Examining the efficacy of an mHealth media literacy education program for sexual health promotion in older adolescents attending community college

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the feasibility of a mobile health (mHealth), media literacy education program, Media Aware, for improving sexual health outcomes in older adolescent community college students. Participants: 184 community college students (ages 18–19) participated in the study from April–December 2015. Methods: Eight community college campuses were randomly assigned to either the intervention or a wait-list control group. Student participants from each campus completed web-based pretest and posttest questionnaires. Intervention group students received Media Aware in between questionnaires. Results: Several intervention effects of the Media Aware program were significant, including reducing older adolescents' self-reported risky sexual behaviors; positively affecting knowledge, attitudes, normative beliefs, and intentions related to sexual health; and increasing media skepticism. Some gender differences in the findings were revealed. Conclusions: The results from this study suggest that Media Aware is a promising means of delivering comprehensive sexual health education to older adolescents attending community college.

Keywords:

• Community college
• media literacy
• mHealth
• sexual health

Abbreviations

MIP Model	=	Message Interpretation Process Model
MLE	=	media literacy education
SME	=	sexual media exposure

Conflict of interest disclosure

All authors have some financial interest in the prevention program. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Innovation Research & Training.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Kimberly Vuong, Cory Campbell, Shiesha McNeil, Tara Weatherholt, Sarah Rabiner, and Amanda Peters for assistance in conducting the research; our community college partners; and the older adolescents who participated in the study.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this paper was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award number R21DA035665 to the first author. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.