Interventions to Improve Reproductive Health Among Adolescents

RanD

Status: Completed

Conditions: Teacher Training

Treatments: Other: E-based virtual facilitator training for Making Proud Choices; Other: In-person facilitator training for Making Proud Choices

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT04227236

1R41HD094406

Details and patient eligibility

About

The proposed virtual training prototype will provide Making Proud Choices (MPC) facilitator trainees the opportunity to make decisions, build facilitator skills, practice core concepts and enhance self-efficacy with a virtual audience programmed to display a range of behaviors and emotions, simulating a true-to-life experience with immediate feedback. Seventy-two adults who have experience working with adolescents but not with MPC, STI, or pregnancy prevention education will receive MPC training. Participants will be randomly assigned to either: 1) virtual training in the MPC module on condom use n=36), or 2) dfusion/ETR's traditional in-person training in the same module (n=36). Using mixed methods (survey, focus groups, observations), the project will evaluate the virtual training's impact on STI/pregnancy prevention knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills and its usability, feasibility, and acceptability.

Full description

Dfusion, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, Allen Interactions and Dr. Loretta Jemmott (MPC developer), proposes to develop an online avatar-based virtual training that can make MPC training more accessible while still being as effective as in-person. In this Phase I STTR, we will develop and test a prototype of the online, avatar-based virtual training for activities of MPC and test it with 72 adults who have experience working with adolescents (but not with MPC or any HIV/STI/teen pregnancy risk-reduction program). At random, 36 will receive traditional in-person MPC training, and 36 will receive avatar-based MPC training. The avatar group (n=36) will be compared to the in-person group (n=36) on their STI/pregnancy prevention knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills.

The scientific premise is that avatar-based virtual training will prepare educators to implement the popular evidence-based MPC as effectively as traditional (and expensive) face-to-face trainings. The specific aims are:

• Aim 1: Develop a prototype for a novel, online avatar-based virtual training for select components of the evidence-based STI/pregnancy risk reduction program Making Proud Choices.
• Aim 2: Using mixed methods (survey, focus groups, observations), evaluate the avatar-based training's preliminary impact on facilitator STI/pregnancy prevention knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills compared to in-person training, as well as its usability and acceptability.

By developing novel tools/platforms to improve the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based behavioral interventions to prevent STIs/teen pregnancy, this application is in line with the priorities of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch, which supports reproductive health research on STIs and family planning. If successful, not only will dfusion proceed to Phase II, but the findings could inform other nascent efforts to develop avatar facilitator trainings that could make a range of evidence-based programs more accessible to community-based organizations.

Enrollment: 53 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age 21+ and have no prior experience with MPC or providing STI or pregnancy prevention education

Exclusion criteria

• non-English speaking

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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53 participants in 2 patient groups

E-based virtual training

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the e-based virtual training (up to 8 participants per session) will be placed at one of eight computers (with headphones), which we estimate will take less time (about 40 minutes), due to the individualized learning and 1:1 nature of the training instead of 1:15. Participants will complete the condom-line up facilitator training module that corresponds to the Making Proud Choices curriculum.

Treatment:

Other: E-based virtual facilitator training for Making Proud Choices

In-person training

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in-person training will participate in a class with 15-20 participants like the usual MPC training environment. The training will last 1 hour. Like the e-based virtual training, participants will complete the condom-line up facilitator training module that corresponds to the Making Proud Choices curriculum.

Treatment:

Other: In-person facilitator training for Making Proud Choices