Web-based High School Media Literacy for Healthy Relationships

Project Abstract Adolescents can benefit greatly from evidence basedmedically accurate sexual and relationship health educationHoweverboth teachers and parents face challenges in effectively teaching about sexual health and relationships leading to students receiving incomplete or inaccurate informationYoung people turn to the media for informationand many media messages about sex and relationships are inaccurate and unhealthyConsumption of unhealthy media messagese gthose that normalize or glamorize risky sexis related to early and risky adolescent sexual behaviorsMedia literacy educationMLEwhich teaches critical analysis of media messageshas been shown to be an effective intervention for changing risky health behaviors including those related to sexual and relationship healthThusthis Phase II application proposes to complete the development of and test the efficacy of Media AwareMASH HSan interactive web based sexual health MLE programdesigned to develop high school studentsandaposcritical thinking skills and promote sexual and relationship healthIt is hypothesized that this program will enhance adolescentsandaposmedia literacy skillssexual health knowledgecognitionsi ebeliefsself efficacyand normsand behaviors regarding healthy decision makingThe program is highly innovative due to inclusion of a broad range of sexual and relationship health topicsattention to media influencea risk factor often ignored in sexual risk prevention programsand a paradigm shift for school based sexual health education away from teacher led programming towards a self pacedonline format that enhances student learningThe Phase I Feasibility Study revealed significant impacts of the program on studentsincluding enhanced critical thinking about media messagesincreased ability and intentions to intervene if they were a bystander to a possible sexual assaultdecreased normative beliefs about the frequency of teen sexual activity and risky sexual activityand decreased willingness to engage in risky sexual behaviorsThe first aim of Phase II is to make edits to the program and Learning Management System to enhance program implementation with help from an Advisory Panel of teachers and school administratorsThe second aim of Phase II is to conduct a randomized control trial to examine the programandapos s impact on factors related adolescentsandapossexual and relationships health where schoolsnare randomly assigned to conditionand all of one teacherandapos s classrooms from each school will either receive MASH HSnclassesor their standard health education curriculumnclassesbetween pretest and posttest questionnairesThe RCT will also include amonth follow up in order to examine if the program results in behavioral changesThe potential commercial application is an engagingcost effective sexual and relationship health programOne added benefit is that while enhancing healththe program develops critical thinking skillshighly valued in education settingswhich should contribute positively to program adoption and scalability Project Narrative Media literacy education is an effective approach for the prevention of many risk behaviorsincluding early and risky sexual behaviorsThe purpose of this project is to complete the development and test the efficacy of a self paced program designed to provide high school studentsin gradesandwith sexual health knowledgemedia literacy skillsand practice in communicating about sexual health topics through a highly interactive web application with the goal of positively impacting their sexual health outcomesincluding the prevention of HIV AIDSother STIsand unplanned pregnancyThis project will result in the development of a commercially available educational tool with empirically tested results