The Provision of Health and Care Services to Older LGBT Adults in the Nordic Countries

Studies from countries such as USA, Canada, and UK indicate that aged care services lack inclusiveness towards older LGBT people. There is however little evidence from the Nordic countries concerning the provision of health and care services to old LGBT people, and before 2023 no scoping reviews or systematic reviews concerning healthcare services to LGBT people in the Nordic countries had been published. Therefore, we carried out a scoping review on the academic literature published in the period 2002-2022. Our main objectives in this study were (a) to examine what is known about the provision of health and care services to LGBT old adults in the Nordic countries, (b) to identify knowledge gaps in the evidence, (c) to map implications of this research for delivery of services to LGBT older adults, and (d) to identify key future research priorities to advance policy and practice for old LGBT adults.

The studies included in the scoping review showed that healthcare personnel lack knowledge on LGBT issues, and that little focus on LGBT topics in healthcare education seem to be a vital cause for this lack of knowledge among healthcare personnel. Therefore, we initiated the project Queer perspectives in healthcare education. In this project, we seek to develop education of healtcare personell concerning topics related to older LGBT adults. The project, which starts in June 2024, has received financial support from Stiftelsen Dam.