Wise Intervention for Reducing Aggressive Behaviors and Promoting Prosocial Behaviors Toward LGB-TNB Individuals
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Recruiting
- Sponsor
- University of Deusto
- Enrollment
- 1,000
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Change from baseline in aggression scores toward LGB-TNB individuals, assessed using an adaptation of the Spanish version (Orue et al., 2018) of the Homophobic Bullying Scale (Prati, 2012).
Study Overview
Brief Summary
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a wise Intervention to reduce aggressive behaviors and promote prosocial behaviors toward LGB-TNB individuals among Spanish adolescents. Half of the participants will receive the experimental intervention, while the other half will receive a control intervention.
Detailed Description
Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is a social problem of great relevance. Sexual orientation is understood as the mechanism that directs affective-sexual attraction and interest, manifesting with varying intensity. Regarding gender identity, it has historically been interpreted under a binary paradigm based on external sexual organs, rendering trans and non-binary identities invisible. However, it is currently understood as the internal feeling about one's own gender, so that trans and/or non-binary people represent those whose gender identity differs from the one assigned at birth.
Despite the growing visibility, public awareness, and recognition of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and non-binary people (LGB-TNB), discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity continues to be a social problem of great relevance with serious consequences for those who suffer it. This reality underlines the need to implement effective interventions aimed at addressing these aggressive behaviors and the mechanisms that sustain them, not only among those who perpetrate acts of violence, but also among people who witness these aggressive behaviors.
In addition, intervening during adolescence is especially relevant, as this stage represents a critical moment in the moral, social, and emotional development of individuals. Moreover, during adolescence, discriminatory behaviors and peer aggression increase, and previous studies show that LGB-TNB people face a higher risk of violence in educational settings. Nevertheless, although adolescence becomes a critical period for the development of risk behaviors, it also involves important transitions and learning opportunities. Furthermore, adolescence is a turning point during which well-designed interventions have a high potential to redirect a person's developmental trajectory in a lasting way. Therefore, it can be an especially favorable moment for implementing interventions.
In this way, numerous interventions have been carried out in educational settings to prevent aggressive behaviors among peers. Although most of these initiatives have mainly focused on more general problems, such as bullying and cyberbullying, in recent years preventive interventions specifically aimed at reducing aggressive behaviors based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both face-to-face and digital contexts have increased. However, most current interventions focus on educating people about issues related to LGB-TNB topics, reaching mixed and contradictory results regarding their effectiveness, and also highlighting that there is little empirical evidence about the robustness of the effects of LGB-TNB interventions and their underlying mechanisms. Therefore, these interventions present areas for improvement that constitute important challenges for scientific psychology.
Recently, interest has grown in social psychology regarding a new approach to interventions, which have been called wise interventions. Many of these interventions have impactful results because they are usually very brief in time and produce lasting changes in people's behavior. Moreover, this type of intervention is of great interest in adolescence, as they allow themselves to be designed in such a way that they are perceived as respectful of students' autonomy and status, so that they feel they are making their own decisions.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking Description
Allocation will be concealed to the participants and teachers. Assessment will be done online through self-reports.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 14 Years to 18 Years (Child, Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •Informed consent by the adolescents and their families.
- •To be fluent in Spanish and/or Euskera.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Lack of permission by families and the adolescent.
- •Lack of understanding of the instructions.
Arms & Interventions
Values alignment wise intervention
Intervention: Values alignment wise intervention (Behavioral)
Wise Intervention LGB-TNB
Intervention: Wise Intervention LGB-TNB (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change from baseline in aggression scores toward LGB-TNB individuals, assessed using an adaptation of the Spanish version (Orue et al., 2018) of the Homophobic Bullying Scale (Prati, 2012).
Time Frame: Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.
It consists of seven items that ask frequency with wich participants have engaged in specific aggressive behavior toward LGB-TNB individuals. Five response categories are provided using a Likert-type response scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (daily).
Change from baseline in online aggression scores toward LGB-TNB individuals, assessed using the Technology-Facilitated Gender- and Sexuality-Based violence (TFGSV; Martínez-Bacaicoa et al., 2023).
Time Frame: Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.
It consists of eight items that ask frequency with wich participants have engaged in online aggressive behavior toward LGB-TNB individuals. Five response categories are provided using a Likert-type response scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (daily).
Change from baseline in prosocial behavior scores toward LGB-TNB individuals through an ad hoc measure.
Time Frame: Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.
It consists of one item in which participants were asked to select all the behaviors they engaged in after witnessing an aggression.
Change from baseline in bystander intention scores when witnessing aggressive behavior toward LGB-TNB individuals.
Time Frame: Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at 3, 6, and 9 months.
This measure evaluate bystander intentions in response to LGB-TNB aggressions, through different scenarios. After reading the scenarios, participants answered five items that evaluated possible courses of action to take in response to the aggression.
Secondary Outcomes
- Change from baseline in moral disengagement scores, assessed using the mechanisms of moral disengagement described by Bandura (2016) and based on studies with similar characteristics (Martínez-Bacaicoa et al., 2024).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in justice sensitivity scores, assessed using the Justice Sensitivity Inventory (Schmitt et al., 2010).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in behaviors supporting LGB-TNB individuals, assessed using the LGBT-Affirming Behavior questionnaire (Poteat, 2015).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in microaggression scores toward LGB-TNB individuals, assessed using the Sexual Orientation Microaggression Scale (SOMS-P; Botor & Tuliao, 2025) and the Gender Identity Microaggression Scale (GIMS-P; Botor & Tuliao, 2025).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in offline perpetration scores, assessed using the Spanish adaptation (Ortega-Ruiz et al., 2016) of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (Brighi et al., 2012).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in online perpetration scores, assessed using an adaptation of the Cyberbullying Questionnaire items (Calvete et al., 2010; Gámez-Guadix et al., 2014).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in healthy and unhealthy food intake scores, assessed using an adaptation of the KIDMED 2.0 questionnaire, validated in a sample of Spanish children and adolescents (López-Gajardo et al., 2022).(Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
- Change from baseline in alignment of healthy eating habits scores, as assessed by the questionnaire developed by Bryan et al. (2019).(Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at 3, 6, and 9 months.)
Investigators
Nerea Cortazar Enciondo
Principal investigator
University of Deusto