SBIR-STTR Award

The goal of this STTR R41 proposal is to transfer the technology from Rutgers University to REAL Prevention needed to adapt a substance use prevention media literacy curriculum for web-based delivery in community organizations for commercialization. Substance use increases in frequency and risk through mid- adolescence, yet most prevention interventions target only early use and only in a limited number of settings such as schools. Moreover, they often fail to address the media-saturated lives of youth despite research demonstrating the deleterious effects of advertising and entertainment media. This project adapts the Youth Message Development (YMD) Curriculum for online access through 4H clubs. This intervention develops critical perspective taking about peer substance use decisions and confers resistance to pro-drug messages through youth analysis of pro-drug (alcohol, cigarette, smokeless tobacco) media messages combined with interactive media manipulation and active involvement of youth in planning substance use prevention messages. The curriculum demonstrates promising results when administered face-to-face during an NIH- funded pilot research, and the brief online format makes it ideal for use by national youth organizations. Formative research will be used to adapt the Youth Message Development (YMD) prevention curriculum for web-based use by 4H clubs. The clubs provide access to youth with substance use prevalence reflective of national levels but outside of the school context that is standard for most interventions. Refinements will incorporate interactive message manipulation features along with a new social proliferation approach that encourages 4H members to informally disseminate anti-drug messages they create to peers and family members. Pilot testing will be conducted to insure that the adaptation maximizes engaging features of the curriculum and an independent usability test will also be conducted. Self-report and observational measures of usability will be obtained. In the short term, this innovative, brief intervention is expected to influence substance use norms, expectancies, and prevalence as well as the development of higher-order critical thinking and decision-making skills with ultimate substance use outcomes. The social proliferation strategy insures that the effects also are spread widely among peers and family. The delivery flexibility of the brief format with our community partner should foster immediate dissemination if successful, potentially extending the intervention to 7 million 4H members each year as well as to similar community based organizations such as Boys and Girls Club and YWCO/YMCA as well as in the school setting through D.A.R.E America. Thus, the proposal responds to NIDA PA-14-072 Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (R41) calling for projects that: 1) stimulate a partnership of ideas and technologies between innovative small business concerns (SBCs) and non- profit research institutions through Federally-funded research or research and development (R/R&D); and 2) establish the technical/scientific merit and feasibility of the proposed R/R&D efforts.

Public Health Relevance Statement:


Public Health Relevance:
Adolescent substance abuse remains a significant public health concern, and web-based media literacy-based interventions for community organizations that supplement other prevention strategies provide a promising, innovative approach. The proposed study will adapt a brief media literacy intervention for 4H clubs for use via interactive, online delivery. Our long-term objective is to produce a widely and easily disseminated, brief media literacy intervention that can be used alone or as a component to enhance effects of a broader curriculum for community and school contexts.

Project Terms:
Address; Adolescence; Adolescent; adolescent substance abuse; adolescent substance use; Advertising; Age; Alcohol consumption; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; Alcohols; Americas; Applications Grants; base; boys; brief intervention; Businesses; Childhood; Cigarette; Collaborations; commercialization; Communities; community intervention; community organizations; Critical Thinking; Decision Making; design; Development; Drug usage; early adolescence; Educational Curriculum; Educational process of instructing; efficacy trial; Environment; evidence base; Expectancy; experience; Family; Family member; flexibility; Fostering; Frequencies (time pattern); Friends; Funding; girls; Goals; Health Promotion; Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination; improved; innovation; innovative technologies; Institution; interest; International; Internet; Intervention; Leadership; Learning; literacy; Measures; member; National Institute of Drug Abuse; Nature; new technology; novel; novel strategies; Online Systems; Outcome; Patient Self-Report; peer; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phase; Population; Prevalence; Prevention; Prevention strategy; Preventive Intervention; Problem behavior; Prodrugs; programs; public health medicine (field); public health relevance; reduced substance use; Research; research and development; Resistance; Risk; Schools; skills; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Smokeless Tobacco; social; substance use prevention; System; Technology; Technology Transfer; Testing; therapy development; Tobacco; Training; United States National Institutes of Health; Universities; usability; web site; Youth

