Collaborating with transgender youth to train healthcare professionals: randomized controlled trial of a didactic enhanced by brief videos 

Abstract

BackgroundIn collaboration with members of the transgender and gender diverse (TGD) community, we created a didactic resource about the unique needs of TGD youth. MethodsWe developed teaching materials enhanced by video clips of two TGD adolescents openly sharing aspects of their lived experience. We compared the video and no video conditions in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which participants were assigned to one of four parallel conditions: 1) a transgender [TgV] or 2) a cisgender [CgV] woman presenting with videos embedded into the presentation, 3) the same cisgender woman presenting without the videos [CgN], or 4) a no intervention control [NiC]. Our primary outcome was change in the total score of the Transgender Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Scale (T-KAB). ResultsWe recruited and proportionally randomized 467 individuals, 200 of whom completed ratings before and after the intervention: TgV (n = 46), CgV (N = 46), CgN (n = 44), and NiC (n = 64). Mean scores on all measures of TGD acceptance increased in the video group, compared to the no video group. Improvements persisted after 30 days (p < 0.01), except on perceptions about TGD family members. The three active intervention groups did not differ in efficacy.ConclusionsThese findings provide empirical evidence that a well-informed presenter, regardless of their gender, can achieve similar improvements in perceptions and knowledge about TGD youth when using a resource that can be disseminated free of cost.

Future Directions in Mental Health Treatment with Stigmatized Youth

“…Finally, a few interventions focus on changing community attitudes specific to stigmatized youth; those that do are most common outside the US (for reviews, see Hartog et al, 2020 andSmythe et al, 2020). The following are recommendations for community-based Brief electronic social contact interventions (e.g., watching a two-minute video of a stigmatized youth sharing information on their identity and stigma experiences; Martin et al, 2022) represent one promising and readily scalable alternative, but they have yet to be tested at the community level.…”