“It’s better to have support”: Understanding wellbeing and support needs of gender and sexuality diverse migrants in Australia

Abstract

Australia is considered a diverse community, home to many migrants from across the globe. Within this migrant population, are a relatively overlooked and under-researched group – people who are gender or sexuality diverse. Research has shown that people with migrant backgrounds often have poorer wellbeing than the general population. The same is often true of people who are gender and sexuality diverse. However, there remains little information concerning the wellbeing needs and the barriers and facilitators to support for this group, particularly in the Australian context. The current study aimed to fill these gaps through understanding gender and sexuality diverse migrant perceptions of wellbeing, migration-related factors which affect wellbeing, and the barriers and facilitators to accessing support in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 gender and sexuality diverse migrants from Bangladesh, Brazil, Central Europe, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines. Results were analysed through thematic analysis and findings were discussed using Bronfenbrenner’s (1981) socioecological model (SEM). Themes highlighted how the various factors affecting wellbeing at different levels of the SEM, intertwine to impact overall wellbeing, how gender, sexuality and migration-related experiences shape wellbeing and the importance of social connections to wellbeing. Participants also discussed the barriers and facilitators to finding information for support, accessing inclusive services, accessing services eligible to them, and access to providers whose identities mirrored participants’ own identities. Findings from this study will assist with the improvement of current services and guide the implementation of new services which seek to directly support this group of people.