NCT03953495

Better Together: A Web-based Relationship Education Tool

Completed NA Last updated 4 December 2020

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Better Together in Same-Sex Relationships in 22 participants. Completed in 3 December 2020.

Timeline

25 June 2019

Primary endpoint
3 December 2020

3 December 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Sharon Scales Rostosky
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	na
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	22
Start date	25 June 2019
Primary completion	3 December 2020
Estimated completion	3 December 2020
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Better Together

Conditions studied

• Same-Sex Relationships — all drugs for Same-Sex Relationships →

Sponsor

Sharon Scales Rostosky

Who can join

18 and older, female only, with Same-Sex Relationships. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Health disparities have been documented in same-sex partnered women, including higher rates of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, and mental health disorders. Higher rates of smoking, substance use, and obesity are behavioral risk factors that contribute to these chronic health problems. Living in rural areas with fewer social supports and less access to culturally sensitive healthcare services may also contribute to health disparities in sexual minorities. Their stigmatized identity is linked to minority stress, a well-documented social determinant of health behaviors and outcomes. Coping responses are an important couple-level mechanism that link stigma-related (minority) stress and health in same-sex couples. Relationship education (RE) programming is a potentially effective approach to increasing positive dyadic-level coping skills that support health. In a sample of 40 female same-sex couples, investigators will test the hypothesis that couples who complete newly revised, web-based RE modules that target health-related coping responses to stigma-related stress will report immediate (post-intervention) and persistent (3-month follow up) positive effects on their relationship quality (e.g., positive communication and problem-solving, relationship satisfaction, perceived partner support), stigma-related coping behaviors, and health (e.g., reduced substance use, depression/anxiety, physical health symptoms). This intervention represents one of the first efforts to test the effects of a culturally appropriate web-based relationship education tool that specifically targets health-related coping behaviors in rural female same-sex couples, a stigmatized, high-risk, under-researched and under-resourced population.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. <i>Better Together Online</i>: A Pilot Study of a Relationship Education Intervention with Rural Female Couples.
   Rostosky SS, Whitton SW, Clements ZA, Robbins S. · · 2025 · PMID 40547517 · DOI 10.1037/pro0000610