Gender and Sexual Minorities in the Armed and Police Forces: Perceptions and Mental Health Implications of Portuguese Militaries – A Qualitative Study

• Autor(a) principal: Azevedo, Joana Gonçalves
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/14144
• topic: Forças Armadas; Forças Policiais; Lgbt; Militares Portugueses; Saúde Mental; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Psicologia

This dissertation is presented in the format of a scientific article and reports a qualitative investigation carried out with the intent of exploring perceptions related with mental health and gender and sexual diversity in the Portuguese armed and police forces. Despite increased acceptance in recent years, the conservative and hypermasculine culture of the armed and police forces in the western world, as well as the history of exclusionary practices regarding gender and sexual minorities in these institutions raise the question of how these circumstances impact these populations nowadays. Given the scarcity of research on this topic in the Portuguese context, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of Portuguese police and militaries toward diversity of gender and sexual identities in the Portuguese armed and police forces, emphasizing the implications for the mental health of gender and sexual minorities in this context. A qualitative research methodology was used for answering investigation questions and to identify the participants’ perspectives on the topic. An electronic inquiry was structured and answered by 64 individuals who are or were members of the Portuguese armed or police forces. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis as to identify repeated patterns of meaning in the data set. The recurrent themes in the narratives of the participants in the study were the following: (1) general characteristics of the military/police environment and culture; (2) sexist attitudes and behaviors in the armed and police forces, (3) positive attitudes and behaviors related to sexuality in the armed and police forces, (4) homophobic/heterosexist attitudes and behaviors in the armed and police forces, (5) influence of military and police culture on the expression of sexuality and coping of sexual minorities, (6) negative impact of military and police culture on the mental health of gender and sexual minorities, (7) personal opinion regarding how sexual and gender diversity should be addressed in the armed and police forces. Analysis of these perceptions about gender and sexual identities in the Portuguese armed and police forces provides insight into the experience of our participants and suggests that the impact of stigma and discrimination towards gender and sexual minorities in this context was relevant for the individuals within this sample. Future investigation on this topic is important as well as the dissemination of this information among professionals who work directly with service members, in order to better determine how the specific needs of this population can be met and, in this way, promote the mental health and well-being of gender and sexual minorities who work within the military and police forces in Portugal and beyond.