Recorded presentation

Olaunda Williams, BS¹, Stephania Sidberry, MPH¹, and Rebecca H. Reeve, PhD, CHES². (1) Governor's Institute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, 200 Park Office Drive, Suite 200, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, 919-990-9559, olaundag@mindspring.com, (2) Child and Family Health, Governor's Institute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, 200 Park Office Drive, Suite 200, REsearch Triangle Park, NC 27709

A six-session middle school curriculum developed at Appalachian State University was piloted in a successful wait-list control group study. This pilot study (n= 385) documents the successful implementation of the curriculum delivered by trained college students. The curriculum, consistent with the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, was designed to 1) increase student recognition of biased messages; 2) increase students’ ability to identify specific persuasive strategies employed; 3) decrease students’ positive and increase negative attitudes and beliefs; and 4) decrease students’ current use and future intention to use alcohol and tobacco. Key findings of the study include statistically significant: 1) increases in media skepticism which varied by students’ past alcohol use; 2) increased ability to recognize advertiser strategies; 3) decreased likelihood to find teen alcohol and drug use acceptable. Student intentions to use alcohol & tobacco decreased in the intervention group with a more pronounced effect for boys than girls. Students evaluated the curriculum very positively; they liked learning about media literacy. Challenges in uniformity of delivery, potential inclusion of media advocacy as a component to provide behavioral outlets for increased media skepticism and other “lessons learned will be shared. Potential ways to consolidate and reinforce the positive cognitive changes documented will be explored.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize and describe key components of successful middle school media literacy curricula.
• Identfy key evaluation methods to document curricula implementation outcomes.
• Apply "lessons learned" to future implementations to enahnce both the methodology and impact of media literacy trainin in middle school settings.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Curricula

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation