In the last few years, the tide of social media research has shifted from the impact of screen time to a focus on technology and teen wellbeing. We are very fortunate to work with colleagues doing important work in the area of technology and LGBTQI+ mental wellbeing.
This pride month, we are celebrating them!
The Learning More From Adolescent Online (LMFAO) research team is led by SMAHRT alumni and collaborator, Dr. Ellen Selkie. The group seeks to identify ways to promote wellbeing for adolescents and young adults when using technology and digital media. One of their projects seeks to examine transgender or gender diverse (TGGD) influencer content from multiple angles including content analysis of social media feeds of TGGD-identified individuals and qualitative interviews with TGGD youth and their parents.
UW Health PATH clinic for pediatric gender identity
Drs. Brittany Allen, Jennifer Rehm, and Ellen Selkie are providers for the Pediatric and Adolescent Transgender Health (PATH) clinic where they work with gender expansive children and teens.
They educate families about medical care options and resources for their children. Their team offers a full range of care and support based on the needs of the child and family. This ranges from observation, advocacy, and guidance to puberty suppression and gender-affirming hormone therapy.
Dr. Allen is also part of the TAM Data Consortium and published a study titled, “Associations between psychological measures and digital media use among transgender youth: Cross-sectional study,” using consortium data.
Seattle Children’s Youth Advisory Board
The team of researchers at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, the University of Washington, and Seattle University work towards building sex education resources for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) youth. They are engaging a Youth Advisory Board (YAB) to co-design a fully functional online interactive sexual education tool designed to support TGE youth in developing healthy romantic and sexual relationships and reduce disproportionate sexual health risks. Their work will result in the first evidence-and-strengths based online sexual health intervention for TGE youth.
Trans Youth improving Care in Western New York
Trans Youth Improving Care in Western NY brings together youth from throughout the vast geographic region of Western NY served by the Gender Health Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center, aiming to provide feedback to improve the quality of gender affirming health services for youth, guide community outreach efforts to better meet the needs of trans and gender diverse youth in the region, and to advise and partner in research.
UT Southwestern Youth Advisory Board
The purpose of the youth advisory board (YAB) is to improve the multidisciplinary care of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth by actively seeking the input of the youth we serve, as we continue to provide life-saving care within an increasingly hostile environment that often marginalizes the experiences of TGD youth. YAB ambassadors will provide suggestions, perspective, and real-life experiences regarding the current services and programming and help us more effectively serve TGD youth and their families. The YAB Ambassadors will provide an advisory role in crafting the vision, voice, and strategic direction of the program and services that we provide TGD youth in the community.
Young Adult and Adolescent Learning & Leadership (Y’ALL): Gender Minority Youth Advisory Board
Our Youth Advisory Board will partner with gender minority youth to address gaps in research and clinical services for gender minority youth and seeks to develop guidelines for other researchers seeking to include gender minority youth in similar projects within a health system/health research.
Please join us in celebrating Pride Month 2022!