Effectiveness of an educational intervention targeting homophobic language use by young male athletes: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Homophobic language is common in male sport and associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes for all sport participants, but particularly for gay or bisexual youth populations. Evidence-based interventions are needed to reduce such language and mitigate harm. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a short social-cognitive educational intervention delivered by professional rugby union players in youth sport. METHODS: In a two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial, 13 Australian youth rugby teams from 9 clubs (N=167, ages 16-20, mean 17.9) were randomised into intervention or control groups. Professional rugby players delivered the intervention in-person. Frequency of homophobic language use was measured 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the intervention. Hypothesised factors underpinning homophobic language were also measured, including descriptive (other people use), prescriptive and proscriptive injunctive norms (approval/disapproval by others), and attitudes towards the acceptability of homophobic language. RESULTS: At baseline, 49.1% of participants self-reported using homophobic language in the past 2 weeks and 72.7% reported teammates using homophobic language. Significant relationships were found between this behaviour and the hypothesised factors targeted by the intervention. However, generalised estimating equations found the intervention did not significantly reduce homophobic language, or alter the associated norms and attitudes, relative to controls. CONCLUSION: Use of professional rugby athletes to deliver education on homophobic language was not effective. Other approaches to reduce homophobic language (and other forms of discrimination) such as peer-to-peer education, and enforcement of policies prohibiting specific language by coaches, should be explored.

Examining Pride Cups as a health promotion resource to address homophobia in Australian men's sport.

Effective interventions are needed to stop homophobic behaviours in sport settings as these behaviours are associated with negative health and social outcomes for individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or other diverse genders and sexualities. This paper reports the results of a quasi-experimental study commissioned by a public health agency to explore the benefits of a novel intervention that has been widely adopted by Australian community sport clubs. The 'Pride Cup' intervention includes education for club leaders, sport participants and the hosting of a rainbow-themed 'pride game'. Survey responses of male participants from six randomly selected sport clubs which had received the intervention (n = 148) were compared to responses (n = 137) from six randomly selected comparison clubs (Australian Football, cricket, field hockey, roller derby). Employing a post-test-only design, the study explored differences in homophobic attitudes, behaviours and individual efficacy to react negatively to homophobic behaviours. The study found significant differences (p < 0.001) in self-reported use of homophobic slurs (e.g. fag) in the last 2 weeks by participants in the treatment (11%) versus comparison (31.8%) clubs, and significant differences in the perceived use of these slurs by teammates (25.9% vs. 56.6%) or coaches (7.8% vs. 23.3%). There were also significant differences in efficacy scores, but no differences in homophobic attitudes. These results, combined with evidence of community-driven adoption, support the allocation of public health resources to conduct larger scale trials using pre/post designs to confirm these findings.

Homophobic behaviours are harmful to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or other diverse genders and sexualities (LGBTQ+) people. United Nations agencies have called for research to identify ways to protect this population from discrimination in community settings. Little research has been conducted to understand how to address this problem in male sport. This study explored the value of an intervention developed by Pride Cup Australia, widely adopted by Australian community sport clubs. The charity provides education and helps clubs host a rainbow-themed 'pride game'. The study compared the homophobic language used by male participants at six clubs that had implemented a Pride Cup, with participants at six clubs which had not. Homophobic attitudes and confidence to react negatively to homophobia were also compared. Participants at clubs that adopted the intervention used less homophobic language in the previous 2 weeks than at the comparison clubs (11% vs. 31.8%) and were half as likely to report their teammates had used this language (25.9% vs. 56.6%). It is unclear if differences were caused by the Pride Cup intervention or some other factor (i.e. teams that agreed to host Pride Cup were already more supportive of LGBTQ+). Given grassroots support for this potentially promising intervention, larger scale studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Relationships between attitudes and norms with homophobic language use in male team sports.

OBJECTIVES: This study addresses a need for quantitative research examining factors supporting the frequent use of homophobic language (e.g., fag) in male team sports which has a range of negative health impacts on gay and bisexual males. Intervention methods are needed to stop this behaviour, but little is known about why this language remains common. DESIGN: Cross-Sectional survey. METHOD: Male Rugby Union (n=97; ages 16 -18 years) and Ice Hockey players (n=146; ages 16 - 31 years) self-reported their use of homophobic language and completed measures of homophobic attitudes and descriptive and injunctive norms related to language use on their team. Bivariate and multivariate analyses examined factors associated with this behaviour. RESULTS: Over half of participants (53.8%) self-reported using homophobic language at least once in the previous two weeks. No relationship was found between homophobic attitudes and language use. In contrast, norm measures had a strong, positive relationship with this behaviour. In multivariate analyses, norms uniquely accounted for almost one-half of the variance in language use. The addition of descriptive norms into the full model led to the largest increase in R2 of .340 (F(1,200)=130.816, p<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Homophobic language use was related to norms, rather than homophobic attitudes. Interventions targeting changes to these norms could be an effective method to change this behaviour. This finding contributes to a growing body of evidence that norms are associated with a range of negative behaviours by male athletes.