Current activities and research projects

Current activities and research projects of the Competence Center are presented in more detail on this page.

Study on the counseling needs of queer adolescents/young adults in the Nordhausen area

Project management: Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schramme

Project collaborator: Anna Zimmermann, student of inclusive studies and research intern

Duration: 15.06.2023 - 27.02.2024

In a cooperation between the Children's and Youth Parliament, the Kreisjugendring e.V. and Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, the living situation and counseling needs of queer adolescents and young adults in the district of Nordhausen are to be qualitatively surveyed.

Studies on the specific living situation of queer adolescents and young adults show that queer-specific violence, such as exclusion or bullying, is widespread. Queer adolescents and young adults have a higher risk of mental illness. This suggests a need for easily accessible and specialized services aimed at queer young people (e.g. counselling for bullying experiences, support with questions about gender identity or sexual orientation, support with coming out processes or legal advice). Accordingly, the planned qualitative interviews will focus on coming out processes, experiences at school and in the district of Nordhausen as well as counseling experiences and requests.

The prerequisites for participation in the qualitative interview study are that the participants are between 18 and 26 years old, have spent the majority of their school years in the district of Nordhausen and identify as queer, i.e. as lesbian, gay, bisexual, bi bisexual/biromantic, pansexual/biromantic, asexual/aromantic, trans*, inter*, non-binary, agender, bigender, multigender, genderfluid, queer or questioning (this list is not exhaustive, all identities of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum are addressed).