Empathy as a resilience factor in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals: A scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Much research has developed around higher prevalence rates of mental illness in the LGBTQ+ community with little work done on resilience factors, further stigmatizing this population. The present study facilitated a scoping review that charts scientific articles that looked at empathy as a potential resilience factor. The scoping review highlighted areas of concordance and discordance within the literature, reviewed strengths and weaknesses, and provided areas for further investigation. Method: Online databases were used to identify papers published between 2010 and 2022, from which we selected three publications from the United States that conceptualized empathy as a resilience factor in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals that were 18 or older. PRISMA’s guidelines for systematic reviews were used to create the protocol for this paper. Results: All publications were cross sectional, used qualitative methods, and suggested that empathy was developed through identity integration that was facilitated by a supportive social environment. The articles in this review differed in conceptualizing resilience at various ecological levels. Conclusion: Much work remains in examining empathy as a resilience factor in LGB individuals. Future research must better define empathy and resilience as concepts in addition to potentially operationalizing empathy as an adaptive resilience factor.