Barriers to Accessing and Providing Primary Care Services for LGBTIQA+ Individuals Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review

Abstract

LGBTIQA+ individuals experience intimate partner violence (IPV) more frequently than non-LGBTIQA+ individuals but seek help at lower rates and frequently receive inadequate care from primary care providers. This scoping review identified barriers to accessing and providing primary care services for LGBTIQA+ people experiencing IPV. The review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. Three databases (ProQuest, MEDLINE, and CINAHL) were searched for peer-reviewed literature published in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the last 20 years before October 2024. Gray literature was identified through a Google and Google Scholar search. Reference lists from relevant reviews were manually searched to identify records that met the inclusion criteria. A total of 5,439 records were identified. After de-duplication and applying inclusion criteria, 19 publications were retained for analysis. Findings indicate that LGBTIQA+ individuals experiencing IPV face barriers to accessing primary care, including difficulty recognizing IPV, fear of discrimination, and systemic inequities such as inadequate provider training and non-inclusive services. Primary care providers report heteronormative assumptions in services, lack of LGBTIQA+ specific training, and institutional resistance to inclusive care. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions that both encourage LGBTIQA+ individuals to seek IPV-related primary care support and equip providers with the training and resources necessary to deliver culturally competent care, while also addressing the cisgender and heteronormative assumptions that perpetuate systemic inequities in primary care service provision.

Keywords: LGBTIQA+; intimate partner violence; primary care service; scoping review; service access.