Conceptualizations of wellbeing among nonbinary individuals in the Midwestern United States: a photovoice study

Abstract

Background: Traditionally, gender has been viewed through an essentialist lens with fixed biology-based traits or polarized gender norms between women and men. As awareness of gender diversity grows, increasingly more people are coming out as nonbinary – or not exclusively a man or woman. Little has been explored regarding experiences unique to nonbinary individuals, particularly beyond a focus on adverse risks and outcomes to understand their wellbeing. This article discusses gendered experiences and the construction of wellbeing among nonbinary individuals.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to conceptualize wellbeing as a complex multidimensional phenomenon through nonbinary individuals’ perspectives.

Methods: A virtual PhotoVoice study was conducted with 17 nonbinary adults in the Midwestern United States who participated in online group discussions and in-depth semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed with thematic analysis.

Results: The analysis identified five core dimensions of nonbinary wellbeing: 1) Security, 2) Mental and physical health, 3) Autonomy, 4) Belonging, and 5) Gender positivity. Exemplary definitions of wellbeing are also presented.

Discussion: Understanding how nonbinary individuals thrive challenges the framing of gender diverse experiences in adversity and presents a more holistic portrayal that community members and allies can strive toward. This study contributes an intersectional understanding of wellbeing in relation to identities of race, culture, age, disability, neurodiversity, and sociopolitical geographical context. The findings of this study can aid in practice, advocacy, and research to bolster the wellbeing of nonbinary people.

Keywords:

• Nonbinary
• participatory action research
• PhotoVoice
• transgender
• virtual methods
• wellbeing

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Keith Miller, who contributed as a research assistant. The first author would also like to thank Jeffry Thigpen and Elizabeth A. Wahler, who served on their dissertation committee.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Participant researcher was the language selected in this study to identify individuals who engaged in the study with respect to their contributions and roles. A nothing about us without us approach (Golding, 2015) flips the designation of research participant to participant researcher, indicating them as active contributors to the process. Participant researcher language has historically been employed in participatory action research studies (Cosgrove, 2020; Hiebert & Swan, 1999; Leo, 2017; Swartz, 2008).

2 PhotoVoice studies commonly use Wang’s (1999) SHOWeD method questions or an adaptation (Catalani & Minkler, 2010; Hergenrather et al., 2009). For this study, an adapted version of the SHOWeD questions was created with prompts related to wellbeing:

What do we see here?

What is happening here?

How does this relate to your wellbeing? (modified from How does this relate to our lives?)

How could this image educate others?

How do you feel about this image?

3 Emphasis added by PR in written discussion.

4 This participant researcher simply wanted their identifier to be a number. All others wanted their chosen name used.

5 For clarification, the culmination of social unrest after an increasingly widespread documentation of Black people being murdered by police, was an anticipated response, just not an anticipated factor for this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by internal funding from the Indiana University School of Social Work.