Testing the effectiveness of an intervention to improve Romanian teachers’ outcomes related to LGBT+ inclusion
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN84290049 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN84290049 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | RO-NO-2019-0412_LGBTInclusion_WP2 |
- Submission date
- 06/09/2023
- Registration date
- 13/10/2023
- Last edited
- 24/04/2024
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Discrimination can have a significant impact on both physical and mental health through recurring stressors. With 45% of Romanian LGBT+ respondents in a recent poll claiming discrimination in at least one aspect of life in the year prior to the survey, Romania ranks poorly among EU nations in terms of LGBT+ inclusion. Worryingly, younger members of the LGBT+ community are more vulnerable to the effects of discrimination. As much of this discrimination and harassment happens in schools, this study investigates a one-hour video intervention on sexual orientation, and the problems faced by students of different sexual orientations for school teachers or counselors.
Who can participate?
Any teachers or school counselors aged between 21 and 65 years old who work in the Romanian School System who speak Romanian and have internet access.
What does the study involve?
Participants will watch a one-hour video intervention and will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Participants are randomly allocated to the intervention group or the control group. The control group will first complete the questionnaires and then will view the intervention. The experimental group will first watch the intervention video, and then complete the questionnaires.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The study has received ethical approval from the West University of Timisoara Ethics Committee, nr 74505/10.11.2022. Participants will learn more about sexual orientation, and the problems faced by students of different sexual orientations. Each participating teacher/counselor will receive a certificate of participation that they can use to improve their professional portfolio. Also, 10 randomly selected participants will receive a voucher worth 500 RON (~100 Euro).
This study does not involve any risk to the participants' physical or mental integrity.
Where is the study run from?
West University of Timisoara (Romania)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
September 2020 to October 2023
Who is funding the study?
1. Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014 -2021
2. The Executive Unit for the Financing of Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI) (Romania)
Who is the main contact?
Dr Nastasia Salagean, nastasia.salagean@e-uvt.ro
Contact information
Scientific
Bld. Vasile Parvan nr 4, sala 303
Timisoara
300223
Romania
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-9923-1559 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +40742273072 |
| nastasia.salagean@e-uvt.ro |
Scientific
David Keir Building 18-30 Malone Road
Belfast
BT7 1NN
United Kingdom
| ORCID ID |
0000-0003-3328-9261 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +442890974880 |
| i.latu@qub.ac.uk |
Principal Investigator
Bld. Vasile Parvan nr 4
Timisoara
300223
Romania
| ORCID ID |
0000-0001-8898-1306 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +40256592735 |
| florin.sava@e-uvt.ro |
Study information
| Study design | Randomized unblinded controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study setting(s) | School |
| Study type | Other |
| Participant information sheet | 44249_PIS_(english).pdf |
| Scientific title | Testing the effectiveness of an intervention to improve Romanian teachers’ outcomes related to LGBT+ inclusion: A Randomized Controlled Trial |
| Study acronym | TeacherLGBTInclusion |
| Study hypothesis | This study aims to find out whether an online intervention focused on education and contact as basic educational elements, could minimize LGBT+ prejudices among Romanian school teachers. |
| Ethics approval(s) |
Approved 10/11/2022, West University of Timisoara Ethics Committee (Bld. Vasile Parvan nr 4, Timisoara, 300223, Romania; +40256592111; comisie.etica@e-uvt.ro), ref: 74505 |
| Condition | Reducing LGBT+ prejudices among Romanian school teachers |
| Intervention | The study employs a 2-group (experimental and control) and 2 time-point (baseline, 6 months) design. The target sample of at least 122 teachers will be randomly assigned to a control group or an experimental group at the session level using cluster randomization. It was not possible to do individual randomization within the session since the intervention was presented to all participants simultaneously. While participants in the control group first complete the outcome measures before receiving the intervention, those in the experimental group first get the intervention before completing the outcome measures. The intervention, which will last for around an hour, is multimedia in nature and is created for online delivery. Two interactive exercises, two recorded presentations, animations, and testimonies from LGBT+ individuals are included. At baseline (T0), information on attitudinal, behavioral, cognitive, and affective measures will be gathered, while information on attitudinal, affective, and behavioral measures will be gathered at the 6-month follow-up (T1). A short mixed-methods follow-up study will be conducted 6-8 months after participation to explore any potential long-term effects of the training. However, due to attrition and the absence of experimental control (all participants will have completed the intervention, irrespective of their condition), this data will be analyzed and reported separately using a mixed-methods approach. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | LGBT prejudice will be measured using the following three scales at baseline and at the 6-month follow-up (T1): 1. Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale 2. Homophobia Scale 3. Attitudes Toward Homosexuals Scale |
