Letter to the Editor About Depression Among LGBTQ Youths/Teens

Letter to Editor
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Abstract
Depression among LGBTQ youths/teens is a major concern that creates the need for policy advocacy and development. One such policy is ensuring improved access to evidence-based care to improve the quality of care and health outcomes. LGBTQ youths/teens face discrimination and stigmatization, discouraging them from seeking care. In addition, most healthcare professionals are not equipped with current knowledge on managing depression among these youths. Therefore, a wide gap exists in providing quality care and generating positive health outcomes for these youths. Policy advocacy and development are believed to steer a significant positive change in delivering quality care and positive outcomes.
To the Editor, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.
The scope of my submission is depression among LGBTQ youths/teens. A recently developed policy ensures access to evidence-based care among LGBTQ youths/teens to improve outcomes and quality of care. There is a need to develop other policies that aim to improve the outcome and quality of healthcare for these youths/teens. Such policies would target health care disparities, the cost of hospitalization and drugs, and follow-up/monitoring.
The current state of the quality of care and outcome reflects a poor trend that worsens the situation. LGBTQ teens/youths continue to report cases of discrimination and poor quality care in healthcare institutions where they seek help. As a result, they get demotivated even to seek help. Eventually, this prejudice causes them to develop more depressive symptoms, leading to suicide risk (Lothwell et al., 2020). Several healthcare professionals deal with patients requiring mental health assistance. However, only those are adequately equipped with current and evidence-based knowledge of the needs of LGBTQ youths/teens suffering from depression and other mental health issues. Therefore, these youths tend to face more depressive symptoms, which increases their risk of suicide (Lothwell et al., 2020). Policies that promote access to evidence-based care for these youths should be developed.
Improvements such as policy development and advocacy will significantly improve the quality of care and outcomes among LGBTQ youths suffering from depression. These policies will positively affect the healthcare professionals, the patients, and the overall healthcare environment. They will effortlessly encourage reforms in dealing with these youths and cultivate the need for employing current research into managing depression among LGBTQ youths/teens. Additionally, better partnerships will be created within the healthcare industry. Thorough advocacy will aid in steering and pushing for policies that better address the specific issue of depression among LGBTQ youths. The care disparities these youths face will reduce, leading to improved health and critical awareness following policy development.
Improving access to evidence-based care will be vital in improving the quality of care and outcomes for LGBTQ youths/teens with depression. First, evidence-based care will be safe and ethical, where healthcare professionals will rely on their knowledge and personal skills, and current research. Relying on this research will cancel all bias and subjective decisions. As a result, the patient will experience safe and ethical care that will translate to improved outcomes. Secondly, improved access to evidence-based care will help the patients feel satisfied. A key element in evidence-based care is results measurements, allowing healthcare professionals to provide quality care using real and quality data. The patient will therefore experience effective care, which will reduce the depressive symptoms and improve the quality of their life.
Improving access to care will also reduce hospital cos...