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A Queer Future for Digital Mental Health: LGBTQ+ Young Adult Perspectives on Engaging with Digital Mental Health Tools

Butorac, Isobel, McNaney, Roisin, Thomas, Jacob, Flores-Herrera, Alexa, Seguin, Joshua Paulo, Northam, Jaimie C., Carter, Adrian·2026·ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare
DOI 10.1145/3805040
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Abstract

LGBTQ+ communities are more likely to experience stigma-related stressors that lead to poorer mental health compared to cisgender and heterosexual individuals. For LGBTQ+ young adults, navigating the duality of their sexual orientation or gender identity and mental health can be challenging. Digital Mental Health (DMH) tools offer an alternative form of clinical care that may be useful for LGBTQ+ individuals wishing to remain anonymous, who need to access care from remote locations, or for those who do not have financial means to seek treatment. However, a user’s personal data can be contextualised in a way that perpetuates rigid gender norms. Gender perspectives that encompass the broad and fluid spectrum of gender identities and LGBTQ+ experiences are rarely embedded in design of DMH tools, and intersectional differences remain largely underexplored in clinical research and practice. This study aimed to explore the perspectives and preferences of LGBTQ+ end users on DMH tools, the data that it collects, and how they may be developed to promote safety and well-being. We employed user-centred design methods in three workshops with gay men, lesbian women, and trans and gender diverse people (aged 22–32, n = 16). The study used a socio-cultural lens to consider how data justice can be maintained for LGBTQ+ individuals. We found that participants preferred to keep their identities private and control what and who their mental health data were shared with as a result of historical medicalisation of their sexual or gender identities. Participants were concerned that heteronormative healthcare practitioners conflated their sexual or gender orientation with their mental health. Alternative support routes were found to be important for participants who felt their mental health challenges would be burdensome on their families. Socio-structural factors necessitate specialised DMH services and support for LGBTQ+ individuals. We then propose a set of design strategies for the future development of DMH tools for LGBTQ+ communities including the sensitive collection of demographic data, allowing the user to regularly update their gender or sexual identity, and integrated options for in-person or community-based support networks, along with the right for LGBTQ+ users to review and withdraw their data from DMH tools.

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Crossref · 10.1145/3805040

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  • Butorac et al. (2026) found in co-design workshops with 16 LGBTQ+ young adults aged 22-32 in Australia that participants wanted meaningful control over their identity data in digital mental health tools, including ability to update gender and sexual identity over time, choose what information is stored, and withdraw data if circumstances changed.

    “Similarly, Butorac et al. (2026) found in co-design workshops with 16 LGBTQ+ young adults aged 22-32 in Australia, an older group than this review's focal age range, that participants wanted meaningful control over their identity data in digital mental health tools, including the ability to update their gender and sexual identity over time, to choose what information is stored, and to withdraw”

    From Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Butorac et al. (2026)

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Metadata

Authors
Butorac, I., McNaney, R., Thomas, J., Flores-Herrera, A., Seguin, J. P., Northam, J. C., & Carter, A.
Affiliations
  • Turner Institute, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • The Anáhuac Psychology, Universidad Anáhuac, Huixquilucan de Degollado, Mexico
  • Action Lab, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • Monash Bioethics Centre School of Philosophical, Historical and Indigenous Studies and the School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
ORCID
Venue
ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Published
2026-10-24
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
1-25
ISSN
  • 2691-1957
  • 2637-8051
DOI
10.1145/3805040
Cited by
3
References
18
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode (vor)

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