Grant: Operating Grant

The proposed research, the second phase in a comprehensive, multiphase project exploring access and equity issues within the home care sector for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations, will use a mixed method design and a gender-based diversity sensitive approach to: 1) foster the development of an evidenced-informed home care-specific LGBT access and equity tool that will enable Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) and contracted service provider organizations to evaluate their policy and practice in relation to LGBT populations; and 2) address the process of translating LGBT policy into practice. Data obtained from the proposed study will be used to further refine a home care-specific LGBT access and equity tool, developed in phase one of the longitudinal project, by integrating the knowledge and experiences of key informant referral sources, service users, service providers and CCAC managers. The proposed study offers opportunity to address: 1) a gap in the LGBT health services access literature by providing evidence-informed knowledge about service access barriers for LGBT populations that are unique to the home care sector; and, 2) the process of translating LGBT policy into practice, therefore, this phase two will address CCAC organizational readiness in preparation for a Phase 3 piloting of the LGBT access and equity tool. In addition, findings from the proposed study will contribute to the development of fact sheets that 1): provide educational information to LGBT communities about the scope of home care services, accessing home health services and client rights; and 2) provide information to interdisciplinary home care service providers that provide information about the provision of home care services to LGBT communities in relation to their unique service needs and barriers to accessing home care.