Refereed Publications

This article presents results from the Trans PULSE Canada study, a community-based, national study of health and wellbeing among trans and non-binary (TNB) people. Pre-pandemic data were collected over ten weeks in 2019 from 2,873 Canadian residents aged 14 and older, who were recruited using a multi-mode convenience sampling approach. A follow-up survey examining the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic was completed by 820 participants in Fall 2020. Depression and anxiety symptoms increased from pre-pandemic to follow-up, and most participants were above measurement cut-offs for clinical levels during the pandemic. Changes in finances and access to peer gatherings were associated with depression symptoms during the pandemic, but effects depended on level of pre-pandemic depression. For participants with high pre-pandemic depression, financial stability was not protective against increased depression at follow-up. Participants experiencing unprecedentedly high levels of depression during COVID may have pursued more TNB gatherings. Neither financial change nor access to TNB gatherings were associated with pandemic anxiety. 

Findings suggest need for a multifaceted approach to mental health programmes and services to address structural barriers, including financial support and meaningful TNB community engagement.

 Ghabrial, M. A., Scheim, A. I., Chih, C., Santos, H., & Adams, N., & Bauer, G. R. (2023). Change in finances, peer access, and mental health among trans and non-binary people in Canada during COVID-19. LGBT Health. doi:10.1089/lgbt.2022.0296. 

Using intersectionality as our critical analytical framework, we examined 22 articles on sexual and gender diversity (SGD) published in peer-reviewed psychology journals between January and June 2022 to: (1) identify their engagement with intersectionality's core themes; and (2) highlight key findings and directions for future intersectional SGD research. Our review includes 12 theoretical and empirical articles that addressed a breadth of topics such as intersectional stigma/discrimination, gendered racism, minority stress, and intersectional ableism. This review highlights opportunities within intersectional SGD research in psychology to provide a needed corrective to the discipline's tradition of individualistic, single-axis research focused on predominantly White, cisgender and heterosexual people, and attend to intersectionality's focus on intersecting power relations and commitments to social justice.

 
Bowleg, L., Malekzadeh, A. N., AuBuchon, K., Ghabrial, M.A., & Bauer, G. R. (2022). Rare Exemplars and Missed Opportunities: Intersectionality within Current Sexual and Gender Diversity Research and Scholarship in Psychology. Current Opinion in Psychology, 101511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101511

This article presents the Queer People of Color Identity Affirmation Scale, the first measure of positive attitude toward identity for this population. This development process involved item generation (through qualitative analysis), pilot testing, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and initial validation. This scale is strongly, positively related to measures of Resilience and Empowerment and strongly, negatively associated with Depression. This scale also appeared to be a better predictor of Resilience and Empowerment than existing scales that measure ethnoracial identity affirmation and sexual identity affirmation separately.
*Recipient of the 2021 Gender and Sexual Minority Manuscript (SPECTRUM) Award from the Association for Women in Psychology

Ghabrial, M.A., & Andersen, J.P. (2021). Development and initial validation of the Queer People of Color Identity Affirmation Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68(1), 38–53. doi10.1037/cou0000443

This article is the second of two publications (see below) on an exploratory study to examine the feasibility and potential benefits and challenges of implementing a professionallly moderated, psychoeducational, web-based support group for women with HIV. This article provides a thematic analysis of two sources of qualitative data from the study: the discussion board from the support group and one-on-one follow-up interviews. Women discussed the stressors and invisibility they face as women with HIV and described this support group as a place to safely connect with similar others. Findings suggest that a psychoeducational, web-based support group may be an ideal platform through which to translate knowledge and create community for members of this population - especially women who are newly diagnosed, newcomers, or working in HIV/AIDS Service Organizations.

*Runner-up for the 2018 Women and Gender Manuscript Award (SPECTRUM) from the Association for Women in Psychology

*Runner-up for the 2018 Student Manuscript Award from the Canadian Psychological Association’s Section for Women and Psychology

Ghabrial, M.A., Classen, C.C., & Maggi, J.D. (2020). “I've found my voice. I've found a sisterhood”: Qualitative evaluation of a web-based support group for women with HIV. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services. doi.org/10.1080/15381501.2019.1684413 

This article presents thematic analysis of narratives from bisexual (and plurisexual) cisgender and trangender women and gender diverse people of Color. Participants described the ways in which their identity categories challenged notions of binarism and intersect to impact their (in)visibility and sense (or lack) of belonging. Participants also discussed challenges facing parents, victims of intimate partner violence, and reported feelings of betrayal when engaging in heteronormativity or romantic relationships with white partners. Additionally, participants reported feeling empowered by their unique identity, using their ability to "pass" to advocate for others, and experiencing empathy and personal growth. Throughout these topics, participants noted femininity/femmephobia as a factor in (in)visibility, as well as notions of falsehood and diminished self-worth.

*Recipient of the 2019 Gender and Sexual Minority Manuscript (SPECTRUM) Award from the Association for Women in Psychology

Ghabrial, M.A. (2019). “We can shapeshift and build bridges.”: Bisexual women and gender diverse people of color on invisibility and embracing the borderlands. Journal of Bisexuality, 19(2), 169-197. doi:10.1080/15299716.2019.1617526 

This paper is one of two (see above) to present an exploratory study examining the feasibility and potential benefits of a professionally moderated, psychoeducational, web-based support group for WLWH. Ten women participated and the average number of weekly posts was 13.38. Active participants were more likely to be White and have a history of suicidality/self-harm. Findings suggest that future implementations may lead to improvements in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic growth. Results substantiate prior research and provide a foundation for future interventions.

