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Studies and programming on belonging in higher education tend to focus on college students’ sense of belonging, but the experiences of faculty and staff are equally important. Minoritized faculty and staff disproportionately report lower levels of sense of belonging and experience greater turnover outcomes. A sense of belonging among faculty and staff lessens their intention to quit, facilitates research collaboration and increases organizational commitment.

In this scoping review, we analyzed 24 articles yielded from three databases (Academic Search Complete, JSTOR and Web of Science) that synthesize extant literature on faculty and staff’s sense of belonging.

We found that a sense of belonging for faculty and staff (1) is often examined without being consistently defined; (2) can be hindered by the stigmatization of minoritized identities (e.g. race, gender and class), exclusive organizational policies and the academy’s socio-political structure remain barriers to a sense of belonging and (3) can be fostered through social support, celebrating professional legitimacy and valuing diversity.

This study details the educational landscape of sense of belonging for faculty, and call for more attention to sense of belonging for staff, so that higher education institutions can utilize organizational policies and interventions to help foster a sense of belonging, which can lead to an increase in productivity, retention and job satisfaction.

Health disparities affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) populations have been reported in many countries. For Singapore, no large quantitative studies on mental health and well-being in the local LGBTQ community have been published. The authors conducted a community-based survey (National LGBT Census Singapore, 2013; NLCS2013) that covered a comprehensive set of demographic, social and health indicators. Here, the authors investigated mental health status and its correlates in 2,350 LGBTQ individuals within the NLCS2013 sample.

The NLCS2013 was an anonymous online survey conducted amongst self-identified LGBTQ adults (aged ≥ 21 years) residing in Singapore. The survey included the World Health Organisation Well-being Index (WHO-5) as a measure of mental well-being, with low WHO 5 scores (<13/25) indicating poor mental well-being. The authors analysed relationships between low WHO-5 score and a range of respondent characteristics using multivariate logistic regression.

Strikingly, 40.9% of 2,350 respondents analysed had low WHO-5 scores, indicating poor mental well-being. Parental non-acceptance, experience of conflict at home and bullying/discrimination in the workplace or educational environments were all significantly associated with poor mental well-being. Conversely, community participation appeared protective for mental well-being, as respondents who participated in LGBTQ community organisations or events were less likely to have poor mental well-being than non-participants.

The NLCS2013 represents one of the first broad-based efforts to comprehensively and quantitatively capture the sociodemographic and health profile, including mental health status, within Singapore’s resident LGBTQ population. These findings affirm the need to address the mental health needs of LGBTQ individuals in Singapore and to foster safe spaces and allyship.