Heiden-Rootes Katie, Linsenmeyer Whitney, Russon Jody, Levy Suzanne, Diamond Guy
Medical Family Therapy Program, Family & Community Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Nutrition and Dietetics Department, Doisy College of Health Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
J Marital Fam Ther. 2025 Jan;51(1):e12765. doi: 10.1111/jmft.12765.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth who experience family rejection are at increased risk for depression and suicide. Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) demonstrates promising results for reducing this risk with LGBTQ youth. This community-participatory, mixed-method study piloted the use of ABFT with LGBTQ youth. Fourteen families completed treatment with adolescent youth, pre- and post-individual and family interviews, and a measure of youth mental health. Post-therapy, 80% of youth showed a significant reduction in psychological distress. The qualitative thematic analysis constructed four themes describing how families present to therapy with emotional distress, caregiver support needed during ABFT, how caregivers acquired new listening and communication skills, and LGBTQ youth experiences of finding freedom to explore and talk about sexual and gender identities. Implications from the study suggest the need to challenge heteronormative emotional structures of families for increasing emotional support of fathers with their LGBTQ children.
经历家庭排斥的女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别及酷儿（LGBTQ）青年患抑郁症和自杀的风险更高。基于依恋的家庭治疗（ABFT）在降低LGBTQ青年的这种风险方面显示出了有前景的结果。这项社区参与式的混合方法研究对ABFT在LGBTQ青年中的应用进行了试点。14个家庭完成了对青少年的治疗、个体和家庭治疗前后访谈，以及一项青少年心理健康测量。治疗后，80%的青年心理困扰显著减轻。定性主题分析构建了四个主题，描述了家庭如何带着情绪困扰接受治疗、ABFT过程中所需的照顾者支持、照顾者如何获得新的倾听和沟通技巧，以及LGBTQ青年在获得探索和谈论性取向及性别认同的自由方面的经历。该研究的启示表明，有必要挑战家庭的异性恋规范情感结构，以增加父亲对其LGBTQ子女的情感支持。
