Minority status-related stressors seem to contribute to the disproportionately
higher physical health problems experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals, namely
through stress-related systemic inflammatory processes. However, research
suggests that LGBTQ+ individuals report lower access to healthcare services than
cisheterosexual individuals due to interpersonal (e.g., fear of discrimination from
healthcare personnel), institutional (e.g., lack of appropriate training in affirmative
healthcare), and structural (e.g., affordability of specialized treatment options)
barriers. Good medical practice standards and clinical decision guidelines for
screening and treatment options lack specificity for LGBTQ+ patients, both in
terms of their strictly biophysiological consequences (e.g., the interpretation of
PSA results in transgender women with prostate cancer on gender affirming
hormone therapy) as well as psychosocial impact (e.g., the nefarious impact of
cisheteronormative guidelines on mental and sexual health of LGBT+ clients with
chronic illness). This presentation will provide an overview of empirical
scholarship, discuss ethical issues in research and clinical practice, and describe
tentative affirmative adaptations to the clinical assessment and practice with
LGBTQ+ clients with chronic physical illness.