The Indigo Project: Participatory Action Research with Gender and Sexual Minority Survivors of Elder Abuse

Though research suggests that older adults belonging to gender and sexual minorities (GSM) are at greater risk of abuse and neglect, more needs to be done to investigate this situation, provide solid data, offer support to survivors and better inform those providing services. This article reports on a participatory action research project in which nine older adults with lived experience of abuse were interviewed, as were the seniors’ programmer from our community partner organization and a trauma counsellor who supported our participants throughout the project. Participants were interviewed at least twice, often more, and the resulting interview transcripts were edited with the help and consent of the participant concerned, to form narratives which were content-analyzed. The goals of the project were to raise awareness of the underreported issue of abuse of elder GSM individuals, to consider how elder abuse might both differ and look the same as it does in the mainstream population, and to offer mental health supports and safe spaces for healing for our participants. This deep dive into lived experience illuminates how homophobia and transphobia (both historic and contemporary) play out in subtle and complex ways. We conclude with recommendations for researchers and care/service providers.