*Runner-up for the 2018 Women and Gender Manuscript Award (SPECTRUM) from the Association for Women in Psychology

* Runner-up for the 2018 Student Manuscript Award from the Canadian Psychological Association’s Section for Women and Psychology

Ghabrial, M.A., Classen, C.C., & Maggi, J.D. (2019). Professionally moderated, psychoeducational, web-based support for women with HIV: An exploratory study. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 18(1), 1-25. doi: 10.1080/15381501.2018.1530628

Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study presents novel data on the perceptions of social change among sexually and gender diverse persons in Lesotho, a country in which same-sex sexual practices were decriminalized in 2010. Participants discussed social constraints and marginalisation across structural (legal systems, employment, education), community (beliefs that sexual and gender diversity are incongruent with Basotho culture; stigma), and familial (tensions with religion and cultural gendered economic traditions) dimensions. The narratives also revealed change across structural, community, familial, and internal domains. Findings can inform multi-faceted programmes to challenge stigma, violence and gender inequity; build social capital; and address the health and human rights priorities of sexually and gender diverse persons in Lesotho.

Logie, C., Alschech, J., Guta, A., Ghabrial, M.A., Mothopeng, T., Ranotsi, A., & Baral, S. (2018). Experiences and perceptions of social constraints and social change among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in Lesotho. Culture, Health & Sexuality. doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1498539

This content analysis was designed to investigate the representation of bisexual people of Color (PoC) in mental health research. To satisfy this objective, we extracted race/ethnicity data from a pool of quantitative studies on depression, anxiety, smoking, substance use, and suicidality that included bisexual participants, and conducted a content analysis with the resulting 324 articles. Seventy-two percent of studies reported the racial/ethnic makeup of their total sample; yet, only 40% reported the number of bisexual PoC in the sample, and only 7% reported outcomes for bisexual PoC separately from White participants and other sexual minority groups. This article reports details on the racial groups included, recruitment methods utilized in studies with diverse samples, and the nature of research involving racial/ethnic minority persons. Results reveal that there is marginal emphasis on PoC in bisexual research and that this representation has not seen significant progress over the last 2 decades.

Ghabrial, M.A., & Ross, L.E. (2018). Representation and erasure of bisexual people of color: A content analysis of quantitative bisexual mental health research. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 5(2), 132-142. doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000286

A “standard” historiographical overview of the development of health psychology in the United States, alongside behavioral medicine, first summarizes previous disciplinary and professional histories. A “historicist” approach follows, focussing on a collective biographical summary of accumulated contributions of one cohort (1967–1971) at State University of New York at Stony Brook. Foundational developments of the two areas are highlighted, contextualized within their socio-political context, as are innovative crossboundary collaboration on “precursor” studies from the 1960s and 1970s, before the official disciplines emerged. Research pathways are traced from social psychology to health psychology and from clinical psychology to behavioral medicine.

Lubek, I., Ghabrial, M., Ennis, N., Crann, S., Jenkins, A., Green, M.,...Barata, P. (2018). Notes on the development of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine in the United States. Journal of Health Psychology, 23(3), 492-505. doi:10.1177/1359105318755156

In order to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ-PoC, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 LGBTQ-PoC to examine how they describe their experiences with identities, communities, discrimination, and health. Data consisted of verbatim interviews, which were guided by intersectionality theory and minority stress theory and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Using intersectionality theory, this study addresses the simultaneity of oppressions and the ways in which having different combinations of marginalized identities may impact LGBTQ-PoC well-being. Common issues discussed by respondents include disconnect from communities, complex relationships between identities, the White standard of coming out in order to live authentically, and stress and anxiety. Participants also discussed the ability to derive empowerment from their LGBTQ-PoC identity, which I refer to as positive intersectionality. 

Ghabrial, M.A. (2017). “Trying to figure out where we belong”: Narratives of racialized sexual minorities on community, identity, discrimination, and health. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14(1), 42-55. doi.org/10.1007/s13178-016-0229-x

This research was cited by the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation in their affidavit for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to address the relationship between access to affordable, stable housing and women’s safety and security.

Research has revealed that battered women often face difficulty when searching for long-term housing, which in turn, often leads to homelessness. Because housing discrimination has also been found in studies regarding racial prejudice, this research was designed to investigate a potential interaction between the effects of racial discrimination and discrimination against battered women in housing-seeking. In a telephone audit study, two confederates – one with a Canadian accent and one with a Caribbean accent – called 180 landlords who had advertised for a one-bedroom apartment, and disclosed one of three living conditions (i.e., a shelter for battered women, a friend’s house, no disclosure), while asking if the apartment was still available. The apartment was 4.50 times less likely to be reported as available when the confederate called claiming to be staying at a shelter than when she did not disclose a living situation. The accent of the confederate had no main effect and there was no interaction between accent and current living condition. A separate sample of 41 landlords was surveyed and asked for general views on battered women, risks that deterred them from wanting to rent to battered women, and sources for the information on which these concerns were based. The results of the studies suggest that landlords feel justified in discriminating against battered women; however, they are aware that racial discrimination is illegal and thus avoid this behaviour. Factors that could potentially make landlords more comfortable about renting to battered women are discussed.

Ghabrial, M., & Barata, P. (2010). Factors influencing housing-seeking difficulty for battered women: An investigation of racial discrimination and attitudes held by landlords. Studies by Undergraduate Researchers at Guelph, 4(1), 14-22. doi.org/10.21083/surg.v4i1.1203