Our health matters: Promoting the health of sexual minority women in the new media landscape

The shifts occurring in the mediascape and the field of public health offer new opportunities for promoting the health and wellness of sexual minority women. As a population that has historically been underserved by the healthcare system, sexual minority women face multiple barriers to achieving positive health outcomes. They are often less likely to access preventive healthcare services and more likely to engage in risky behaviors that are detrimental to health than heterosexual women. Despite the significant health disparities among sexual minority women, studying this population has not been a priority in health research and there is little research-based evidence to guide patient-provider communication or health interventions. Public health and LGBT advocates have called for further health research on sexual minority women, funding and advocacy to promote their health, and education for healthcare providers on how to provide preventive health services in a way that is sensitive to the unique needs of this population. This research project is situated at the intersections of new media, gender studies, and health communication. A non-probability study of sexual minority women in the U.S. was conducted in order to plan and implement a Web-based health communication campaign in Colorado that encourages preventive health practices among sexual minority women. This paper assesses the ways in which new media can best be leveraged to improve the health outcomes of this population.