Being a member of LGBTQ+: Coping Strategies toward Discrimination

A Research Presented to the Faculty of Senior High School

Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias

Victorias City, Negros Occidental

Requirement for Practical Research 1

by

Belarmino, John Rey

Balulot, Cherry

Bonda, Pauleene Seph

Dela Cruz, Prince

Dichoso, Cedrick

Dionora, Raxgen

Estilo, Jan Michael

Garcia, Rosel

Lamayo, Jhun Kyle

Ledesma, Rasheed Drew

March 2023
 Introduction

Background of the Study

Discrimination towards LGBTQ+ units hinder their social solidity. It affects their

role inside an institution wherein questioning of a type’s sane is inevitable. Queers are

still regarded as human beings, thus the treatment between heterosexual and homosexual

should not be biased. The LGBTQ+ members find it hard coping since it depends on how

people treat them; family or peer. Parents find it hard acknowledging when their kids

disclose their identity. Hence, they find school as a safe place for them, however, the

never-ending discrimination ensnares one’s liberty.

Numerous researchers presumed that at school, LGBTQ+ students find it hard

fitting. In South Korea, scholars have examined the experiences of GLBT students in

college and found that gay students often report encountering unwelcoming campus

environments, physical or verbal assault, and homophobia (Strayhorn, 2014). Bearing the

hostility and coping was the mere option towards defamation. According to (Hutcheson

& Tieso, 2014), their most common coping strategies included finding supportive groups

of friends; hiding or downplaying their LGBTQ identity; participating in extracurricular

activities; confiding in supportive teachers; developing their writing, musical, and

leadership talents; and conducting research to understand and develop their identity.

School is known where inequality against race, status and sexuality are

prohibitively precluded. Yet disparities and discrimination are experienced by students

after embarking one’s divulgement. Schools should be a safe place for everyone but in

the Philippines, students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Queer (LGBTQ)

have experienced discrimination and these abuses can cause deep and lasting harm
(Reyes, Malasmas, Ecot, 2019). They find it suffocating, however, (Espiritu, 2022)

concluded that participants stated that they preferred disregarding the critiques and

defamations to avoid stress and harm. It was their coping mechanism to prevent being

impacted, to restrict their instinct which they gain no advantage.

Many studies reiterated aspects of homophobia, prejudicial treatment,

unwelcoming environment, and verbal assaults that only speaks about LGBTQ+

discrimination. They have only looked in factors with regards of discrimination against

LGBTQ+ members, but not always sufficiently explored their coping strategies toward

discrimination. Given that the concern of this topic is their coping strategies toward

discrimination, the articles found are highly endowed with mere discrimination to

LGBTQ+ members. There are inadequate existing literatures that focuses on strategic

coping methods for LGBTQ+ members, thus this study will be conducted to focus more

on coping strategies for LGBTQ+ members. This will benefit to alleviate mental health

issues that are led by mental distress and for the LGBTQ+ members to discover and

expand the knowledge on coping strategies and mechanisms, as well as to add this new

study to existing literatures.

The purpose of this study is regarding the LGBTQ+ members and how they try to

cope despite the hardships they have been experiencing fitting inside the society. The

placement of our study will be conducted at Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias Integrated

School. The aimed participants of the study are the Senior High School students, both

Grade 11 and Grade 12. In addition, the outcome of this study will remain confidential if

the aimed participants are interviewed.

The main objective of this qualitative study is to discover coping strategies toward

discrimination of LGBTQ+ students for the school year 2022 – 2023. Particularly, it will

seek to answer the question:

1. What are the coping strategies of LGBTQ+ toward discrimination?

Scope of the Study

This qualitative study intents to discover the LGBTQ+ students’ coping strategies

toward discrimination in the Senior High School department of Colegio de Sta. Ana de

Victorias in the school year 2022 – 2023. The participants of this study include five (5)

students, three (3) participants from the Grade 11 and two (2) participants from the Grade

12 and will be selected, utilizing the purposive sampling technique. This study will gather

data through an in-person interview with the participants using open-ended questions.

The questions in the interview guide will be validated by three (3) qualified panel of

evaluators. The researcher will use audio recordings to capture the participants' responses

precisely. Throughout the interview process, the researcher and participants will observe

safety protocols.
 Methodology

This chapter presents the research design, study participants, research instrument,

data gathering procedure, data explication, and ethical considerations.

Research Design

This research paper will use narrative inquiry as its research design. Narrative

inquiry is a type of qualitative research endowed with experiences of an individual or

group. The primary purpose for a narrative inquiry study is participants provide the

researcher with their life experiences through thick rich stories (De Marco, 2020).

Narrative inquiry will be used in this study because the researchers believed that it

includes people’s perspectives, life stories and interviews which entails the coping

strategies of LGBTQ+ members at school.

