About this Research Topic
Sexual and gender minorities, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+), represent an “ignored epidemic” and a “growing and medically underserved population” in cancer care. Findings suggest LGBTQI+ communities experience a disproportionate cancer burden, and face unique psychosocial challenges, such as higher rates of cancer-related distress and sexual concerns, lower levels of family support, difficulties in accessing general health care or cancer services, gaps in patient-provider communication, and lower satisfaction with cancer care. Recently, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recognized this health disparity and concluded there is “insufficient knowledge about the health care needs, outcomes, lived experiences and effective interventions to improve outcomes” for LGBTQI+ populations. As a result, health care providers and policymakers are ill-equipped to develop culturally safe programs of prevention, advice, or assistance to LGBTQI+ cancer survivors and their families.
This Research Topic will address this ‘knowledge-to-action’ gap, drawing together cutting-edge research on cancer risk, prevention, treatment, and survivorship within the LGBTQI+ population, from a medical, nursing, public health, or psycho-social perspective. Previous research on LGBTQI+ cancer has focused on gay men with prostate cancer, or lesbian women and breast cancer. We will extend this research to include research on under-represented communities, including transgender and non-binary people; LGBTQI+ adolescents and young adults; people with an intersex variation; asexual and pansexual people; LGBTQI+ cancer carers.
We welcome original research using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods designs, focusing on LGBTQI+ people with cancer and their carers, or health care practitioners working with LGBTQI+ people with cancer, This includes research on LGBTQI+ cancer across tumor types, focusing on specific cancers (e.g. prostate or breast cancer), or research that focuses on sections of the LGBTQI+ community. Systematic Reviews, Methods, Reviews, and Case Reports are also welcome.
Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases, eg. SEER, which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in this section.
This Research Topic will address this ‘knowledge-to-action’ gap, drawing together cutting-edge research on cancer risk, prevention, treatment, and survivorship within the LGBTQI+ population, from a medical, nursing, public health, or psycho-social perspective. Previous research on LGBTQI+ cancer has focused on gay men with prostate cancer, or lesbian women and breast cancer. We will extend this research to include research on under-represented communities, including transgender and non-binary people; LGBTQI+ adolescents and young adults; people with an intersex variation; asexual and pansexual people; LGBTQI+ cancer carers.
We welcome original research using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods designs, focusing on LGBTQI+ people with cancer and their carers, or health care practitioners working with LGBTQI+ people with cancer, This includes research on LGBTQI+ cancer across tumor types, focusing on specific cancers (e.g. prostate or breast cancer), or research that focuses on sections of the LGBTQI+ community. Systematic Reviews, Methods, Reviews, and Case Reports are also welcome.
Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases, eg. SEER, which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in this section.
Keywords: sexual and gender minority, oncology, cancer prevention, cancer treatment, cancer survivorship, cancer screening, cancer carer
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
