Sostenere i genitori ad affermare le esperienze di identità sessuale e di genere dei propri figli (SPACES)

Participants in the expressive writing (EW) condition will be instructed to write in a free-form manner about the most stressful aspects of being a parent of an SGMY, following standard EW procedures.

Participants will be instructed to write for 20 minutes across 3 consecutive days. They will be writing based on the prompts given to them.

Participants in the attachment-based writing (ABW) condition will respond to distinct prompts created for the condition based on components of attachment-based family therapy (ABFT).

Participants will be instructed to write for 20 minutes across 3 consecutive days. They will be writing based on the prompts given to them.

Participants in the control condition will be asked to write about what they have done since waking up that morning.

Participants will be instructed to write in order to control for time and writing engagement.

The 10-item Parent Non-Acceptance Scale is a self-reported instrument assessing positive and negative indicators of parental acceptance of their SGMY. Parents report level of agreement on a scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 6 (Strongly Agree), with a higher score on negative indicators representing a higher level of non-acceptance and a higher score on positive indicators representing a lower level of non-acceptance.

The Children's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) is a 10-item rejection/support subscale assessing level of rejection/support. Parents report how much each statement describes the way they acted towards their SGMY ranging from 1 (not like you) to 3 (a lot like you), where Acceptance and Psychological Control scores are the totals of the individual items in the respective sub-scales, and Firm Control score is obtained by taking the sum of the Firm Control + subscale, adding 24, and by then subtracting the total of the Firm Control -- subscale.

The 24-item Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire describes the way parents act towards their children. Parents report how true each statement is on a scale from 1 (almost always true of me) to 4 (almost never true of me) where a higher score indicates a higher level of rejection.

The Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) is a measure of parent-child dynamics where parents talk for 5 minutes about their thoughts and feelings about their SGMY. The qualitative interview is coded and scored appropriately to measure parental behavior towards their SGMY

The Parental Environment Questionnaire Conflict (12-item), Involvement (12-item), and Regard for Child (5-item) Subscales assess perceptions of parent-child relationship quality. Parents rate how true each statement is on a scale from 1 (definitely true) to 5 (definitely false), where a high score on the conflict scale indicates greater parental conflict, a high score on the involvement scale indicates less parental involvement, and a high score on the regard for child scale indicates high regard for child.

The 12-item McMaster Family Assessment Device General Functioning Subscale further assesses perceived parent-child relationship quality and stress on a scale of "strongly agree" (1) to "strongly disagree" (4), where a higher score indicates lower general family functioning.

The Social Distance Scale assesses anti-LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) stigma by assessing parents' responses to different scenarios from 0 (definitely unwilling or completely uncomfortable) to 3 (definitely willing or completely comfortable), where a lower score indicates stronger anti-LGBTQ stigma.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Affiliate Stigma Measure (LGB-ASM) measures affiliate stigma faced by heterosexual family and friends of sexual minority people. Parents rate how much they agree with each statement on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree), with the option to claim "not applicable." A higher score indicates stronger affiliate stigma.

The 11-item Unfinished Business Scale was adapted by Principal Investigator Pachankis with strong psychometric properties to measure parents' unresolved negative thoughts and feelings towards their SGMY. Parents rate statements about their SGM child on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much), where a higher score represents greater unresolved parent-child conflict.

The 63-item PROMIS Depression, Anxiety, and Anger questionnaires measure parent-reported frequency of depression, anxiety, and anger symptoms over the past 7 days on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always), where higher scores indicate higher severity of symptoms.

The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale assesses parents' perceived stress by asking about frequency of thoughts and feelings during the past month on a scale from 0 (never) to 4 (very often), where a higher score indicates a higher level of perceived stress.

The 15-item proxy-report PROMIS Depression and Anxiety Scales measures parent report of their SGM child's depression and anxiety symptoms by asking frequency of the SGMY's symptoms over the past 7 days on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always), where higher scores indicate a greater severity of parent-reported symptoms.

The 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) inquires about parents' positive and negative affect towards their SGMY. Participants indicate how often they have felt either positive or negative indicators on a scale of 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely). A high score on positive affect indicators indicates a higher positive affect towards the SGMY, while a high score on negative affect indicates a higher negative affect towards the SGMY.

The 31-item Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) measures parent empathy toward their SGMY. Parents rate how much a statement relates to them on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree), where a high score indicates a high level of empathy toward the SGMY.

The Client Satisfaction Questionnaire is an 8-item measurement of perceived helpfulness, likelihood of recommending, and positive experience. Participants rate statements on a scale of 1 (most negative) to 4 (most positive), with a high score representing a higher level of satisfaction.

The 17-item Treatment Acceptability Survey assesses perceived helpfulness, likelihood of recommending, and positive experience of the interventions. Participants rate statements on a scale of 1(strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree), with a higher score representing a higher level of acceptability.

Intervention feasibility will be partially measured by the percentage of intervention sessions participants complete.

Intervention feasibility will be partially measured by the percentage of fully engaged sessions, defined as the number of writing sessions that included at least 313 words.

Intervention feasibility will partially be tracked by the number of platform technical or accessibility issues noted throughout the intervention.