More Missing: Expanding content analysis in social work journals to include non-binary orientations and gender identities

Abstract

In 2002, Van Voorhis and Wagner published "Among the Missing: Content on Lesbian and Gay People in Social Work Journals". This study was a content analysis of four significant social work journals for the years 1988 - 1997, which identified articles that covered gay and lesbian issues and provided an overview of the themes and focuses of these articles. Pelts, Rolbiecki, and Albright repeated this study and analyzed the same journals (using similar criteria and additional analysis) covering the years 1998 - 2012. As of 2015, there was no comparable analysis of social work journals that looked at content applicable to orientations that are not specifically straight, gay, or lesbian, or gender identities that are not cis male or cis female. This purpose of this project was to find out the material available to social work students and professionals regarding this significant and underserved population. This project looked at the same significant social work journals as previous studies, covering the years 1998 - 2013, to identify articles that pertain to non-binary orientations and gender identities and to compile an overview of themes, focuses, and language in these articles. By establishing what material is available in current primary material we can define the extent of the existing literature gap and design research to fill in the missing pieces.