A Scoping Review of Suicide Prevention Interventions for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Other Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals

Purpose: This scoping review summarizes the literature on suicide-specific psychological interventions among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) people to synthesize existing findings and support future intervention research and dissemination. Methods: Electronic databases PsycInfo and PubMed were searched for reports of psychological intervention studies with suicide-related outcome data among LGBTQ+ people. A total of 1269 articles were screened, and 19 studies met inclusion criteria ( k = 3 examined suicide-specific interventions tailored to LGBTQ+ people, k = 4 examined nontailored suicide-specific interventions, k = 11 examined minority stress- or LGBTQ+ interventions that were not suicide-specific, and k = 1 examined other types of interventions). Results: Synthesis of this literature was made challenging by varied study designs, and features limit confidence in the degree of internal and external validity of the interventions evaluated. The only established suicide-specific intervention examined was Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and minority stress- and LGBTQ-specific interventions rarely targeted suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). Nevertheless, most interventions reviewed demonstrated support for feasibility and/or acceptability. Only five studies tested suicide-related outcome differences between an LGBTQ+ group and a cisgender/heterosexual group. These studies did not find significant differences in STBs, but certain subgroups such as bisexual individuals may exhibit specific treatment disparities. Conclusion: Given the dearth of research, more research examining interventions that may reduce STBs among LGBTQ+ people is critically needed to address this public health issue.