Testing an Online Intervention to Improve Parents' Communication With Gay and Bisexual Sons About Sex and HIV

Young men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV infection in the United States, representing 80% of all infections among youth ages 14‐24, and 92% of infections among boys ages 14‐19. Despite these risks, the field has not even one HIV prevention intervention shown to be effective in decreasing sexual risks or increasing HIV testing among adolescent MSM (AMSM). Historically, reaching AMSM for HIV prevention has been challenging, given their relative geographic isolation and lack of access to traditional gay congregating spaces (e.g., bars and many gay‐related social networking websites). However, the investigators have developed a novel online platform for delivering interventions to parents of LGB youth that currently sees thousands of visitors each year. HIV prevention advocates have identified parents of AMSM as an untapped resource for reducing HIV risk in this population. Parent‐child communication about sex has well‐demonstrated associations with adolescent risk behaviors, and interventions with parents of heterosexual youth have been shown to be effective in increasing parent‐adolescent communication, and thereby, reducing adolescent health risks. Thus, the aim of the proposed study is to pilot test the efficacy of an online intervention to increase and improve parent communication with AMSM about sexuality and HIV, with the ultimate goal of decreasing adolescent sexual risk and increasing HIV testing. This will be achieved by randomizing parents who come to seek resources on the investigators' existing website to receive either (a) a film designed to support parents of LGB youth, or (b) that film + the online communication intervention materials, and then gathering longitudinal, online data from parents in both study arms and their AMSM sons over a 2‐4 month period. It is hypothesized that parents in the intervention group will increase their communication with their sons about HIV and condoms.