Centering Gender Affirming Resources in Higher Education

Official title

Inclusive Practices for Gender Minority College Students to Reduce Sexual Violence and Heavy Drinking

Overview

Centering gender Affirming Resources in higher Education (CARE) project is nested within the parent study "Reducing Alcohol Involved Sexual violence in higher Education" (RAISE; R01 AA023260; NCT05185440). CARE is a pilot cluster-randomized trial that centers trans and gender diverse (TGD) students who are at elevated risk for SV and hazardous drinking. CARE tests a novel college health and counseling center (CHC) training program designed to improve provider knowledge about TGD individuals, increase their self-efficacy and use of trans-inclusive practices. This includes an evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and usability of CARE's training intervention for college health and counseling center providers. This research will produce the first rigorously evaluated TGD-focused CHC provider training which has the potential to increase the accessibility of CHC's for TGD university students- ultimately lowering rates of alcohol use and SV among this disproportionately impacted population.

Detailed description

"Centering gender Affirming Resources in higher Education (CARE)" expands upon RAISE's (R01 AA023260) cluster-randomized controlled trial across 28+ college campuses that is evaluating harm reduction interventions to reduce risk for sexual violence (SV) among undergraduate college students receiving care from college health and counseling centers (CHCs). A previous study by this research team found that students identifying as transgender or gender diverse (TGD) report particularly high lifetime prevalence of SV that is associated with greater odds of binge drinking compared to students not exposed to SV. Compounding these vulnerabilities, TGD students face high rates of discrimination on university campuses that drive heavy alcohol use and SV inequities, and lead to distrust of potential support resources like CHCs. CARE enhances RAISE's intervention by employing community-partnered methodologies to develop a training for CHC providers designed specifically to increase their competence in addressing TGD students' health needs with a focus on alcohol use and SV. The training involves a brief e-learning (asynchronous) intervention aimed at improving providers' knowledge and attitudes about TGD individuals, skills in delivering competent and affirming care, and knowledge of and self-efficacy to use TGD-inclusive practices. This trial will assess the feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and usability of CARE's training intervention in 15 randomized CHC sites from the parent study (Aim 1). The study will examine CHC provider knowledge and attitudes about TGD individuals, and their knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of TGD-inclusive practices with follow-up at 4-6 months (Aim 2).

Interventions

• Behavioral Giving Information for Trauma Support and Safety (GIFTSS) Training
  Training for college health center staff and clinicians on GIFTSS intervention which is a universal education and brief counseling to address sexual violence prevention and intervention.
• Behavioral Centering gender Affirming Resources in higher Education (CARE) Learning Modules
  Training for college health center clinicians and staff on trans and gender diverse (TGD) affirming clinical practices in addition to sexual violence and alcohol abuse prevention that is inclusive of TGD service users

Primary outcome measures

• Provider perception of intervention feasibility [Time frame: Immediately after CARE training completion]
• Provider perception of intervention acceptability [Time frame: Immediately after CARE training completion]
• Provider perception of intervention appropriateness [Time frame: Immediately after CARE training completion]
• Provider perception of intervention usability [Time frame: Immediately after CARE training completion]

Secondary outcome measures (12)

• Knowledge and attitudes about TGD individuals. [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Knowledge and attitudes about TGD individuals. [Time frame: At 6 months]
• Attitudes concerning transphobia [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Attitudes concerning transphobia [Time frame: At 6 months]
• Human value of transgender people [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Human value of transgender people [Time frame: At 6 months]
• Use of TGD-inclusive practices [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Use of TGD-inclusive practices [Time frame: At 6 months]
• Trans-Inclusivity in professional settings [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Trans-Inclusivity in professional settings [Time frame: At 6 months]
• Social desirability [Time frame: Baseline- Before taking CARE training]
• Social desirability [Time frame: At 6 months]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Those who are seeing undergraduate students at health and counseling appointments as a provider.
• Providers may include counselors, clinicians, nurses, health educators, medical assistants, social workers, advocates, and administrators.

Exclusion criteria

• A college health or counseling center provider that does not interface with students.
• A college health or counseling center provider not participating in the RAISE study.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• University of Pittsburgh — Pittsburgh

Identifiers

NCT: NCT06390332 · STUDY22040105 · R01AA023260-07W1

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