Culturally Adapting Individually Oriented Relationship Education for Latino Sexual Minority Men
Healthy relationships are often framed as a universal goal, yet the processes through which they develop are shaped by culture, identity, and social context. For Latino sexual minority men, romantic and sexual relationships unfold within intersecting systems of support and stress, including family expectations, stigma, racism, homonegativity, and limited access to culturally responsive services. These conditions can influence not only relationship quality, but also broader domains of mental health, sexual health, and well-being.
In the MRI-funded project Culturally Adapting Individually Oriented Relationship Education for Latino Sexual Minority Men, Dr. Audrey Harkness (University of Miami) and Dr. Nicholas Perry (University of Denver) address this gap by adapting an existing evidence-based relationship education program, Within My Reach, for this population. The project is grounded in a relational framework in which relationship education is understood not simply as skill acquisition, but as a process of clarifying needs, recognizing relational patterns, and making informed decisions about intimacy, boundaries, and connection.
A central feature of the project is its community-engaged design. Rather than applying surface-level modifications, the research team used the ADAPT-ITT framework to guide systematic cultural adaptation. A Community Advisory Board identified relationship education as a priority area and selected Within My Reach as the foundation for adaptation. MRI funding supported subsequent phases, including iterative feedback, program revision, facilitator training, and pilot testing.
To inform adaptation, the team conducted a “theater test” in which Latino sexual minority men reviewed and discussed the original program across a two-day session. Participants provided detailed input on content relevance, language, and framing. This process was complemented by interviews with clinical and research experts in sexual minority health. Together, these data informed both surface-level changes (e.g., language, examples) and deeper structural adaptations to better align the intervention with participants’ lived experiences.
The adapted program, Hombre a Hombre, was then pilot tested. Two trained Latino sexual minority male facilitators delivered five weekly, in-person sessions to a cohort of 16 participants. The study employed a pre–post design with a four-month follow-up, assessing domains including relationship health, sexual health, community connection, internalized homonegativity, and sexual agreements, alongside feasibility and acceptability.
Findings from the pilot phase indicate high levels of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility among both participants and facilitators. Although the study was not powered to detect statistically significant change, observed patterns were consistent with hypothesized directions, suggesting potential benefit. These preliminary results support the feasibility of culturally adapting individually oriented relationship education and point to the value of further evaluation in larger samples.
This project advances a broader shift in intervention science—from one-size-fits-all models toward approaches that are responsive to cultural context and community-defined priorities. By centering lived experience and relational processes, the work highlights how culturally grounded adaptations may strengthen both engagement and relevance in relationship education.
Future directions include larger-scale testing of Hombre a Hombre, with attention to outcomes such as intimate partner violence prevention, HIV-related sexual health, and relational well-being. As this line of research develops, it may inform more responsive, relationship-centered interventions for populations that have historically been underserved by standard programming.