Document text
Principal Investigator: Kerry Evers
Organization: PRO-CHANGE BEHAVIOR SYSTEMS, INC.
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $324,381
Funding agency: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Belonging is an integral part of the human experience and a paramount human need and motivation. A robust
sense of belonging can serve to improve mental and physical health, as well as resilience. Thwarted belonging—
the antithesis of belonging—and the feelings/experiences it foments (e.g., alienation, rejection, social isolation,
loneliness, and marginality) are often antecedents to poor mental and physical health outcomes. Individuals
who possess marginalized identities—such as members of the LGBTQ+ community who possess marginalized
sexual and gender identities—encounter high rates of discrimination and stigma, which account for experiences
of thwarted belonging and disparities in health and well-being. In an increasingly polarized world, workplaces
serve as important sources of belonging for their employees; however, members of the LGBTQ+ community
continue to experience thwarted belonging as many organizations lack the policies and procedures necessary to
make LGBTQ+ workers feel safe, connected, and included. As a result of organizational cultures often being
founded on heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions, LGBTQ+ individuals are forced to confront
dominant workplace cultures that are unwelcoming. The transformation of the workplace, as precipitated by
the COVID-19 pandemic, further hinders LGBTQ+ workers’ pursuit of belonging in the workplace in that it has
led to an increase in burnout and, often, a reduction in the possibilities for work-based social connections.
While interventions to promote workplace belonging among LGBTQ+ workers would address an important
unmet public health need, existing solutions consist of a number of gaps that limit effectiveness and
applicability to LGBTQ+ workers. The proposed research will employ a participatory design approach to create
and examine the acceptability and preliminary effects of Bridges: an advanced Learning Management System
and messaging program that will leverage insights from behavior change science to address thwarted
belongingness among LGBTQ+ workers. Bridges will use proven approaches to behavior change tailoring to
increase belongingness through delivering interactive behavior change communications and activities,
providing a platform to facilitate sharing of personalized stories and opportunities to engage in ongoing
discussions and self-appraisal, and providing actionable tips for addressing belonging within the workplace.
The design and development of Bridges will be informed by extensive and ongoing end-user input from 12
LGBTQ+ worker advisors. One hundred and twenty-nine LGBTQ+ workers will be recruited for a 30-day pilot
test. Phase I milestones will include: 1) feasibility as evidenced by continued receipt of text messages for the
30-day pilot period and one or more interactions with the online tools by at least 75% of study participants; 2)
acceptability of the program, as evidenced by obtaining a minimum rating over 69 on the System Usability
Scale and 75% endorsement that users would recommend to a colleague; and 3) preliminary efficacy as
evidenced by improved professional fulfillment.
Terms: <Address><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 era><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 period><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 years><Caring><Cognitive Discrimination><Communication><Communities><Corporate Culture><Development><Discrimination><Effectiveness><Emotional><Employee><Face><Feeling><Gender Identity><Health><Health behavior change><Hostility><Human><Hybrids><Individual><Interpersonal Interaction><Interpersonal Relations><Interpersonal Violence><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Job Location><Job Place><Job Setting><Job Site><Jobs><LGBTQ><Laws><Learning><Length of Life><Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender Queer><Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer><Loneliness><Longevity><Maps><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Modern Man><Motivation><Names><Occupations><Organizational Culture><Outcome><Participant><Personal Satisfaction><Persons><Phase><Pilot Projects><Policies><Preparedness><Procedures><Process><Productivity><Professional Positions><Program Acceptability><Psychological Health><Public Health><Readiness><Recommendation><Research><Risk><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Schedule><Science><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Sex Orientation><Sexual Orientation><Social isolation><Social support><Source><Specific qualifier value><Specified><Stress><Supervision><System><Technology><Testing><Text Messaging><Translating><Wellness Program><Work><Work Location><Work Place><Work-Site><Workplace><Worksite><behavior change><bully><bullying><burn-out><burnout><community violence><coping><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><cost effective><design><designing><developmental><digital><digital intervention><disparity in health><diversity and inclusion><diversity and inclusivity><experience><faces><facial><feelings><flexibility><flexible><harassment><health disparity><improved><indexing><innovate><innovation><innovative><insight><interpersonal relationship><interventional strategy><lonely><long term COVID-19 pandemic consequences><long term COVID-19 pandemic effects><long term COVID-19 pandemic impacts><longer term COVID-19 pandemic consequences><longer term COVID-19 pandemic effects><longer term COVID-19 pandemic impacts><marginalization><member><name><named><naming><neighborhood violence><physical conditioning><physical health><pilot study><pilot test><prevent><preventing><programs><prototype><recruit><resilience><resilient><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><sex identity><sexual identity><short message service><social><social stigma><social support network><stigma><success><texting><theories><tool><trend><usability><violence against communities><well-being><wellbeing><work setting>