Self-Compassion and Mental Health in Sexual and Gender Minority People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Carvalho, SA (通讯作者),Univ Coimbra, Fac Psychol & Educ Sci, Ctr Res Neuropsychol & Cognit Behav Intervent CIN, Rua Colegio Novo, P-3000115 Coimbra, Portugal.
2022-7-1
Purpose: Literature shows that sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals are at higher risk of developing minority stress-related mental health problems. Recently, it has been suggested that promoting self-compassion through affirmative mental health care for SGM people can be beneficial. However, no systematic analysis has been published exploring the relationship between self-compassion and mental health indicators in SGM individuals. We aim to fill this gap by synthesizing and meta-analyzing studies that focus on the relationship between self-compassion and mental health in SGM people.Methods: After registering in PROSPERO (CRD42021254774), PubMed, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, and Web of Knowledge were systematically searched to identify studies assessing the association between self-compassion and mental health and/or minority stress indicators in SGM individuals. All screening steps and data extraction were performed independently by the two researchers. The quality of each study was assessed with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute tool, and meta-analysis was performed on R software.Results: Twenty-one studies were included in the meta-analysis, corresponding to a total of 6573 nonheterosexual and/or noncisgender participants. All meta-analytic models were significant: higher levels of self-compassion were associated with less depression, anxiety, psychological distress, suicidal ideation, internalized homophobia/transphobia, and stigma, and with more well-being, outness, and social support.Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that self-compassion is significantly associated with mental health indicators in SGM people, and this relationship is especially strong with internalized homophobia/transphobia in older SGM adults, and with suicidal ideation in younger SGM individuals. Results suggest that affirmative mental health care may benefit from promoting self-compassion.
LGBT HEALTH
卷号:9|期号:5|页码:287-302
ISSN:2325-8292|收录类别:SCIE
语种
英语
来源机构
Universidade de Coimbra; Lusofona University
资助机构
FCT (Portu-guese Foundation for Science and Technology)(Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology)
资助信息
The author Raquel Guiomar was supported by a PhD Grant (SFRH/BD/5099/2020), sponsored by FCT (Portu-guese Foundation for Science and Technology)
被引频次(WOS)
4
被引频次(其他)
4
180天使用计数
8
2013以来使用计数
18
EISSN
2325-8306
出版年
2022-7-1
DOI
10.1089/lgbt.2021.0434
WOS学科分类
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
学科领域
循证公共卫生
关键词
mental health meta-analysis minority stress self-compassion sexual and gender minorities systematic review