Digital Diaries and Documenting Queer Lives in Social Isolation During COVID-19 and the Overdose Epidemic

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Epidemiology & Public Health, Healthcare Delivery & Policy

Social support plays an important protective role against the sources of stigma that negatively impact the sexual health, mental health and substance use among 2SLGBTQI+ youth in British Columbia. However, their experiences of the overdose epidemic are frequently overlooked in national-level community health surveys, and there is limited literature on how youth are simultaneously navigating the public health-directed lockdown measures put in place due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To address these significant gaps in the literature, semi-structured interviews combined with solicited digital diaries will be used to understand the nuanced, within-community experiences of overlapping health crises and how queer youth think about them.