuals together to explore practical ways to improve their wellbeing.

“Many 2SLGBTQ+ people have been silenced and harmed in this current geopolitical climate,” says Vo, who joined the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work as an Assistant Professor in 2024 after a career in public health, where they focused on program planning and evaluation.

“The thing that most excites me about this research is that we’re mobilizing communities to learn more about themselves and creating opportunities for them to tell stories, all with the goal of creating effective supports for 2SLGBTQ+ people in Ontario and beyond.”

The two community-based research projects are distinct, yet take similar approaches. They both involve 2SLGBTQ+ people as research partners, are based in smaller urban and rural areas outside the GTA, include multiple local organizations, and use research methods rooted in the arts.

Most important, the projects have the same overriding goal: determining what kind of future community-engaged research would be most meaningful and relevant to the lives of 2SLGBTQ+ communities by asking them directly. These conversations will also inform the work of public health departments and social services organizations in designing resources and programs for 2SLGBTQ+ people.

“Basically, this is research to determine research priorities,” says Vo. “Our intention is to find out from the people themselves how we as researchers should move ahead. To do this, we’re presenting existing data on 2SLGBTQ+ issues and saying, ‘Here’s what’s been collected so far. How does this resonate with you?’ Then we will ask, ‘What do you dream of for 2SLGBTQ+ communities here? How can we achieve this dream through research?’”

The researchers will hold “data parties” where 2SLGBTQ+ people will be invited to interact with infographics and storyboards featuring plain language summaries of previous studies, survey findings and demographic information.

“It starts with viewing existing data via graphic representations, then we move into large- and small-group discussions to get everyone’s reactions and thoughts,” says Vo.

Vo and their team will ask participants to draw pictures or write words that capture their responses to the data, and then tell a story related to what they drew or wrote. “It helps to ground people in the conversation and make the concepts less nebulous by having something tactile to do,” says Vo, explaining the effectiveness of arts-based research methods. In the end, they hope the exercise will generate new research questions to follow up on through community-engaged research.

The research team will also ask participants to reflect on the helpfulness of resources for 2SLGBTQ+ people already being offered in their own communities, and what might be missing.

In one study, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Vo is partnering with 2SLGBTQ+ youth and older adults in Sudbury and surrounding areas to see whether intergenerational engagement between these groups could enhance their quality of life.

“There’s been little research on the potential benefits of intergenerational connections for 2SLGBTQ+ people,” says Vo.

Their team is working with Public Health Sudbury & Districts to recruit people from urban and rural locations around Sudbury, including Francophone and Indigenous communities. These conversations will be grounded in census data for the Northeastern Ontario region and Public Health’s Invisible No More Study.

Tin Vo and their partner

“We’re drawing on Indigenous concepts of elders and the transmission of knowledge between generations, but taking an expanded view of intergenerational engagement,” says Vo. “So we’re looking at how 2SLGBTQ+ people with different lived experiences and different stages of identity formation, whatever their age, can share knowledge and support each other.”

The second study, funded by the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children, focuses on developing research priorities with 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Waterloo.

About 30 young people will be invited to respond to infographics displaying the results of a survey conducted by the Children and Youth Planning Table of Waterloo Region, which found that many youth experience discrimination due to their gender identity and sexual orientation.

“We’re most interested in hearing from the young people about their experiences of marginalization, belonging and wellbeing,” says Vo, noting that their team is also collaborating with the non-profits Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health, a mental health organization, and Spectrum, an organization that supports the 2SLGBTQ+ community. These partners will use the study findings to shape their programming.

The research team plans to hire youth peer researchers and train them to co-facilitate discussions, analyze data and present findings to their peers. “We’re building their capacity as leaders who can contribute back to their own communities,” says Vo.

In both studies, the partnerships with 2SLGBTQ+ people will not end when the project ends. “We hope to create research advisory committees of 2SLGBTQ+ participants that want to engage in future projects with us,” says Vo. “We also want to continue our collaborations with public health and the non-profit organizations in planning, implementing and evaluating new programs.”

Vo says there is urgency, but also hope, in this work. “It’s more important now than ever that we create these opportunities to gather to talk about what’s going well for us, and how we can learn more, do better and ensure that people are coming out stronger in this current climate.”

By Megan Easton

Related:

• Meet Tin Vo, Assistant Professor CLTA
• Q&A: David J. Brennan and Eric J. Van Giessen on the importance and value of engaging community to understand 2SLGBTQQIA+ sexual and reproductive health
• Expanding research on LGBTIQ inclusion throughout Asia
• CBC News interviews Kaitrin Doll about roller derby teams’ decisions to not travel to the US
• Shelley Craig’s research on social media use among 2SLGBTQ+ youth featured in Maclean’s, Time magazine, and The New York Times