Study of Long-term Efficacy and Mechanisms Underlying the Impact of a Web-based Sexual and Relationship Health Promotion Program With Young Adult Community College Students

Innovation Research & Training

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sexual Assault; Sexual Behavior; Violence, Domestic

Treatments: Behavioral: Media Aware for Young Adults; Behavioral: Health Aware for Young Adults

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04950686

CCHealthStudy-R01-20-007

R01HD099134 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Community college students are an underserved and at-risk population in terms of their sexual and relationship health. This is a three-arm randomized control trial to evaluate the long-term efficacy of a web-based sexual and relationship health promotion program among U.S. community college students (expected N = 2010) and explore the mechanisms underlying the program efficacy.

Full description

Community college students are an underserved and at-risk population in terms of their sexual and relationship health. One promising avenue for improving sexual decision making among this population is media literacy education (MLE). Though studies show MLE is an effective approach to sexual health promotion there is a need to better understand the mechanisms by which MLE programs impact health outcomes. The ultimate goals of this study are to 1) advance theoretical frameworks of media literacy to better understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to sexual health behavior change and 2) enhance the sexual and relationship health of community college students by identifying successful methods of health promotion and strategies to implement health programs at community colleges. This study is a three-arm randomized control trial (RCT) with 2010 community college students (ages 18-19) from 30 colleges across the U.S. All components of this study (i.e., interventions, surveys) are web-based.

Participating students will be randomized to one of three conditions: 1) students who receive a sexual health program grounded in MLE (Media Aware); 2) students who receive a sexual health program with no MLE; and 3) a wait-list control group. Participants will complete pretest, posttest, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up surveys to examine changes across the three groups in our primary outcomes (e.g., risky sexual behavior) and secondary outcomes (e.g., sexual health knowledge, rape myth acceptance, perceived realism of media messages).

Enrollment: 2,184 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Students must be 18 or 19 years of age.
• Students must attend one of the community colleges from which this study is recruiting participants.
• Students must have an email address to receive study communication.
• Students must have access to a computer, tablet, or phone device with internet access as the questionnaires and programs are web-based.
• Students must be able to speak and read English because the study materials (e.g., questionnaires, programs) are in English.

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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2,184 participants in 3 patient groups

Intervention - Media Aware for Young Adults

Experimental group

Description:

This arm will receive Media Aware for Young Adults between the pretest and posttest questionnaire. Media Aware for Young Adults is a web-based sexual and relationship health promotion program that uses a media literacy education (MLE) approach. The program is self-paced and includes four modules.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Media Aware for Young Adults

Active Control - Health Aware for Young Adults

Active Comparator group

Description:

This arm will receive Health Aware for Young Adults in between the pretest and posttest questionnaire. Health Aware for Young Adults is a web-based sexual and relationship health promotion program. The program contains the same health content as Media Aware for Young Adults but without the media literacy education components. The program is self-paced and includes four modules.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Health Aware for Young Adults

Delayed Intervention Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in this condition will not receive a sexual or relationship health promotion program until after the 12-month follow-up survey. After that survey is complete, they will receive access to the Media Aware for Young Adults program.