Toward an understanding of sexual minority women’s social stressors and health in post-communist countries in Europe: a scoping review

BMC Public Health. 2025 May 3;25(1):1646. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22681-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: While significant evidence demonstrates disproportionate burden of poor health among sexual minority men and transgender women, there is a dearth of research on the health of sexual minority women (SMW). We conducted a review to examine social stressors, physical and mental health, and health behaviors of SMW in post-communist countries in Europe.

METHODS: In September 2023, August 2024, and January 2025, we used the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and PRISMA-ScR protocol to conduct a scoping review of empirical quantitative or qualitative studies published in English, Romanian, Czech, and/or Russian that focused on the health of adult SMW living in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Seven databases were searched.

RESULTS: We found few research articles (N = 21) that met full inclusion criteria. Existing evidence documented poor mental health, discrimination in the workplace, reproductive health problems, coming out and relationship challenges, and heightened risk of substance use. Most studies were conducted in Poland; the earliest report was published in 2011. Only one quarter of the studies focused exclusively on SMW, and most study samples included few SMW.

CONCLUSION: This first review of literature on SMW’s health in post-communist countries in Europe indicates a dearth of research on and under-prioritization of the health and needs of SMW, signaling a pressing need for related health equity research. Longitudinal and interventional studies with large samples are warranted to document SMW’s health needs as well as intervention studies on the stigma-driven mechanisms and sources that perpetuate SMW’s marginalization to improve health outcomes of this underrepresented population group.

PMID:40319258 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-025-22681-9