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Purpose

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.

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 14 Years and 100 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Criteria

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; and (7) consents to their GBQ child's study participation.

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Single Group Assignment
Primary Purpose
Prevention
Masking
Single (Participant)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Intervention Arm 		Parents randomized to receive the intervention (n=238) will be assigned to a 5-session online intervention that comprise 8-12 parents per cohort. They will register their profiles via our secure, password-protected Parents ASSIST website. Parents in the intervention arm will complete one session per week where they watch two videos focused on sexual health and family communication. They will also be asked to complete homework tasks with their GBQ child. GBQ adolescents will not be intervened upon directly; rather, we will instruct parents to engage their sons based on the information and skills learned weekly through the intervention.
  • 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 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.
    Other names:
    • Parents Advancing Supportive and Sexuality Inclusive Sex Talks
Active Comparator
Control Arm 		Control group participants (n=238 parents) will be assigned to the health promotion arm and similarly asked to register into our secure Parents ASSIST study site but will be assigned to the control group educational resources: alcohol use, bullying, sleep hygiene, tobacco use, and body image issues. Individual participants will access via the website the videos on these non-sexual health focused conditions.
  • 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 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.
    Other names:
    • Parents Advancing Supportive and Sexuality Inclusive Sex Talks

Recruiting Locations

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Contact:
Dalmacio D Flores, PhD
404-394-4593
dalmacio@nursing.upenn.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of Pennsylvania

Study Contact

Dalmacio D Flores, PhD
4043944593
dalmacio@nursing.upenn.edu

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.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.