Cultural care: Sexual orientation as bias in health care practices

Abstract

Background: The objective was to identify the perception of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people about the implications of non-heterosexual sexual orientation in health care practices. . Methods: We adopted a qualitative research by conducting interviews with 30 gay and bisexual individuals recruited in the municipality of Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil, from the snowball technique in 2013. The data was categorized and analyzed based on the Theory of Diversity and Universality of Cultural Care. Findings: It was found that sexual minorities have encountered prejudiced and discriminatory professional practices in health care as a result of heteronormative cultural representations, which reflect difficulties in accessibility to the services. The exclusionary cultural care results in poor self-care and linked to sexually transmitted diseases, low attendance and distance of health services for gay and bisexual men. Conclusion: It is believed that the influence of heteronormative cultural conceptions in services imply deficit of self-care by the group.