Are you an LGBTQIA+ young adult aged 18-25?
We would like you to help us evaluate a group mindful self-compassion program for LGBTQIA+ young adults to determine how helpful it is for your mental health and wellbeing.
What is mindful self-compassion?
Mindful self-compassion is about noticing when you are distressed in the moment, and responding to these feelings with unconditional kindness, openness, and warmth, rather than in ways that may be harsh or self-critical.
What is the study about?
Practicing mindful self-compassion is beneficial for one’s mental health and wellbeing, but so far there’s no evidence for how helpful it is for LGBTIQA+ individuals specifically. The aim of this project is to see if a mindful self-compassion group training program delivered via videoconference is helpful for improving mental health and wellbeing in LGBTQIA+ young people.
Who can take part?
We are looking for young people aged between 18 and 25 years who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, or any other diverse gender or sexuality, to take part in the mindful self-compassion training program. As the program is delivered online, you can take part from anywhere in Australia.
What is involved?
The training program will be delivered over eight weeks, with each session being two hours long. You will need to be able to attend all eight sessions. The sessions will be delivered online via videoconferencing, and to be involved you will need access to a device connected to the internet with a webcam and microphone. The program is delivered by a mindful self-compassion facilitator and an LGBTQIA+ peer facilitator and will be in a group format.
People who participate in this research will be randomly allocated to taking part in the mindful self-compassion training program or allocated to a control condition where you’ll go about things as normal without any training in mindful self-compassion. A few months after this, people in the control condition will be invited to take part in the training program as well, so everyone who is involved in this research study will learn mindful self-compassion eventually.
What will the benefits be?
Mindful self-compassion can be a valuable skill for maintaining your own mental health and wellbeing, but learning it is often difficult to access for a variety of reasons. Taking part in this study might be a valuable opportunity to learn this skill with no cost or barriers to your involvement other than your time. By taking part in this study, you will also help contribute to our understanding of ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ young people in the future.
How can I get involved?
Thanks for your interest in the study. We are now full for this round and cannot take any more participants. We hope to run this again next year.
If you would like to learn more about the research or have any questions about the study, please e-mail Zoe at LGBTQIA.self-compassion@telethonkids.org.au