Abstract
Health care professionals are chronically overworked due to structural workplace demands and institutional challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, US biomedical health care professionals experienced additional environmental strain. Health care professionals who occupy socio-politically minoritized identities are more likely to report symptoms of distress and workplace overburden than their counterparts. While minority stress and identity formation theories explain the relationship between socially constructed identity and environmental strain, these theories remain largely unexplored in LGBTQ+ health care professional populations. Furthermore, contemporary investigations into health care professional burnout and mental distress fail to include differential impacts of identity-based stress, particularly within LGBTQ+ groups. This paper proposes a theoretical explanation for differential stress experiences by health care professionals and calls for research to investigate identity congruence as a key aspect of professionalization in medical schools. Health professions researchers need to attend to identity-based stress models to address discriminatory experiences with burnout and mental distress.
