The Gender Inclusive Sexuality Talks Program

Parental acceptance after youth come out as transgender, gender diverse, lesbian 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 the GIST Program (Gender Inclusive Sexuality Talks), a sexuality communication intervention for parents, after youth disclose transgender, gender diverse, lesbian or bisexual identities. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial with parent and youth dyads (N=300) to establish the efficacy of the GIST Program 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 the GIST Program 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 the GIST Program results in decreases in mental health symptomology (e.g. depressive and anxiety symptoms) among parents and 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 transgender, gender diverse, lesbian or bisexual child) mediate the intervention effects on adolescent and parent mental health, parent-adolescent health behavior and family functioning over time.