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Sexual, gender, and erotic minorities experience oppressions that psychologically harm and impact help seeking. The aim of this review was to integrate available evidence on the uptake, barriers, and facilitators of mental health help seeking in sexual, gender, and erotic minorities. Systematic searches were conducted in CINAHL, Medline, and Scopus for peer-reviewed articles and in Google for gray literature using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies published in English in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries between 2008 and 2018 regarding sexual, gender, and erotic minorities older than 18 years were eligible. Quality assessments were conducted and extracted data were analyzed thematically. Ninety documents were included in the review. Uptake is generally greater among sexual, gender, and erotic minorities, but worse in those who experience intersecting oppressions. Barriers to care manifest systemically, in services, and in individual mental health professionals (MHP) and contribute to psychological distress and impede help seeking. Protective factors (resilience, inclusion) and trained MHP counter these barriers. Despite the general prevalence and risk of mental illness among sexual, gender, and erotic minorities due to external, modifiable oppressions, opportunities for inclusive psychological care exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex workers experience risk and protective factors that affect their psychological well-being, yet little is known about sex workers' mental health and their experiences with related services in rural and remote Tasmania, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six current or former sex workers with pre-existing mental health problems, and thematic analysis was used to identify their experiences with mental health and related care. Generally, sex work does not contribute to participants' mental health concerns; rather, social exclusion and systemic issues cause psychological harm. Ineffective mental health professionals and the lack of tailored or culturally competent support serve as barriers to care. Significantly, widespread stigma was both a risk factor to participants' mental health and a barrier to help seeking and resulted in isolation and identity concealment. Resilience, self-awareness and social inclusion reduce the psychological impact of exogenous oppression and encourage help seeking. The decriminalisation of sex work could improve sex worker mental health and reduce stigma by normalising sex work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sex workers face many barriers to accessing the inalienable human right of mental health. The aim of this review was to synthesize the evidence on the barriers to mental healthcare for sex workers and the factors that facilitate uptake. Methods: A search conducted in 2018 of peer-reviewed and gray literature produced between 2008 and 2018 in OECD countries resulted in 32 documents eligible for inclusion. Results: The literature revealed that the barriers of stigma, discrimination, violence, pathologization, and criminalization exacerbate the psychological distress of sex workers while impeding uptake of mental healthcare. Personal resilience, protective factors, agency, and social inclusion offset these barriers. Conclusions: Despite the risk of pervasive mental illness among sex workers due to, primarily, external factors, few studies present comprehensive examinations of sex workers' mental health and fewer still explore sex workers with gender identities and sexual orientations that are not cisgender, heterosexual, or female. Policy Implications: Although timely, equitable treatment of sex workers in mental healthcare is currently atypical, the findings of this review suggest that inclusive, respectful psychological care is possible. Future research on holistic approaches to the mental health of sex workers could support the creation of much-needed, inclusive services and policies that improve sex workers' quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the resettlement experiences of former refugees living in regional Australia, focusing on mental health and mental health and support services, including barriers to access. Design: A phenomenological approach utilising a combination of six qualitative, semi‐structured, face‐to‐face focus groups (n = 24) and seven individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo 10 software. Setting: Launceston, Tasmania. Participants: Adult and youth former refugees from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Iran, and essential service providers, residing in Launceston. Main outcome measures: Participants were asked about experiences of resettlement and mental health. Results: Participants reported that their mental health had improved since resettlement; however, major stressors impacted mental health and resettlement included employment and housing access and mastering the English language. Past experiences continued to impact current functioning, with trauma commonly experienced intergenerationally through parenting and attachment and ongoing trauma and feelings of guilt and responsibility experienced with families left behind. Participants noted barriers to accessing services: (a) Language difficulties including lack of interpreters; and (b) lack of culturally sensitive and trauma‐informed practices. Discrimination was experienced through the inconsistent provision of interpreters and lack of due consideration of cultural and religious differences. The use of children as interpreters enhanced a number of risk including miscommunication of medical information, exposure to age‐inappropriate information and the resulting increased risk of trauma for the child. Conclusion: Culturally sensitive, trauma‐informed and discrimination‐free practices should be employed across services, where Western‐views surrounding this medical model are not imposed, cultural differences are respected, and timely access to interpreters was provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]