The goals of this Phase II STTR are to evaluate the outcomes of REAL media, an interactive, self- paced, e-learning substance use prevention media literacy curriculum and prepare it for marketing to community organizations, including our partner, 4-H. Substance use increases in frequency and risk through mid-adolescence, yet prevention interventions primarily target early use, are time intensive, and are implemented in a limited number of settings such as schools. Moreover, they often fail to address the media-saturated lives of youth despite research demonstrating the deleterious effects of advertising and entertainment media. This provides a market niche for the proposed project that addresses this curriculum gap through the innovative use of both technology and prevention science. Guided by the new Theory of Active Involvement, REAL media develops critical perspective taking about substance use decisions and confers resistance to pro-drug (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, marijuana, smokeless tobacco) messages through youth analysis of pro-drug media messages combined with interactive media manipulation and active involvement of youth participants in creating their own anti-ATOD prevention messages. These youth-created messages are then entered into an online contest via a social media proliferation strategy (i.e., youth recruit others to view their messages on social media (e.g., Facebook, YouTube) to win the contest) in which messages are diffused to the wider community. The curriculum demonstrated promising results when administered face-to-face during an NIH-funded pilot study, and the Phase I project demonstrated excellent usability and feasibility for online delivery through 4-H clubs. During Phase II, we will finalize the program and conduct a group-randomized clinical trial among 4-H clubs in four states (NJ, OH, MD, and PA). Clubs will be randomly assigned to use the curriculum or continue current practices with the option for delivery at the end of the study. 4-H members (ages 13-15) will complete a pretest, immediate posttest and follow-up posttests at 3 and 9 months to assess effects. Results will guide preparation of REAL media for the market. The flexibility of the brief, online format (four 15-25 minute levels plus a fifth message planning and production level) for youth in individual or group settings makes this ideal for both community and school implementation. Thus, REAL media is well-suited for rapid dissemination through our existing partners, 4-H, D.A.R.E., and Boys and Girls Clubs, as well as other potential community partners (e.g., YM/WCA, Boys and Girl Scouts) and is appropriate for Phase II funding.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Project Narrative This Phase II STTR will evaluate an interactive, self-paced, e-learning media literacy intervention, REAL media, to prevent youth substance use and prepare it for marketing to youth community organizations and schools. REAL media has the potential for wide impact on youth substance use through implementation in 4-H, D.A.R.E., and Boys and Girls Clubs, as well as on their peers in the community via exposure to anti-drug messages through social media.

Project Terms:
15 year old; Address; Adolescence; adolescent substance use; Advertising; Affect; Age; Alcohol consumption; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; Alcohols; Americas; arm; ATOD; boys; Collaborations; commercialization; Communities; community organizations; community setting; cost; Coupled; Critical Thinking; design; Diffuse; Diffusion; e-commerce; E-learning; early adolescence; early childhood; Educational Curriculum; Educational process of instructing; Electronic cigarette; Enteral; Evaluation; experience; Exposure to; Family; flexibility; follow-up; Frequencies; Funding; girls; Goals; Health; Health Communication; Health Promotion; Individual; innovation; innovative technologies; interest; International; Internet; Intervention; Learning; Letters; literacy; Marijuana; Marketing; Mediator of activation protein; member; Missouri; Modeling; new technology; novel; Outcome; Participant; peer; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phase; phase 1 study; Pilot Projects; Preparation; prevent; Prevention; Preventive Intervention; Problem behavior; Process; Prodrugs; Production; program dissemination; programs; prototype; Public Health; Randomized; Randomized Clinical Trials; randomized trial; Recruitment Activity; Research; Resistance; Risk; Schools; Science; skills; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Smokeless Tobacco; social; social media; Specific qualifier value; statistics; substance use prevention; Technology; Teenagers; Testing; Theoretical model; theories; Thinness; time use; Tobacco; tobacco control; Training; United States National Institutes of Health; Universities; Update; usability; Voting; Washington; web site; Work; Youth