Connecting LGBTQ+ Health Research to Social Work with Dr. Evan Krueger
Dr. Evan Krueger draws on perspectives from public health, medicine, and the social sciences to better understand the factors that affect LGBTQ+ health and well-being. Rather than viewing health through a single disciplinary lens, his research examines how individual experiences intersect with broader social, structural, and population-level influences — a perspective that aligns naturally with the field of social work.
That interdisciplinary approach began during his undergraduate years, when he planned to become a physician. During his final year of college, however, he enrolled in an elective public health course. The experience transformed how he thought about health, prevention, and systems.
“Instead of focusing only on treating individual health problems, public health asks us how we can prevent those problems from happening in the first place — and how we can improve health on a population level,” Krueger says.
He went on to pursue graduate training in public health and earn a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). But along the way, he found himself returning to the individual lives behind population-level trends. That is when social work really began to make sense for him.
“Social work’s person-in-environment perspective felt like a natural bridge for me between my interests in individual well-being, but also the larger social structural forces that shape health,” Krueger explains.
Today, as an assistant professor at Tulane School of Social Work supporting Doctor of Social Work (DSW) students, Krueger brings that interdisciplinary perspective to his work as a researcher and an educator focused on LGBTQ+ health disparities, social stress, and the underlying mechanisms that influence well-being.
Bridging Population Health and Person-in-Environment Practice
Krueger describes social work and public health as “sibling disciplines” because both are concerned with improving health, addressing inequities, and promoting social justice. However, they approach those goals from different angles.
“Public health often takes this very broad population-level perspective,” Krueger says, while social work “places a strong emphasis on individual experiences, relationships, and building communities within those systems.”
Training in both fields helps Krueger examine health across levels, from structural conditions, such as socioeconomic status and physical environment, to the individuals living within them.
In his teaching, he encourages students to move beyond either-or thinking. “Health outcomes are rarely driven by only individual choices or only by structural conditions. Usually it’s both,” Krueger clarifies.
Translating Health Disparities Research Into Action
As a health disparities researcher, Krueger is interested not only in identifying differences in health outcomes but also in understanding why those differences exist and how changes to our social environments can improve health.
“Documenting the problem is really only the first step,” Krueger says. “If we want research to make a meaningful difference, which in social work we typically do, we have to dig a little bit deeper.”
The deeper question is: What drives differences in health outcomes?
The dominant framework for conceptualizing and studying these differences is the social determinants of health (SDOH) adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). WHO defines SDOH as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and people’s access to power, money and resources” that perpetuate health inequalities. The organization also notes that such differences in health outcomes are both “unfair and avoidable.”
Krueger’s work focuses on social stress and how experiences such as stigma, discrimination, exclusion, and lack of support can negatively affect individuals’ health over time. He is a part of a growing movement of scholars calling for context-sensitive health research focused on the relational aspects of health.
Supporting Relationships That Help LGBTQ+ Youth Thrive
In his research, Krueger is increasingly focused on school and family environments as systems that can be adapted to improve health outcomes and well-being for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. He approaches these social environments as “modifiable” systems, emphasizing that even small adjustments in our social fabric can help reduce health disparities.
For youth especially, relationships are crucial. “There’s a lot of research to show that supportive relationships are one of the most important determinants of adolescent health and well-being,” Krueger says.
Health-promoting relationships include relationships with peers, but also teachers, school staff, parents, neighbors, and “chosen family.” In the LGBTQ+ community, Krueger says chosen family is about “finding and concretizing those specific supports” that help people move through the world successfully. He is interested in studying how schools and family systems can promote the social bonds that keep LGBTQ+ youth healthy and build resilience.
Krueger is also interested in exploring how LGBTQ+ youth use online spaces to cultivate relationships. While digital spaces come with social risks, they also offer young people opportunities for community building and social support. “Online spaces have also been a really valuable outlet for LGBTQ+ youth who may not find that support in-person in their communities,” Krueger notes.
