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ViewAttendees 3

Symposia

Technology/Digital Health

Using Digital Interventions to Reduce Healthcare Access and Disparities Gaps

4 - (SYM 33) Evaluating an Online Single-session Intervention Addressing Minority Stress Among LGBTQ+ Adolescents

Friday, November 15, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EST
Location: 305/306, Level 3, Downtown Marriott
Abstract Body

Background

LGBTQ+ youth face myriad adverse health outcomes due to minority stress, creating a need for accessible, mechanism-targeted interventions to mitigate these minority stress-related risk factors. We tested the effectiveness and acceptability of Project RISE, an online single-session intervention designed to ameliorate internalized stigma and improve other mental health outcomes among LGBTQ+ youth. We hypothesized that youth assigned to RISE (versus a control) would report significantly reduced internalized stigma and increased identity pride at post-intervention and at two-week follow-up and would find RISE acceptable.

Methods

We recruited adolescents nationally through Instagram advertisements in May 2022 (N = 538; M age = 15.06, SD age = 0.97). Participants were randomly assigned to RISE or an information-only control and completed questionnaires pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and two weeks post-intervention. Inclusion criteria included endorsement of: (1) LGBTQ+ identity, (2) being age 13–16, (3) English fluency (4) Internet access, and (5) subjective negative impact of LGBTQ+ stigma.

Results

Relative to participants in the control condition, participants who completed RISE reported significant decreases in internalized stigma (d = −0.49) and increases in identity pride (d = 0.25) from pre- to immediately post-intervention, along with decreased internalized stigma (d = −0.26) from baseline to two-week follow-up. RISE did not outperform the control in reducing secondary outcomes of interest at two-week follow-up (i.e., hopelessness, self-hate, depression, and anxiety symptoms); instead, levels of secondary two-week outcomes tended to improve in participants regardless of condition assignment. Participants rated both RISE and the information-only control as highly, equivalently acceptable, and RISE had a high completion rate by participants (89%).

Conclusions

RISE appears to be an acceptable and a useful online SSI for LGBTQ+ adolescents, with potential to reduce internalized stigma in both the short- and longer-term. Future directions include evaluating effects of Project RISE over longer follow-ups and in conjunction with other mental health supports.