Next4You: A Fully Mobile Relationships Based Program for Youth in Foster Care

ETR Associates

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Pregnancy Related; Adolescent Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Next4You

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06127277

Next4You

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to rigorously evaluate Next4You, an innovative, fully mobile program featuring 6 content modules, each containing 8-10 microlessons intended to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STI) and increase essential knowledge, attitudes, and skills among young people aged 16-19 currently in the foster care system in California.

Full description

Next4You will be tested using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving approximately 500-600 young people ages 16-19 with former or current experience in the California foster care system. Participants will complete an online screener that will assess eligibility (age, foster youth status, county of residence, English proficiency, and access to a device that is Wi-Fi or cellular enabled). Participants will be randomly assigned to receive access to the Next4You mobile platform and its microlessons and resources or a control website containing various health promotion materials. Participants in both conditions will have four consecutive weeks to explore the content on the platform (defined as the implementation period). Self-reported survey data related to attitudes, knowledge, and behavior around romantic relationships and sexual behavior are collected at baseline, as well as 3 months and 9 months after the intervention ends.

Enrollment: 500 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 16 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria: Age, foster youth status, county of residence, English proficiency, access to a digital device that is Wi-Fi and/or cellular enabled -

Exclusion Criteria:

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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500 participants in 2 patient groups

Next4You

Experimental group

Description:

Next4You is a web-based, self-paced program featuring 6 content modules, each containing 8-10 microlessons intended to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STI) and increase essential knowledge, attitudes, and skills among young people aged 16-19 currently in foster care in California. Each microlesson is 2-4 minutes with diverse content formats. Youth in the intervention condition will have unlimited access to the platform for an intensive 4-week period. During this period, engagement activities will be deployed twice weekly to draw users back into the platform for further engagement with the microlessons. Content will also be released on a schedule to encourage continued engagement. Following the intensive 4-week period, youth will retain unlimited access to the platform but will not receive reminders to engage with the content. Participants complete online surveys at baseline, as well as 3 months and 9 months after the intervention ends.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Next4You

General Health Mobile Website

Active Comparator group

Description:

Youth randomized to the attention control condition will have access to a mobile-responsive website that contains digital resources focusing on nutrition, sleep, stress/anxiety, and exercise. Like the intervention group, participants in the attention control group will have unlimited access to the general health digital resources for an intensive 4-week period. Each topic area will have between 1-4 digital pamphlets (for a total of 12 pamphlets) that are downloadable and take between 2-4 minutes to read. Participants complete online surveys related to attitudes, knowledge, and behavior around romantic relationships and sexual behavior at baseline, as well as 3 months and 9 months after the intervention ends.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Next4You