Encouraging Identity Exploration Across the Lifespan
Another facet of Krueger’s work considers how identity changes over time. He notes that people often assume that an individual’s identity is set for life, but research points to a more complex reality. “We tend to assume that social identities are fixed,” he says. “And that’s just not the case for a lot of folks.” Rather, “identity is a lifelong developmental process,” Krueger explains.
That perspective has important implications for social work practice. Identity change can bring stress, uncertainty, and relational challenges. “Change is hard,” Krueger says, “even if it’s a good change.”
Social workers can help clients connect with affirming resources, navigate relationships, and find support within their communities. Even positive transitions can be challenging, he says, so social workers should “remember to support people through what might be a positive transition.”
Centering Community Voice in Social Work Research
Krueger thinks carefully about the relationship of researchers and the broader communities their work serves. When researchers engage with marginalized communities, he said he believes the work should be grounded in humility and built on partnership.
Community members, he emphasizes, are experts in their own lives. Their insights can shape research priorities, study procedures, interpretation, and dissemination. “Expertise can never replace lived experience,” Krueger says.
That means communities should not be involved only as subjects; whenever possible, they should help shape the research process.
“The goal shouldn’t be simply to publish papers,” Krueger says. “The goal should be to produce knowledge that communities can use to create meaningful and lasting changes that matter.”
Teaching Doctoral Students to Approach Research as a Tool for Change
In Tulane School of Social Work’s DSW program, Krueger mentors doctoral students who bring their own experience to the classroom. Many are already experts in their practice areas and are looking for new ways to create change.
“One of my favorite parts of my job is helping doctoral students discover and also refine the research questions that matter most to them,” Krueger says.
He knows research courses can be challenging, but he enjoys helping students realize that research is not as inaccessible as it may seem.
“I really enjoy helping students realize that research isn’t, one, nearly as intimidating as it might seem to be and, two, that it can and does play a major role in our work,” he says.
For advanced social work practitioners, research training is not only about becoming a researcher; it is about learning to evaluate evidence, interpret findings, and use data to guide decisions to improve programs, policies, and whole organizations.
Expanding Social Work Impact Beyond Direct Practice
Krueger sees the DSW as a way for social workers to expand their skill sets. Students are not starting over; they are building on their MSW training and professional experience.
“You’re not coming back to learn new clinical techniques per se,” he says. “Instead you’re expanding your tool kit and learning how to think about creating impact at a larger scale.”
The program helps students develop skills in leadership, program evaluation, systems thinking, and implementation. These skills can support careers in organizational leadership, teaching, program development, policy, and research-informed practice.
For Krueger, strong DSW students do not need to arrive with all the answers. Curiosity matters most.
“Curiosity is at the top of my list,” he says. “You don’t need to know everything. You don’t have it all figured out before you get here.”
Balancing the Professional and the Personal
Because many DSW students balance doctoral study with demanding professional and personal responsibilities, Krueger is thoughtful about how to make online learning engaging and useful.
His approach is intentionally interactive. He wants students to do more than absorb course content; he wants them to discuss it, apply it, and connect it to their own advanced practice projects.
“I want us to actually talk about it, engage with it, and grapple with it,” Krueger says.
He also encourages students to think of the DSW as a launchpad. The program offers knowledge and skills, but it also helps students build relationships with peers and faculty mentors.
“I think some of the most meaningful opportunities in our careers come from those unexpected connections,” Krueger says, “and doctoral education is a really wonderful place for those connections to occur.”
Launch Your Advanced Social Work Research and Practice
For social workers who want to move beyond direct practice into leadership, teaching, program development, policy, or systems change, Tulane School of Social Work’s DSW program offers a path to build advanced skills while remaining grounded in the profession’s values.
Explore Tulane’s DSW program to learn how doctoral education can help you refine your questions, expand your impact, and contribute meaningful knowledge to the future of social work.
Recommended Readings
How You Can Build Social Work Skills for Leaders in a DSW
Policy Evaluation vs. Program Evaluation Social Work
Sources:
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
World Health Organization, Social Determinants of Health