Intervention to Improve Parent Communication About Sexuality
University of Pennsylvania
Summary
The study is centered on helping parents answer and meet the sexuality-specific questions and needs of gay or bisexual males. This study seeks to test the efficacy of Parents ASSIST as a parent-child sexuality communication intervention that educates and trains parents to be purveyors of inclusive health information as gay or bisexual sons come of age at home.
Description
Parental acceptance after youth come out as gay or bisexual is a protective factor for the health of this youth group; however, parents lack support in initiating and sustaining sexuality discussions inclusive of their teens' attractions, behaviors and identities. Thus, in the absence of skills and supports, adolescents' and parents' mental health, health behaviors and overall family functioning tend to be negatively impacted after sons come out as gay or bisexual. The overall objective of this study is to test the efficacy of Parents ASSIST (Advancing Supportive and Sexuality Inclusive Sex Ta…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 14–100 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Youth participants (1) identify as a cisgender sexual minority male (e.g., gay, bisexual or queer) who has disclosed sexual orientation to parent or trusted caregiver (2) be aged 14-18 years; (3) able to comprehend spoken English; (4) resides in the United States; (5) consents or assents to study participation Parent participants (1) parent, legal guardians, legal custodians (hereinafter "parent") of GBQ adolescent; (2) age 18 or older; (3) able to comprehend spoken English; (4) resides in the United States; (5) knows their GBQ child's sexual orientation (6) consents to study participation; a…
Interventions
- BehavioralParents ASSIST
Parents ASSIST is a 5-session intervention where an interventionist will facilitate sessions that will include 8-12 parents per group. Each parent will have access to intervention content (e.g., videos, activities) across the i five synchronous sessions. Session I will focus on the issue of coming out and its impact on the family as well as on youth mental health. Session II centers on communication-based content. Sessions III and IV focuses on topic-centered content to address the knowledge gap parents have reported regarding general LGBTQ concerns and specific GBQ issues and builds on the communication skills learned in Session I. Session V provides a communication recap and focuses on how parents may have follow-up conversations. In between the sessions, asynchronous interactive homework assignments will be provided to review concepts learned in the previous sessions and to initiate joint activities between parents and GBQ youth.
Location
- University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania