Step Up for STEM and Health Careers

The Ohio State University

Status and phase: Terminated; Phase 2

Conditions: Adolescent Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Educational PowerPoint Presentation on Diversity in STEM Careers; Behavioral: Step Up for STEM and Health Careers ("Step Up") game

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06445751

2023B0273

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers". The "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers" ("Step Up") game is an interactive, digital resource that includes the key elements of a bystander intervention for high school students to understand the importance of diversity in STEM; it also addresses skills, attitudes, and awareness to attain positive STEM identities and mitigate bias and harassment in STEM and health learning environments.

Participants in the intervention arm will be asked to complete the Step Up interactive game; participants in the comparison group will be asked to view a PowerPoint presentation on bias and harassment in STEM/health fields as the control experience. The Step Up game intervention and study outcomes are theory-based (Theory of Planned Behavior, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)): we will assess the impact of Step Up on attitudes about STEM/health careers, STEM/health career self-efficacy, and bystander behavior.

Full description

The goal of this randomized control trial is to evaluate the impact of the "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers" intervention game on STEM/health career and bystander attitudes, as well as self-efficacy. Participants will be randomly assigned to participate in either the Step Up intervention game or the educational PowerPoint presentation.

The "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers" intervention consists of students playing a "Step Up" game to help them understand the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, attain STEM/health career self-efficacy, and create an inclusive learning environment for others. The control group consists of an educational PowerPoint presentation on the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, STEM/health career self-efficacy, and creating an inclusive learning environment for others.

The Step Up intervention game (created by Resilient Games Studio (RGS)) consists of six digital episodes that focus on a specific topic: importance of diversity in STEM careers, heuristics and biases, structural biases and intersectionality, harassment, sexual harassment, and bystander behaviors. Each episode includes interactive mini-games to teach theory-based skills and lessons. Adult characters, who serve as "in-game" STEM/health role models, are integrated throughout the game. The game was built based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to improve STEM/health career and bystander attitudes, as well as self-efficacy.

The educational PowerPoint presentation on bias and harassment in STEM/health fields was also created by RGS and will be used as a control experience for adolescent participants. The PowerPoint presentation will contain sections that correspond to each of the episode topics of the Step Up intervention game.

Enrollment: 24 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 13 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• English-speaking
• Access to a computer and internet connection
• Live in Chicago Metropolitan Area
• Current high school student (enrolled in grade 9-12); or in 12th grade in 2023-2024 school year

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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24 participants in 2 patient groups

Step Up for STEM Careers Game Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Youth in the intervention group will play a six-episode, interactive game on the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, STEM/health career self-efficacy, and creating an inclusive learning environment for others. This includes featuring diverse youth who model STEM/health self-efficacy; integrating STEM/health professional characters as "in-game" content experts and role models; and incorporating mini games to reinforce skills and behavior.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Step Up for STEM and Health Careers ("Step Up") game

Educational PowerPoint

Active Comparator group

Description:

Youth in the comparator group will complete an educational PowerPoint presentation on the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, STEM/health career self-efficacy, and creating an inclusive learning environment for others. This PowerPoint presentation will contain sections that correspond to each episode of the Step Up for STEM and Health Careers intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Educational PowerPoint Presentation on Diversity in STEM Careers