Step Up for STEM and Health Careers

Adolescent Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Step up for STEM and Health Careers: An Interactive Digital Resource to Reduce STEM-related Biases and Improve High School STEM Learning Environments

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06445751
• Other study ID #: 2023B0273
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: June 1, 2024
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2024

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: Ohio State University
• Contact: Nikki Thomas, PhD
• Phone: 614-247-6228
• Email: Nicole.Thomas3[@]osumc.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 100
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2024
• Est. primary completion date: July 31, 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 13 Years to 19 Years

Eligibility

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:

-

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adolescent Behavior

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Step Up for STEM and Health Careers ("Step Up") game
Step Up for STEM and Health Careers ("Step Up") game is an interactive, digital resource to help high school students understand the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, attain STEM/health career self-efficacy, and help them create an inclusive learning environment for others.
• Educational PowerPoint Presentation on Diversity in STEM Careers
An educational PowerPoint on Diversity in STEM careers to increase adolescents' STEM/health career self-efficacy, and help them create an inclusive learning environment for others.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Ohio State University	National Institutes of Health (NIH), Resilient Games Studio, University of Chicago

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	STEM/health career attitudes using modified Career Interest (Christensen, et al., 2014) and STEM Semantics (Knezek and Christensen, 2008) questionnaires	One's beliefs about outcomes associated with STEM/health careers	From baseline pre-test immediately preceding randomization to post-test up to 3 days post intervention/comparator
Primary	STEM/health career self-efficacy using a modified Career Interest Questionnaire (Christensen, et al., 2014)	The perception one has the requisite skills and capabilities for attaining a STEM/health career	From baseline pre-test immediately preceding randomization to post-test up to 3 days post intervention/comparator
Secondary	Intent to pursue a STEM/health career using a modified Career Interest Questionnaire (Christensen, et al., 2014)	One's intent to pursue a STEM/health career	From baseline pre-test immediately preceding randomization to post-test up to 3 days post intervention/comparator
Secondary	Knowledge of the value of diversity in STEM/health careers using a questionnaire	One's knowledge of the value of diversity in STEM/health careers	From baseline pre-test immediately preceding randomization to post-test up to 3 days post intervention/comparator
Secondary	Intent to intervene as a bystander when witnessing harassment on the basis of race, gender, disability status, etc., using a questionnaire derived from the Bystander Questionnaire (Garza et al., 2023; McMahon and Banyard, 2012)	One's intent to intervene as a bystander when witnessing harassment on the basis of race, gender, disability status, etc.	From baseline pre-test immediately preceding randomization to post-test up to 3 days post intervention/comparator