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Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Many community college students experience poor sexual and relationship health outcomes. Young adults consume a plethora of media content, much of which depicts unhealthy sexual and romantic relationships, and research has shown that media exposure can negatively impact health outcomes....

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Autores principales: Scull, Tracy M., Dodson, Christina V., Evans-Paulson, Reina, Reeder, Liz C., Geller, Jacob, Stump, Kathryn N., Kupersmidt, Janis B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9210582/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35729664
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06414-6
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author Scull, Tracy M.
Dodson, Christina V.
Evans-Paulson, Reina
Reeder, Liz C.
Geller, Jacob
Stump, Kathryn N.
Kupersmidt, Janis B.
author_facet Scull, Tracy M.
Dodson, Christina V.
Evans-Paulson, Reina
Reeder, Liz C.
Geller, Jacob
Stump, Kathryn N.
Kupersmidt, Janis B.
author_sort Scull, Tracy M.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Many community college students experience poor sexual and relationship health outcomes. Young adults consume a plethora of media content, much of which depicts unhealthy sexual and romantic relationships, and research has shown that media exposure can negatively impact health outcomes. Asynchronous, web-based media literacy education (MLE) programs have been shown to improve short-term sexual and relationship health outcomes. However, there is a dearth of research on the mechanisms by which MLE programs impact health outcomes and the long-term effects of MLE programs on sexual and relationship health outcomes among community college students. METHODS: This study will (1) evaluate the unique effects of MLE on primary and secondary sexual and relationship health outcomes; (2) compare the mechanisms underlying the effects of an asynchronous, web-based MLE sexual health program (Media Aware) to the mechanisms underlying the effects of an active control program on health outcomes; and (3) evaluate the long-term efficacy of Media Aware on media literacy skills and sexual and relationship health outcomes compared to active control and delayed intervention control groups. To address these aims, a three-arm randomized controlled trial with young adults attending community college will be conducted. It is expected that around 30 campuses will participate and approximately 67 students from each campus will be enrolled in the study (estimated n = 2010). Campuses will be randomized to either the (1) intervention group (Media Aware); (2) active control group (sexual health education from Media Aware without MLE content or methods); or (3) delayed intervention control group. Students will complete online questionnaires at pretest, posttest, 6-month, and 12-month follow-ups. DISCUSSION: This project has the potential to advance theory about the potential mechanisms through which MLE has an impact on sexual and relationship health outcomes by directly testing the impact of interventions using a randomized design. Additionally, this study is expected to establish strong evidence for the effectiveness of Media Aware for use with young adults and to help identify strategies to optimize the longer-term impact of the program on health. Students’ satisfaction with programming will be discussed to inform future implementation efforts.
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spelling pubmed-92105822022-06-22 Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial Scull, Tracy M. Dodson, Christina V. Evans-Paulson, Reina Reeder, Liz C. Geller, Jacob Stump, Kathryn N. Kupersmidt, Janis B. Trials Study Protocol BACKGROUND: Many community college students experience poor sexual and relationship health outcomes. Young adults consume a plethora of media content, much of which depicts unhealthy sexual and romantic relationships, and research has shown that media exposure can negatively impact health outcomes. Asynchronous, web-based media literacy education (MLE) programs have been shown to improve short-term sexual and relationship health outcomes. However, there is a dearth of research on the mechanisms by which MLE programs impact health outcomes and the long-term effects of MLE programs on sexual and relationship health outcomes among community college students. METHODS: This study will (1) evaluate the unique effects of MLE on primary and secondary sexual and relationship health outcomes; (2) compare the mechanisms underlying the effects of an asynchronous, web-based MLE sexual health program (Media Aware) to the mechanisms underlying the effects of an active control program on health outcomes; and (3) evaluate the long-term efficacy of Media Aware on media literacy skills and sexual and relationship health outcomes compared to active control and delayed intervention control groups. To address these aims, a three-arm randomized controlled trial with young adults attending community college will be conducted. It is expected that around 30 campuses will participate and approximately 67 students from each campus will be enrolled in the study (estimated n = 2010). Campuses will be randomized to either the (1) intervention group (Media Aware); (2) active control group (sexual health education from Media Aware without MLE content or methods); or (3) delayed intervention control group. Students will complete online questionnaires at pretest, posttest, 6-month, and 12-month follow-ups. DISCUSSION: This project has the potential to advance theory about the potential mechanisms through which MLE has an impact on sexual and relationship health outcomes by directly testing the impact of interventions using a randomized design. Additionally, this study is expected to establish strong evidence for the effectiveness of Media Aware for use with young adults and to help identify strategies to optimize the longer-term impact of the program on health. Students’ satisfaction with programming will be discussed to inform future implementation efforts. BioMed Central 2022-06-21 /pmc/articles/PMC9210582/ /pubmed/35729664 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06414-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Study Protocol
Scull, Tracy M.
Dodson, Christina V.
Evans-Paulson, Reina
Reeder, Liz C.
Geller, Jacob
Stump, Kathryn N.
Kupersmidt, Janis B.
Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title_full Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title_fullStr Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title_short Evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
title_sort evaluating the mechanisms and long-term effects of a web-based comprehensive sexual health and media literacy education program for young adults attending community college: study protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial
topic Study Protocol
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9210582/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35729664
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06414-6
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