An Internet-Delivered Intervention to Reduce LGBTQ+ Prejudice Among Romanian Teachers: Randomized Controlled Trial

Discrimination can greatly impact both physical and mental health due to frequent stressors. Younger individuals, particularly those under the age of 17 years, are more adversely affected by victimization. Within the European Union, Romania exhibits poor rankings concerning LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer, and other minority sexual orientations and gender identities) inclusion, with large numbers of LGBTQ+ teenagers experiencing bullying due to their sexual orientation. Given that much of this discrimination and harassment occurs within schools, teachers and counselors are vital in affecting institutional change.

This study aims to investigate the impact of an intervention on reducing prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community among Romanian teachers and counselors. Most prior interventions of this nature target Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic populations.

In this randomized controlled trial, we recruited 175 Romanian teachers via a national closed online user group and assigned them to either the experimental or control condition. Participants in the experimental condition received the intervention first and then completed the web-based outcome measures, while those in the control condition completed the measures first and then received the intervention. The intervention, designed for internet-based delivery, consisted of a 1-hour video session led by a pair of researchers. It blended educational information with testimonials of LGBTQ+ people, perspective-taking tasks, and a self-efficacy exercise. We measured LGBTQ+ prejudice (using Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale, Homophobia Scale, and Attitudes Toward Homosexuals Scale), behavioral intentions, self-efficacy, perspective taking, intergroup disgust sensitivity, intergroup anxiety, empathy, factual knowledge about LGBTQ+ issues, as well as participants' feelings toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals.

Participants in the experimental group (n=89) showed significant reductions in prejudice when using the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (F1,173=7.22; P=.008) when compared to the control group (n=86), but not when using the other 2 attitudinal scales. We also found that the experimental group had warmer feelings (F1,173=4.40; P=.04; d=0.32), were more likely to engage in supportive behaviors (F1,173=13.96; P<.001; d=0.56), displayed more self-efficacy (F1,173=9.14; P=.001; d=0.33), had more factual knowledge (F1,173=11.98; P=.001; d=0.52), and had a higher ability to take the LGBTQ+ perspective after controlling for contact (F1,172=4.77; P=.03; d=0.28). We did not observe significant differences in terms of intergroup disgust sensitivity (F1,173=0.816; P=.37), intergroup anxiety for either positive (F1,173=.383; P=.54) or negative emotions (F1,173=0.51; P=.48), or empathy (F1,173=0.02; P=.89).

The intervention offers initial evidence for the effectiveness of a cost-effective and portable online resource for educators and high school counselors, particularly in regions where negative attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community are prominent. The results show that integrating blended cognitive (information), affective (indirect contact and perspective taking), and behavioral (self-efficacy and empowerment) approaches is a promising avenue for intervention in producing positive outcomes related to LGBTQ+ issues within the school environment.