Intervention to Improve Parent Communication About Sexuality

Overview

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.

Detailed 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 Talks), a sexuality communication intervention for parents, after youth disclose gay or bisexual identities. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial with parent and gay or bisexual youth dyads (N=476) to establish the efficacy of Parents ASSIST as a hybrid 5-session online intervention that educates parents about germane sexuality-specific topics and provide communication skills for family discussions. Our Specific Aims are to (1) determine whether Parents ASSIST enhances parent-adolescent sexuality communication quality (e.g. parent- and child-reported comfort) and quantity (e.g. frequency and range of topics discussed) compared to the control group, (2) establish whether Parents ASSIST results in decreases in mental health symptomology (e.g. depressive and anxiety symptoms) among parents and gay or bisexual youth, increases dyadic health behavior (e.g. accessing preventive health services, health screening behaviors), and improves family functioning (e.g. affective response, communication, general functioning) over 12 months of follow-up, and (3) examine how theory-based variables (e.g. attitudes and norms, self-efficacy and intentions to discuss sexuality with gay or bisexual child) mediate the intervention effects on adolescent and parent mental health, parent-adolescent health behavior and family functioning over time.

Interventions

• Behavioral Parents 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

Primary outcome measures

• Parent-Adolescent Communication Quality [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]
• Parent-Adolescent Communication Quantity [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]

Secondary outcome measures (4)

• Adolescent and Parent Mental Health (Depression) [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]
• Adolescent and Parent Mental Health (Anxiety) [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]
• Parent-Adolescent Health Behavior (Wellness Appointment) [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]
• Family Functioning [Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months]

Eligibility criteria

Youth participants are:

• identify as a cisgender sexual minority male (e.g., gay or bisexual)
• be between ages 12-18 years
• able to comprehend spoken English
• resides in the United States
• consents or assents to study participation

Parent participants are:

• the parent, legal guardians, legal custodians (hereinafter "parent") of gay or bisexual adolescent
• age 18 or older
• able to comprehend spoken English
• resides in the United States
• consents to study participation
• consents to their child's study participation

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

Single group

Masking

Single blind

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia

Publications

• Flores DD, Hennessy K, Rosario A, Chung J, Wood S, Kershaw T, Villarruel A, Bauermeister J. Parents ASSIST: Acceptability and Feasibility of a Video-Based Educational Series for Sexuality-Inclusive Communication between Parents and Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Sons. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 30;19(1):379. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010379. PMID 35010638
• Flores DD, Rosario AA, Bond KT, Villarruel AM, Bauermeister JA. Parents ASSIST (Advancing Supportive and Sexuality-Inclusive Sex Talks): Iterative Development of a Sex Communication Video Series for Parents of Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Male Adolescents. J Fam Nurs. 2020 May;26(2):90-101. doi: 10.1177/1074840719897905. Epub 2020 Jan 31. PMID 32003286

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07672067 · 856192 (24-1002) · R01HD111516

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