Case Synopsis
The case involves the protagonist, Yasmin Baytar, a queer Muslim woman who returns from the 2019 Women Deliver conference with the goal of implementing a community mental health program focusing on the LGBTQ+ Muslim population in Ottawa. She has extensive Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis Plus training and knowledge about intersectionality that she can use to develop a program that embraces true equality. However, she also needs to figure out how to obtain funding for her program and collaborate with different stakeholders while making sure she is keeping her population of interest involved and at the centre of her work. Students must use systems thinking approaches and recognize the importance of intersectionality when building the community mental health program. Incorporating an element of cultural sensitivity/competency into the program will show the students’ ability to critically think about an issue while taking intersecting identity factors into account. Furthermore, recognizing the importance of various levels of intervention, students will use the Social Ecological Model to ensure a multipronged, multileveled approach is included as the program is built. Students will be able to collaborate with a variety of experts/stakeholders to ensure the success of the intervention.
This is a fictitious case. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this case are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or organizations is purely coincidental.
Case Objectives
- Adopt and implement the health planning process, which includes completing the planning cycle for health planning and conducting a needs assessment.
- Understand and apply intersectionality and a Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis Plus lens throughout the health planning process. Use and apply learning from the Master of Public Health course “Social Determinants of Health”.
- Apply stakeholder engagement and collaboration knowledge from the Master of Public Health course “Leading People and Organizations in Public Health”.
Case Study Questions
- What is intersectionality? What makes this an intersectional case?
- What factors and systems are intersecting that make it more challenging for planning a health program? What challenges will arise?
- What does Yasmin require to plan this program? How is she going to find evidence to demonstrate the program need for her population of interest?
Keywords
Cultural competency/cultural safety, health inequities, systems, systems of power, Muslim LGBTQ+ identity, mental health, SGBA+
ISBN
978-0-7714-3150-0
Recommended Citation
Kachouh, N., Sandhu, H., & Thind, A. (2020). A Knot of Contradictions: Systems of Intersectionality and Muslim LGBTQ+ Mental Health Programs in: McKinley, G. & Speechley, M. [eds] Western Public Health Casebook 2020. London, ON: Public Health Casebook Publishing.
