A Self-compassion Intervention for LGBTQ+ Individuals

A Self-compassion Intervention for LGBTQ+ Individuals: a Feasibility Study

Gender and sexual minorities often face minority stress, leading to body dissatisfaction and potential psychological issues like anxiety and depression. Self-compassion has been identified as an effective strategy for managing emotions during negative experiences and may serve as a protective factor against minority stress and body image concerns. However, research on self-compassion interventions specifically for LGBTQ+ individuals is limited. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a self-compassion intervention to enhance body image and psychological well-being among LGBTQ+ individuals in Hong Kong.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health; Body Image; Self-Compassion; LGBTQ
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Mindful self-compassion intervention

Detailed Description

Gender and sexual minorities often experience minority stress, which could lead to negative thoughts and feelings of their bodies. The substantial body dissatisfaction may contribute to psychological issues such as anxiety and depression. Self-compassion has emerged as an adaptive methods for regulating emotions in response to negative experience and perceived personal failures. Research indicates that self-compassion could act as protective factors of sexual minority stress and body image concerns. However, there is currently a lack of studies investigating the effectiveness of the self-compassion based intervention in improving body image and psychological outcomes among LGBTQ+ individuals.

The proposed study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a self-compassion intervention for body image and psychological well-being among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals in Hong Kong.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 17
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077
    • School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 18 years or above;
• Self-identified as LGBTQ+;
• Able to speak, read, and write Cantonese or Putonghua;
• Willing to participate in the study and share their experience of the intervention with the research team;
• Provide written informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current psychosis or intellectual disability;
• Current suicidal ideation with intent (score ≥ 4) as measured using the Columbia suicide severity rating scale;
• Participation in similar studies.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Self-compassion group; Participants in the intervention group will receive 6 weeks self-compassion training.

Other: Mindful self-compassion intervention; Participants will receive six weekly sessions of training by a trainer in mindful self-compassion (MSC). Each session lasting around 90 minutes and will be conducted face-to-face at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. The content of the intervention will include an introduction of mindfulness and self-compassion, practice of body awareness and loving kindness, skills to deal with challenging experiences, and methods for relating to positive aspects of the self.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-compassion	Self-compassion, will be measured with the Chinese version of the short version of self-compassion. It has 12 items, and each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=almost never, 5= almost always). The total score ranged from 12 to 60, with the higher score indicating a higher level of self-compassion.	Through study completion, on average 4 weeks
Internalized stigma	Internalized stigma will be measured by the Chinese version of the 9-item self-stigma scale, which assesses cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of internalized stigma. The nine items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree), with a higher score indicating a higher level of internalized stigma. The scale has shown excellent internal consistency in Chinese sexual minorities, with a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.92 to 0.93.	Through study completion, on average 4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body image	Body image, will be assessed through the Chinese version of the body appreciation scale (BAS-2). It has 10 items, All items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The total score ranges from 5 to 50, with the higher score representing a higher level of body appreciation.	Through study completion, an average of 4 weeks
Anxiety	Anxiety, evaluated using the Chinese version of the generalized anxiety disorders (GAD). It has 7 items, each item is rated on a 4-point Liker scale, from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly everyday). The total score ranges from 0 to 21, with the higher score representing a higher level of anxiety.	Through study completion, an average of 4 weeks
Depression	Depression will be measured using the Chinese version of the 9-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9). Every item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale, from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly everyday). The total score ranges from 0 to 27, with the higher score representing a higher level of depression.	Through study completion, an average of 4 weeks
Self-objectification	Self-objectification will be measured using the body surveillance and body shame subscales of the Chinese version of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS)-body surveillance subscale. The two subscales consist of 14 items. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating higher levels of body surveillance and body shame. The Cronbach's alpha for body surveillance was 0.80 for Chinese women and 0.81 for Chinese men, and the Cronbach's alpha for body shame was 0.70 for both Chinese women and men.	Through study completion, on average 4 weeks
self-esteem	Participants' self-esteem was assessed by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RES) [25]. The RES is a 10-item scale that measures self-esteem on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The total score is calculated by summing the responses, with higher scores indicating high levels of self-esteem. The Chinese version of RES has demonstrated reliability among PWUD with a Cronbach's α of 0.76.	Through study completion, on average 4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hong Kong Metropolitan University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Haixia Ma, PhD, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 21, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 11, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 13, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): November 15, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 11, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 7, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mental health; self-compassion; LGBT; body image
• Other Study ID Numbers: HE-RGC2024/NHS14

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: To ensure participant confidentiality, individual data will remain private and will not be shared.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No