| Secondary outcome measures | The following secondary outcome measures will be assessed at baseline and at the 6-month follow-up (T1): 1. Behavioral Intentions measured with the Anticipated Professional Behaviors Relating to Homosexuality in the School scale 2. Self-efficacy measured with an adapted version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale 3. Factual knowledge about LGBT+ issues measured by a 7-item self-constructed measure based on the training content 4. Participants’ feelings towards gay, lesbian and bisexual people measured through the Feeling Thermometer for each sexual orientation 5. How much do the participants take on the situational perspective of LGBT+ individuals measure using the Perspective-Taking of LGBQ Individuals Scale 6. Intergroup disgust measured through an adapted version of the Intergroup disgust sensitivity Scale 7. Anxiety-related feelings participants feel when interacting with people of another sexual orientation measured using an adapted Intergroup Anxiety Scale 8. The overall inclination to empathize with other people measured with the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire 9. Religiosity measured using the Duke University Religion Index 10. Contact with LGBT+ people measured using a self-constructed scale in which participants are asked how often they have contact with people from different sexual orientation categories 11. Ideology measured by asking respondents to indicate their political orientation |
| Overall study start date | 30/09/2020 |
| Overall study end date | 01/10/2023 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Employee |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 21 Years |
| Upper age limit | 65 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 122 |
| Total final enrolment | 175 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | Teachers or counselors working in Romanian schools. All participants are required to speak Romanian because of the language used in the intervention and measures. |
| Participant exclusion criteria | 1. Any adults who do not work in Romanian schools as either teachers or counselors 2. Any adults who do not speak Romanian 3. Any adults who cannot access the internet |
| Recruitment start date | 22/11/2022 |
| Recruitment end date | 15/02/2023 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Romania
Study participating centre
Timisoara
300223
Romania
Sponsor information
University/education
Bld. Vasile Parvan nr. 4
Timisoara
300223
Romania
| Phone | +40256592111 |
|---|---|
| secretariat.uvt@e-uvt.ro | |
| Website | http://www.uvt.ro/en/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/0583a0t97 |
Funders
Funder type
Government
Government organisation / National government
- Alternative name(s)
- Executive Agency for Higher Education, Scientific Research, Development and Innovation Funding, UEFISCDI
- Location
- Romania
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 31/10/2023 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Stored in publicly available repository |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication in high-impact peer-reviewed journals The following publications are planned: 1. Study protocol for RCT Anticipated date of submission: September 2023 2. The efficiency of an online intervention designed to reduce teachers' prejudice against the LGBT+ community - findings from an RCT. Anticipated date of submission: October 2023 |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study will be stored online on the Open Science Framework platform (https://osf.io/) as well as onto the European Commission Funded Research (OpenAire) community (https://www.openaire.eu/). Personal and sensitive data that could lead to the identification of a participant or cause any psychological harm will be protected due to privacy concerns and security concerns. Depending on the final use, the study will generate data formats such as comma-separated values (.csv), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Text (.txt), and R (.R), but most notably will use SPSS data formats (.sav). The researchers will also employ R syntaxes and SPSS syntaxes for data management and data analysis purposes. The public will have free access to the data and metadata stored in the data repository after the final article scheduled for publication is accepted. The data and metadata will be provided as long as the above-mentioned platforms are available. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant information sheet | 26/09/2023 | No | Yes | ||
| Participant information sheet | 26/09/2023 | No | Yes | ||
| Protocol (other) | Protocol | 09/04/2023 | 26/09/2023 | No | No |
| Protocol article | 23/04/2024 | 24/04/2024 | Yes | No |
Additional files
Editorial Notes
24/04/2024: Publication reference added.
26/09/2023: Study's existence confirmed by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Scientific Research, Development and Innovation Funding (Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii; UEFISCDI).
