Teacher Training Clinical Trial
Official title:
Interventions to Improve Reproductive Health Among Adolescents
The proposed virtual training prototype will provide Making Proud Choices (MPC) facilitator trainees the opportunity to make decisions, build facilitator skills, practice core concepts and enhance self-efficacy with a virtual audience programmed to display a range of behaviors and emotions, simulating a true-to-life experience with immediate feedback. Seventy-two adults who have experience working with adolescents but not with MPC, STI, or pregnancy prevention education will receive MPC training. Participants will be randomly assigned to either: 1) virtual training in the MPC module on condom use n=36), or 2) dfusion/ETR's traditional in-person training in the same module (n=36). Using mixed methods (survey, focus groups, observations), the project will evaluate the virtual training's impact on STI/pregnancy prevention knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills and its usability, feasibility, and acceptability.
Dfusion, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, Allen Interactions and Dr. Loretta Jemmott
(MPC developer), proposes to develop an online avatar-based virtual training that can make
MPC training more accessible while still being as effective as in-person. In this Phase I
STTR, we will develop and test a prototype of the online, avatar-based virtual training for
activities of MPC and test it with 72 adults who have experience working with adolescents
(but not with MPC or any HIV/STI/teen pregnancy risk-reduction program). At random, 36 will
receive traditional in-person MPC training, and 36 will receive avatar-based MPC training.
The avatar group (n=36) will be compared to the in-person group (n=36) on their STI/pregnancy
prevention knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills.
The scientific premise is that avatar-based virtual training will prepare educators to
implement the popular evidence-based MPC as effectively as traditional (and expensive)
face-to-face trainings. The specific aims are:
- Aim 1: Develop a prototype for a novel, online avatar-based virtual training for select
components of the evidence-based STI/pregnancy risk reduction program Making Proud
Choices.
- Aim 2: Using mixed methods (survey, focus groups, observations), evaluate the
avatar-based training's preliminary impact on facilitator STI/pregnancy prevention
knowledge, teaching efficacy, and teaching skills compared to in-person training, as
well as its usability and acceptability.
By developing novel tools/platforms to improve the dissemination and implementation of
evidence-based behavioral interventions to prevent STIs/teen pregnancy, this application is
in line with the priorities of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch, which supports
reproductive health research on STIs and family planning. If successful, not only will
dfusion proceed to Phase II, but the findings could inform other nascent efforts to develop
avatar facilitator trainings that could make a range of evidence-based programs more
accessible to community-based organizations.
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