Interventions to improve LGBTQ+ identity
The two articles I discuss here are potentially helpful to those who work with LGBTQ+ clients. First, Clements, Riggle & Rostosky (2023) published “Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Brief Online Positive Identity Intervention for Transgender People” in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Here’s the edited abstract and impact statement:
Transgender people report high levels of discrimination, prejudice, stigma-related anxiety and depression, and suicidality. In socially, politically, and religiously conservative areas, emphasis on traditional gender roles may lead to heightened levels of stigma-related stress and anxiety in transgender people and pose additional challenges to the development of positive transgender identities. Using a pre-/posttest experimental design, we evaluated an online resource aimed at increasing positive identity and psychological well-being (PWB) in young adult transgender individuals living in the Southeast and Midwest United States. Participants, ages 18–26, were randomized into two groups to watch either a video about positive transgender identity (intervention; n = 24) or a video with general information about lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer people (control; n = 14). Both groups completed preintervention and 2-week post measures of positive identity and PWB. One-way analysis of variance of pre–post difference scores suggested that the intervention group reported significantly increased community connectedness, positive affect, and positive relations with others, and significantly lowered depressive symptom scores compared to the control group. Findings suggest that brief online interventions may be useful in supporting emotional health in transgender people; however, additional community supports may be crucial to positive identity development.
Transgender young adults in the Southeast and Midwestern United States watched a brief general video about LGBTQ people or an intervention video highlighting positive aspects of transgender and nonbinary identities. Compared to the group that watched the general video, the group that watched the positive identity video reported lower depressive symptom scores and more positive feelings 2 weeks later. This study suggests brief, strengths-based, accessible interventions for transgender individuals that may help facilitate some aspects of psychological well-being.
While I do not yet have full access to the article, I was able to find numerous resources that might be helpful to those who work with clients with transgender and nonbinary identities. The next study also offers a positive intervention strategy. Here’s the definition of self-compassion: the tendency to respond to one's personal struggles and feelings of distress in a caring and balanced way, and to recognize that these are part of the common human experience (Neff, 2003a).Chong, Mohr & Chui (2023) published “Examining the Protective Role of Self-compassion in the Links Between Daily Sexual Orientation Salient Experiences and Affect” in Journal of Counseling Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract and impact statement:
Research has shown that minority stress is linked to poorer mental health across a variety of stigmatized populations, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people. It is therefore essential to understand factors that can counteract minority stress. To date, most research on LGBQ people’s resilience relied on retrospective reports of stressful identity-salient experiences. This limits the understanding about resilience factors that enable LGBQ people to thrive in the face of minority stressors as they occur on a day-to-day basis. The present study addressed this gap by using a daily diary design to test whether self-compassion protects LGBQ people’s affective well-being from daily stressful sexual orientation-salient experiences (SOSEs). A sample of 235 LGBQ adults completed a baseline survey that assessed self-compassion, as well as brief online surveys twice daily for a maximum of 17 days that assessed SOSEs and affect, providing a total of 3,310 days of data. As anticipated, results of multilevel modeling showed that negative and positive SOSEs were linked to negative and positive evening affect, respectively, at both the daily and person levels. Self-compassion moderated the link between daily negative SOSEs and positive evening affect, such that daily negative SOSEs were linked to lower positive affect only among those with lower self-compassion. Moderation effect was not observed for negative evening affect as an outcome. Exploratory analysis suggested that the buffering effect of self-compassion could be impacted by contextual factors.
This study suggested that trait self-compassion may protect LGBQ people from lowered positive affect as negative SOSEs occur on a day-to-day basis. Exploratory analysis also suggested that such protective effect may be particularly important when one typically does not perceive any positive SOSEs, and yet less promising when the negative experience involved someone emotionally closed.
There is wonderful information easily available about ways to foster self-compassion. What I like about each of these studies is their clear recommendations that can enhance the well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals. While neither study looks at longer terms benefits, we at least have some ideas to provide positive support.