Culturally Adapting Relationship Education for Latino Sexual Minority Men

Latino sexual minority men (LSMM) face mental health, substance use, and sexual health disparities, partially driven by minority stress. They also face significant, intersectional cultural challenges to forming healthy, strong romantic and sexual relationships with other men. These challenges are, in part, related to their intersecting Latino and sexual minority identities (e.g., family rejection, internalized stigma, scarce culturally salient role models for healthy dating, cultural norms regarding race and ethnicity among gay and bisexual men, substance use norms among sexual minority men). Yet, establishing healthy romantic and sexual relationships are a central life task for most adults, and intimate relationships are closely linked to health. Strengthening relationship skills of LSMM could enhance their overall well-being and reduce their greater risk for poor health, and are potentially addressable through enhancing intimate and sexual relationship skills.

Based on the needs expressed by a Community Advisory Board of LSMM in South Florida, Dr. Audrey Harkness, Assistant Professor at the University of Miami and Dr. Nicholas Perry, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver, posit that relationship education will buffer the effects of minority stress on LSMM and enhance their social support. Funded by a grant from the MRI and in close partnership with this Community Advisory Board and their research team, including Dr. Roberto Roman Laporte and Dr. Galena Rhoades, one of the co-developers of Within My Reach, they are adapting an evidence-based relationship education program, Within My Reach (WMR) for use with sexual minority Latino men. WMR is an relationship education program designed for delivery to individuals.

Their Aims are: 1. Culturally adapt WMR to LSMM. They recruited Latino sexual minority men and topical experts who provided feedback that informed a cultural adaptation to WMR so that it is aligned with the needs of LSMM.  2. Pilot test. They are now in the process of pilot testing the adapted version of WMR to evaluate its fit for LSMM and its effectiveness on relationship outcomes. The pilot test is facilitated by Dr. Roman Laporte and Mr. Eddie Orozco, a member of the Community Advisory Board. All participants will complete exit interviews to gather additional feedback on the adapted program.

This initial project is being conducted in English, and the team hopes to soon transition to adapting and evaluating the program in Spanish as well. Their hope is that the further refinement and testing of the adapted WMR program will assist in the development of healthy sexual and romantic relationships and improve health status of Latino sexual minority men, thereby meeting the needs expressed by the local community in South Florida.