LGBTQ+ PEOPLE'S PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL SERVICES AND COMMUNITY GROUPS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people have recently risen to the fore in civil and political discourse. However, a social work perspective on LGBTQ+ people in Singapore is still lacking in existing literature. While it is known that there are social services and community groups that serve the needs of LGBTQ+ people, little is known about the perceptions that LGBTQ+ people have of these social services and community groups. Without this knowledge, it would be difficult for social workers to improve the support ecosystem for LGBTQ+ people. Thus, this exploratory study aimed to find out the perceptions that LGBTQ+ people have of social services and community groups. A survey was conducted to measure participants’ perceptions of social services and community groups on the following aspects: awareness, availability, adequacy, accessibility, affordability, acceptability (which comprised of competence of staff and safety), and barriers to usage. Results showed that awareness and familiarity were high for services, and low for non-services, which indicates different levels of publicity that could be due to the purpose of the organisation or the number of avenues for publicity that are limited by the legitimacy of the organisation. Results also show that in general, social services and community groups are perceived as inadequate and there are not enough of them, which could be attributed to unfamiliarity, or an actual gap in the services and groups. Community social services, in particular, were perceived as inaccessible. Community social services and school counselling services were also perceived as unsafe and incompetent, which indicates that these services have an image problem, where they are unable to cultivate the image that they would be non-judgemental and affirming towards LGBTQ+ people. Supporting this is the finding that fear of judgement and staff that lack competence stood out as perceived barriers. Overall, the results are concerning as they highlight many gaps in the social services and community groups that hinder LGBTQ+ people from getting the help they need.