Engineering an Online STI Prevention Program

The Pennsylvania State University (PENNSTATE)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Alcohol Consumption; Sexual Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Descriptive norms and perceived benefits; Behavioral: Knowledge alone; Behavioral: Expectancies, desc & injun norms, benefits; Behavioral: Descriptive norms alone; Behavioral: Injunctive norms; Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, benefits, efficacy; Behavioral: Descriptive norms and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Expectancies, descr& injun norms, efficacy; Behavioral: Expectancies and injunctive norms; Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits; Behavioral: Expectancies and Perceived Benefits; Behavioral: Expectancies and descriptive norms; Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Injunctive norms and perceived benefits; Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, benefits; Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive norms, and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Descriptive norms, injunctive norms,self-efficacy; Behavioral: Self-efficacy alone; Behavioral: Perceived benefits and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Perceived benefits alone; Behavioral: Expectancies, perceived benefits, self-efficacy; Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms; Behavioral: Descriptive norms,perceived benefits,self-efficacy; Behavioral: Injunctive norms and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive and injunctive norms; Behavioral: Expectancies,desc & injun norms,benefits,efficacy; Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive norms, and benefits; Behavioral: Expectancies alone; Behavioral: Expectancies and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Expectancies,descriptive norms, benefits, efficacy; Behavioral: Injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy; Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits,efficacy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02897804

R01AA022931

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overall objective of the proposed research is to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among college students. The investigators propose to accomplish this by using the innovative, engineering-inspired multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) to develop a highly effective, appealing, economical, and readily scalable internet-delivered behavioral intervention targeting the intersection of alcohol use and sexual risk behavior. The rate of STIs on college campuses is alarming: one in four college students is diagnosed with an STI at least once during their college experience. Sexual activity when drinking alcohol is highly prevalent among college students. Alcohol use is known to contribute to the sexual risk behaviors that are most responsible for the transmission of STIs, namely unprotected sex, contact with numerous partners, and "hook-ups" (casual sexual encounters). Few interventions have been developed that explicitly target the intersection of alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, and none have been optimized. In order to reduce the incidence of STI transmission among this and other high-risk groups, a new approach is needed. MOST is a comprehensive methodological framework that brings the power of engineering principles to bear on optimization of behavioral interventions. MOST enables researchers to experimentally test the individual components in an intervention to determine their effectiveness, indicating which components need to be revised and re-tested. Given the high rates of alcohol use and sex among college students, the college setting provides an ideal opportunity for intervening on alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors. The proposed study will include a diverse population of college students on 4 campuses which will increase the generalizability of the findings. The specific aims are to (1) develop and pilot test an initial set of online intervention components targeting the link between alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, (2) use the MOST approach to build an optimized preventive intervention, and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of the newly optimized preventive intervention using a fully powered randomized controlled trial (RCT). This work will result in a new, more potent behavioral intervention that will reduce the incidence of STIs among college students in the US, and will lay the groundwork for a new generation of highly effective STI prevention interventions aimed at other subpopulations at risk.

Full description

As part of the MOST approach, the investigators will conduct a series of screening experiments to build an optimized intervention. The current study is the first (of two) screening experiments.

Enrollment: 3,997 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Currently enrolled at an American college or University.
• A first year student or first-year transfer student.
• 18 years of age or older.
• Have not gone through previous versions of itMatters before

Exclusion criteria

• Not a first year student or transfer student
• Younger than 18 years of age
• Have gone through previous versions of itMatters

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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3,997 participants in 32 patient groups

Knowledge alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Knowledge alone

Self-efficacy alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the self-efficacy module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-efficacy alone

Perceived benefits alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the perceived benefits module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Perceived benefits alone

Benefits and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the perceived benefits and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Perceived benefits and self-efficacy

Injunctive norms alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the injunctive norms module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Injunctive norms

Injunctive norms and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the injunctive norms and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Injunctive norms and self-efficacy

Injunctive norms and perceived benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the injunctive norms and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Injunctive norms and perceived benefits

Injunctive norms, perceived benefits,self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy

Descriptive norms alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive norms alone

Descriptive norms and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive norms and self-efficacy

Descriptive norms and perceived benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive norms and perceived benefits

Descriptive norms,perceived benefits,self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive norms,perceived benefits,self-efficacy

Descriptive norms and injunctive norms

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms and injunctive norms modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms

Descriptive norms, injunctive norms,self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive norms, injunctive norms,self-efficacy

Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits

Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits,efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the descriptive norms, injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Descriptive and injunctive norms, benefits,efficacy

Expectancies alone

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies module for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies alone

Expectancies and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies and self-efficacy

Expectancies and perceived benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies and Perceived Benefits

Expectancies, perceived benefits, self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, perceived benefits, self-efficacy

Expectancies and injunctive norms

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies and injunctive norms modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies and injunctive norms

Expectancies, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy

Expectancies, injunctive norms, and benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, injunctive norms, and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, benefits

Expectancies, injunctive norms, benefits, efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, injunctive norms, benefits, efficacy

Expectancies and descriptive norms

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies and descriptive norms modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies and descriptive norms

Expectancies, descriptive norms, and self-efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive norms, and self-efficacy

Expectancies, descriptive norms, and benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive norms, and benefits

Expectancies,descriptive norms, benefits, efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies,descriptive norms, benefits, efficacy

Expectancies, descriptive and injunctive norms

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, and injunctive norms modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, descriptive and injunctive norms

Expectancies, descr& injun norms, efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, descr& injun norms, efficacy

Expectancies, desc & injun norms, benefits

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and perceived benefits modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies, desc & injun norms, benefits

Expectancies,desc & injun norms,benefits,efficacy

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will have access to the knowledge module plus the expectancies, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy modules for a period up to 3 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expectancies,desc & injun norms,benefits,efficacy