TY - JOUR
T1 - Reducing internalized binegativity
T2 - Development and efficacy of an online intervention
AU - Israel, Tania
AU - Choi, Andrew Young
AU - Goodman, Joshua A.
AU - Matsuno, Emmie
AU - Lin, Yen Jui
AU - Kary, Krishna G.
AU - Merrill, Caitlin R.S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Data collection for this article was financially supported in part by the University of California, Santa Barbara Academic Senate Grant awarded to Tania Israel. Findings from this article were previously presented at the 10th Biennial Meeting of the National Multicultural Conference and Summit (NMCS).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - Internalized binegativity (IB), negative attitudes and beliefs about one's own bisexuality, can develop from chronic exposure to binegative discrimination and prejudice and is associated with several negative mental health consequences. We developed and tested an online intervention following the Releasing Internalized Stigma for Empowerment (RISE) model (Lin, Israel, & Ryan, 2018) to reduce IB and to offer a novel means to access and treat bisexual people. We analyzed data from 641 bisexual adults recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) who were randomly assigned to the intervention or active control condition and asked to complete pretest and posttest measures. Four modules tailored for bisexual people, based on a review of relevant literature and expert feedback, comprised the intervention. The modules included: (a) a true/false quiz that challenged negative bisexual stereotypes with research evidence, (b) an activity where participants identified external sources of their binegative beliefs, (c) a biaffirming video and a writing exercise to express support for a bisexual person, and (d), presentation of positive aspects of being bisexual and biaffirming images. We used a posttest-only randomized controlled design with the intervention as the between-subjects factor. A series of one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs), controlling for covariates of identity concealment and self-esteem, revealed that the intervention was efficacious in reducing IB at a small effect size in addition to influencing related constructs. These results offer a promising contribution to accessible and targeted intervention efforts for reducing bispecific minority stressors. Future directions include examining acceptability, feasibility, implementation, and replication issues.
AB - Internalized binegativity (IB), negative attitudes and beliefs about one's own bisexuality, can develop from chronic exposure to binegative discrimination and prejudice and is associated with several negative mental health consequences. We developed and tested an online intervention following the Releasing Internalized Stigma for Empowerment (RISE) model (Lin, Israel, & Ryan, 2018) to reduce IB and to offer a novel means to access and treat bisexual people. We analyzed data from 641 bisexual adults recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) who were randomly assigned to the intervention or active control condition and asked to complete pretest and posttest measures. Four modules tailored for bisexual people, based on a review of relevant literature and expert feedback, comprised the intervention. The modules included: (a) a true/false quiz that challenged negative bisexual stereotypes with research evidence, (b) an activity where participants identified external sources of their binegative beliefs, (c) a biaffirming video and a writing exercise to express support for a bisexual person, and (d), presentation of positive aspects of being bisexual and biaffirming images. We used a posttest-only randomized controlled design with the intervention as the between-subjects factor. A series of one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs), controlling for covariates of identity concealment and self-esteem, revealed that the intervention was efficacious in reducing IB at a small effect size in addition to influencing related constructs. These results offer a promising contribution to accessible and targeted intervention efforts for reducing bispecific minority stressors. Future directions include examining acceptability, feasibility, implementation, and replication issues.
KW - Bisexuality
KW - Internalized binegativity
KW - Minority stress
KW - Online intervention
KW - Randomized controlled trial
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U2 - 10.1037/sgd0000314
DO - 10.1037/sgd0000314
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056173690
SN - 2329-0382
VL - 6
SP - 149
EP - 159
JO - Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity
JF - Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity
IS - 2
ER -