Brief video intervention may reduce adolescent transphobia

Brief social contact-based videos effectively reduced adolescent transphobia and depression-related stigma, according to results of a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Network Open.

“Social contact with [transgender and gender-diverse] individuals has been shown to improve attitudes and reduce transphobia, but no study to date has examined the efficacy of a brief video intervention in changing the perceptions of general-population youth toward [transgender and gender-diverse] people,” Doron Amsalem, MD, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and department of psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and colleagues wrote.

To address this research gap, Amsalem and colleagues investigated whether brief social-contact based video interventions of transgender protagonists with depression would reduce transphobia and depression-related stigma and increase intentions to seek treatment among adolescents in the general population. They randomly assigned 1,437 participants to one of four video-based conditions in a 2:2:1:1 ratio.

Groups were transgender adolescent girls, transgender adolescent boys, cisgender adolescent girls or cisgender adolescent boys. The 110-second videos featured empowered presenters who shared their experience coping with depression and seeking help. The score on the Attitudes Toward Transgender Men and Women (ATTMW) scale served as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included a “gender thermometer” rating for warmth in transgender perception, the Depression Stigma Scale (DSS) score and the General Health-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) score.

A total of 1,098 (76%) participants completed the postintervention assessment and passed all the validity tests (mean age, 16.9 years; 44% male; 58% white). Within the intervention group only, researchers found a significant change in attitudes toward transgender youth, with a mean ATTMW score in the intervention group of 34.6 at baseline decreasing to 32.8 after intervention (P < .001) vs. 33.5 at baseline to 32.4 after intervention in the control group (P = .01). Amsalem and colleagues noted a significant decrease in mean total DSS scores across study groups, as well as a significant increase in intention to seek help from a parent in the intervention and control groups and a decrease in those not wanting to seek help from anyone.

Transgender and gender-diverse and cisgender participants, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer and straight participants and heterosexual participants, had significant differences in baseline ATTMW scores and intervention effects, according to results of secondary analyses. Researchers also noted a significant difference in mean transgender warmth scores from baseline to after intervention between groups.

“This simple, easy-to-disseminate online intervention may have the added potential of improving access to treatment specifically among [transgender and gender-diverse] adolescents with depression or suicidal thoughts,” Amsalem and colleagues wrote. “Future studies should explore whether and how to tailor brief contact-based interventions to specific populations and to emerging online platforms for content dissemination.”