Participants of the Study

The participants of this study will be the Senior High School students who are

members of the LGBTQ+ community enrolled in Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias during

the school year 2022 – 2023. A total of five (5) participants will be included in the

research. These five (5) will be identified as the LGBTQ+ members of the Senior High

School department.

Purposive sampling will be used in identifying the participants of this study.

According to Arikunto (2010), purposive sampling is the process of selecting sample by

purpose. This method involves to learn or understand the essential phenomenon, a

researcher select individuals and sites intentionally (Creswell, 2012).

Research Instrument

The researchers will use a semi-structured interview guide to discover the coping

strategies of LGBTQ+ students toward discrimination. The data and responses of the

participants will be collected through an in-person interview. Part I is an interview

regarding the personal profile of the participants. Then, Part II will consist of open-ended

questions. The development of the research instrument will follow certain stages,

including planning, formulating, editing, and validity testing.

The researchers will draft the interview guide questions regarding the planning

and formulating phase. Then, it will be submitted to the research adviser for consultation,

correction, and editing.

As to the validity, it is a relatively abstract concept and there are no definite

precautionary measures that would ensure the validity of any type of study (John, 2015).

The instrument's validity will be determined using the validation method set forth by

Good and Scates. The research instrument copies will then be distributed to qualified and

competent three (3) validators. The researchers will use validators’ comments and

suggestions as to the basis for revising the constructed instrument.

Necessary procedures and protocols will be observed before, during, and after the

conduct of the study.

First, the researchers will send a letter to the School’s Senior High School

Coordinator asking for approval for the conduct of the study. Also, the study's objective,

and what data to be gathered will be reflected in the letter.

After the permission is granted, the researchers will send a consent letter to the

participants to signify their willingness to conduct the in-person interview.

The interview will be conducted during the participants' free time and at a place of

their convenience. The researchers will allow one week to facilitate official

communications, including conducting participant interviews.

The researchers will introduce themselves during the interview and then mention

the study's primary objective. Then, the researchers will inform the participants to read

and understand the prepared consent form reiterating the confidentiality of the process.

Afterward, the participants will affix their signatures as a sign of agreement for their

involvement in the study. Moreover, the researchers will ask the participants for the

entire interview to be recorded using audio recording. Participants’ identities will not be

disclosed in the paper. Pseudonyms will be used instead. Once the preliminaries are done,

the one-on-one in-person interview will commence. Each interview will last thirty (30)

minutes and will be recorded from start to end. To give the participants the freedom to
express their thoughts and feelings, the researchers will allow them to answer in either

Filipino, English, or Hiligaynon.

After the interview, the researchers will ask the participants for clarification and

thank them.

Lastly, the researchers will transcribe the participants’ responses. Also, the data

will be returned for individual review and confirmation.

Data Explication

A thematic analysis will be used to present the coping strategies of LGBTQ+

students toward discrimination. Thematic analysis is a method for scrutinizing qualitative

data that includes a set of data and looking for patterns in the meaning of the data to find

themes. The explication process is anchored on the step-by-step guide proposed by Braun

and Clarke (2006), which includes: a) familiarization with data, where the researcher

reads through the entire data set at least once before starting to code for the identification

of possible patterns; b) coding, where the researcher produced initial codes from the data

after generating an initial list of ideas. Codes identify a feature of the data that appears

attractive to the analyst and refer to "the most essential element, of the raw data or

information that can be assessed in a meaningful way regarding the phenomenon

(Boyatzis, 1998); c) searching for themes, where the researcher sorted the different codes

into potential themes after all data that had been initially coded and collated. Essentially,

codes will be analyzed and combined to form an overarching theme; d) reviewing

themes, where the researcher will try to refine the themes. Patton's 1990 dual criteria for
judging categories (internal homogeneity and external heterogeneity) will be considered;

e) defining and naming themes, where the researcher will define and further refine

themes that will be presented in the analysis; and f) writing up, where the researcher will

finally analyze and provide a concise, coherent, logical, and interesting account of the

story that the data will convey.

Ethical Consideration

To maintain ethics in this research, the researchers will ask for consent from the

participants regarding their substantial involvement. To ensure the privacy of the

participant's data, the confidentiality of the responses will be strictly maintained during

data gathering and analyses.

The researchers will inform the participants that this study will be conducted as a

part of the requirement to complete their practical research 1. Likewise, they will

guarantee that the conduct of the study will adhere to ethical research principles.

When the participants agree to be interviewed, they will be requested to send their

consent form with their signature via electronic mail and present their preferred interview

date at the place of their choice. No personal data of the participants will be disclosed in

the paper. All data in the interview will be safely archived after use.
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