Beyond disclosure: A human rights approach to understanding queer women's interactions with healthcare providers when seeking sexual healthcare

This study explores interactions between queer women and healthcare providers within the context of sexual health and identifies barriers to and facilitators of equitable healthcare delivery. Constructivist grounded theory supplemented with situational mapping guided secondary analysis of nine participant interview transcripts from an original study on queer women’s health. The current study situates queer women’s sexual healthcare seeking within the broader social processes of heteronormativity and heterosexism. Through data analysis and interpretation, a three-tiered contextual framework for queer women’s sexual healthcare seeking was identified. The healthcare space is the broadest level of the framework and the first material context queer women encounter when seeking sexual healthcare. The context of relational healthcare dynamics is the second tier of the framework and includes interactions between queer women as patients seeking healthcare from healthcare providers. The sexual healthcare interactions context is the third tier and specifically focuses on interactions related sexual healthcare. Different issues enabling or constraining queer women’s health equity permeate these three contexts. Implications of the study findings are discussed at both the systemic and interactional levels of healthcare delivery.