JUEGA: A Fun Study for Hispanic/Latino Adolescent Girls

University of Miami

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Adolescent Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Game Girls; Behavioral: Mighty Girls

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02578147

R01NR014851 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

20140697

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to have girls play new computer games designed for middle school children and not yet available to the public. The investigator wants to know what girls think about these games. The investigator also wants to learn about the health behavior of 7th grade girls of Hispanic/Brazilian/Latino origin, and the investigators want to test the Mighty Girls program in Miami. Half of the girls in JUEGA will be given the Mighty Girls program and the investigators want to know if this program reduces behavior that puts girls at risk for having sex, drinking, and using drugs. The program tries to reduce this risk by helping girls learn skills to make wise choices, even when their friends have other ideas or want them to make more risky choices This goal is important because US statistics indicate that Hispanic teens are at risk for teen pregnancy and Miami has one of the highest HIV and AIDS rates in the United States. The investigator wants to find out whether the Mighty Girls program is as effective in Miami-Dade County Public Schools as it was when tested in one of Orlando's Orange County Public Schools.

Enrollment: 552 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 11 to 14 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• English Speaking
• enrolled in 7th grade at a participating school

Exclusion criteria

• developmental delay

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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552 participants in 2 patient groups

Mighty Girls

Experimental group

Description:

Girls in this group complete 3 different activities after school: 6 classroom sessions, 4 DRAMA-RAMA game play sessions, and 4 short game experience surveys. Classroom sessions are 1 hour long, 3 days a week for 2 weeks. Topics include: goal setting, choices and their effects; defining what makes a behavior risky; learning how to not get talked into doing risky things by friends (e.g., going to a party at a house where parents are not home); and learning to be critical of TV shows and other media that make it seem like lots of teens are having sex. These sessions teach girls skills and strategies that help them score game points in DRAMA-RAMA. These are important skills and strategies that they can use in everyday life to make wise choices. Classroom sessions are designed to be fun.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mighty Girls

Game Girls

Active Comparator group

Description:

Girls in this group take part in activities that can be done from home or anywhere they have Wi-Fi access: 4 Science Valley game play sessions and 4 short game experience surveys. Science Valley is a web based game in which girls explore a virtual world and experiment with objects in this world using a computer, tablet or cell phone. Girls will play this game for about 20-30 minutes. There are no classroom sessions required to be able to play Science Valley. Science Valley is designed to be fun and to give girls a chance to build skills important to doing well in school: her problem solving and critical thinking skills. Girls will be given a link to use to access Science Valley on the internet. At the end of the game, they do a short game experience survey that asks questions about how easy, how hard, how fun etc. it was to play Science Valley. This survey will appear on the screen at the end of the Science Valley game play session.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Game Girls