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A primary-of-its-kind examine revealed right now in AIDS and Habits suggests that folks could be taught to speak with their homosexual or bisexual sons about secure intercourse. Even higher, this examine finds that folks within the intervention group talked to their sons extra about condoms and HIV and engaged in different parenting behaviors geared toward conserving their sons wholesome.

The examine is the primary to concentrate on the mother and father of homosexual or bisexual sons and the primary to indicate proof of optimistic results in a randomized managed trial. The outcomes of the brand new examine are important as a result of homosexual and bisexual youth make up practically 80% of all HIV infections amongst teenagers. Till now, nevertheless, there have been only a few public well being interventions geared toward decreasing the HIV threat amongst this group.

“By specializing in the mother and father, this examine exhibits we’d have the ability to cut back HIV threat amongst homosexual and bisexual male youth,” David Huebner, Professor of Prevention and Group Well being on the Milken Institute College of Public Well being on the George Washington College, mentioned. “Mother and father signify an untapped but promising useful resource in stopping HIV an infection and enhancing sexual well being amongst this underserved inhabitants.”

Huebner and his colleagues recruited 61 mother and father with sons aged 14-22 who had come out as homosexual or bisexual not less than a month earlier. Half have been assigned to the management group; these mother and father watched a 35-minute documentary movie designed to encourage mother and father to raised perceive and settle for lesbian, homosexual or bisexual kids.

The opposite half of the mother and father have been enrolled in a web-based program, Mother and father and Adolescents Speaking about Wholesome Sexuality (PATHS). The web program included movies and instruction for fogeys about the right way to enhance their communication with a homosexual or bisexual son about staying wholesome, and the right way to have interaction in different parenting behaviors that may assist promote sexual well being.

Mother and father on this intervention arm of the examine had a to do record and will choose to take quite a lot of actions geared toward enhancing their interactions with their sons about sexual well being. Research present that when mother and father who’ve extra frequent, larger high quality conversations about condoms and HIV with their sons, homosexual or bisexual youth are much less more likely to have interaction in sexual behaviors that may put them in danger for HIV, Huebner mentioned.

For instance, mother and father obtained a sexual truth sheet about HIV threat they usually may ship it to their sons with out remark or they may sit down and assessment it collectively. Mother and father have been additionally tasked with educating their sons about condoms. They might message their sons with an educational video or they may exhibit the right way to put a condom on a banana.

Mother and father have been additionally taught concerning the significance of HIV testing and have been guided in the right way to assist their sons receive an HIV take a look at.

Each in the beginning and the top of the three-month examine, mother and father and sons have been individually surveyed about how a lot mother and father engaged within the conversations and behaviors that the toolkit really useful. Each mother and father and sons independently reported that folks within the intervention arm talked extra to their sons about sexual well being and helped them be taught to make use of condoms appropriately. Additionally they helped their sons get an HIV take a look at.

“To our information, that is the primary intervention proven to extend guardian behaviors supportive of sexual well being for homosexual or bisexual youth,” Huebner mentioned. “The following step is to exhibit that these adjustments in guardian behaviors translate into higher sexual well being outcomes for the sons. We predict it has nice potential to assist cut back the excessive charges of HIV amongst this susceptible inhabitants.”

Huebner and his workforce plan to conduct a bigger trial of the intervention. For this examine, they are going to be enrolling 350 parent-adolescent dyads and following them for a yr to see whether or not the intervention really reduces HIV threat for homosexual and bisexual younger males. households can be taught extra concerning the examine and signal as much as obtain updates at http://www.parentwithlove.org.

Extra data:
Efects of a Mum or dad‐Targeted HIV Prevention Intervention for Younger Males Who’ve Intercourse with Males: A Pilot Randomized Scientific Trial, AIDS and Habits (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s10461-022-03885-1

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Parental intervention might assist homosexual/bisexual youth cut back HIV threat (2022, November 9)
retrieved 10 November 2022
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