Mighty Girls and the Mighty Moment App:Leveraging Innovative Technology, Narrative Theory, and Social Media to Empower Young Girls to Resist Peer Pressure to Engage in Risky Behavior

The goal of this SBIR Phase I is to prevent risky sexual behaviors among young female adolescents in order to reduce negative outcomes such as early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infectionsTo accomplish this goalwe propose using state of the art technology to develop a scalable and multicultural version of the efficacious Mighty Girls program and evaluate its usability and feasibilityEarly sexual initiation remains costly to individualsfamiliesand societyHoweverdevelopment of effective sex education curricula for early adolescence has been inhibited by a lack of prevention science strategies and political issuesIn answer to these challengesNorris and Hecht REAL Prevention created Mighty GirlsMGa brief sexual pressure resistance curriculum grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and the Communication Competence Model and guided by Narrative Engagement TheoryMG was developed with parentspublic school educatorsPlanned Parenthoodand the clergyand has demonstrated efficacy in a state with an abstinence only policy for sex and HIV prevention educationMG can be implemented as a stand alone or component of any sex education curriculum regardless of local politics because of its focus on peer resistance and decision makingThe curriculum consists ofbrief lessons that can be taught during or after school and an interactive videogame to teach sexual pressure resistanceimprove self efficacyand motivate resistanceHoweverthe program targets only Latinas and technology has not adequately advanced to take the game component to scale without prohibitive costsHencewe propose to develop a scalablemulticultural version that relies on a narrative appMighty Momentin lieu of the interactive videogamePhase I will establish usability and appeal of the multicultural curriculum version and the appboth of which will be developed through formative work involving a multi racial ethnic group ofth grade girlsand review of the evidence based multicultural keepinit REAL curriculum and current literatureAdditionallythe Mighty Moment app prototype will be developed in collaboration with Tapp Technologiesa leading innovator in health promotion technologyThis app will guide girls in creating and narrating a story about beingMightyusing theirMighty Girlspowers to resist sexual pressure without making enemies of the initiatorPhase II will evaluate MG program efficacy after incorporating social mediawith girlsstories submitted to Storybooth Com to be selected for animation and posting on their website where such animations receive overmillion viewscreating a powerful mechanism for dissemination of peer resistance stories and intervention messagesEfficacy of the existing interventionneed for risky sex reduction interventions that surmount political barriersand REAL Prevention s success in commercializing health interventions through partnerships withH clubsPlanned Parenthoodand D A R EAmerica argue for the proposed project s promiseProject findings also lay the foundation for developing a similar program for boys This Phase I SBIR will develop and demonstrate the usability feasibility of a multicultural adaptation Mighty Girlsan effective program for reducing risky sexual behavior amongyear old girlsthat harnesses the power of mobile technology and social media using a novel story writing appThe adaptation will make Mighty Girls easily scalable as either a stand alone or a component of schoolor community based curriculumand capable of reaching millions of youth a yearMighty Girls is unique from other sex and HIV prevention programs because it focuses on decision making and resisting the peer pressure that leads to risky sexual behaviorskills that are valued equally by communities that want abstinence only and communities that want abstinence plus sex education