Better Together: A Web-based Relationship Education Tool

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Same-Sex Relationships

In brief

Health disparities have been documented in same-sex partnered women, including higher rates of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, and mental health disorders. Higher rates of smoking, substance use, and obesity are behavioral risk factors that contribute to these chronic health problems. Living in rural areas with fewer social supports and less access to culturally sensitive healthcare services may also contribute to health disparities in sexual minorities. Their stigmatized identity is linked to minority stress, a well-documented social determinant of health behaviors and outcomes. Coping responses are an important couple-level mechanism that link stigma-related (minority) stress and health in same-sex couples. Relationship education (RE) programming is a potentially effective approach to increasing positive dyadic-level coping skills that support health. In a sample of 40 female same-sex couples, investigators will test the hypothesis that couples who complete newly revised, web-based RE modules that target health-related coping responses to stigma-related stress will report immediate (post-intervention) and persistent (3-month follow up) positive effects on their relationship quality (e.g., positive communication and problem-solving, relationship satisfaction, perceived partner support), stigma-related coping behaviors, and health (e.g., reduced substance use, depression/anxiety, physical health symptoms). This intervention represents one of the first efforts to test the effects of a culturally appropriate web-based relationship education tool that specifically targets health-related coping behaviors in rural female same-sex couples, a stigmatized, high-risk, under-researched and under-resourced population.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT03953495

Run by

Sharon Scales Rostosky

People needed

22

Starts

2019-06-25

Expected to finish

2020-12-03

Last updated by the study team

2020-12-04

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• over 18 years old
• self-identify as same-sex partnered
• female
• Central Appalachian resident

You may not qualify if…

• under 18 years old
• not currently in a committed relationship with a female partner
• identifies as male
• identifies as heterosexual
• has a male partner
• does not live in Central Appalachia
• does not have access to the internet and a computer or other device for completing the modules

Where it is running

• University of Kentucky — Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.