Focus Area News Post Archives

Latest Edition of Media Ready Spanish Incorporates New Substance Abuse Prevention Content

Elizabeth Porter2023-03-16T18:38:20+00:00

March 16, 2023, Durham, NC – The fourth and newest edition of iRT’s evidence-based, instructor-led media literacy and substance abuse prevention program for middle school students, Media Ready Spanish, has been released. Media Ready Spanish provides youth with skills to critically analyze media content that contains harmful messages about alcohol, drugs, tobacco products, and vapes. The Spanish version of the program continues to use Latin American Spanish in the translations to provide teachers with the opportunity to present all instructional materials to their students in their native language. Through Media Ready’s series of 10 fully scripted, highly interactive lessons, students practice [...]

Latest Edition of Media Ready Spanish Incorporates New Substance Abuse Prevention ContentElizabeth Porter2023-03-16T18:38:20+00:00

Mentoring Central Attends the 13th Annual National Mentoring Summit

Elizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:33:36+00:00

February 23, 2023, Durham, NC – Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, Dr. Rebecca Stelter, and Elizabeth Porter represented Mentoring Central, a division of iRT, at the annual National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC, last month. The 2023 Summit, convened by MENTOR, brought mentoring professionals and advocates from across the nation together for expert-led presentations and networking opportunities to share mentoring best practices and drive positive change for young people. Mentoring Central’s researchers have presented at or attended the National Mentoring Summit every year since the first annual meeting was held in 2012. This year, the Summit was held in person after being held [...]

Mentoring Central Attends the 13th Annual National Mentoring SummitElizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:33:36+00:00

iRT Contributes to the Development of a Disability Inclusion Guide for Mentoring Programs

Elizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:42:55+00:00

February 7, 2023, Durham, NC – Youth with disabilities account for a significant portion of the mentees enrolled in mentoring programs across the United States. A national study conducted by MENTOR found that approximately 10 percent of youth served in mentoring programs nationally have a disability.1 However, many mentoring programs lack the resources needed to meet the unique needs of mentees with disabilities. Mentoring program staff must implement inclusive strategies in the training, policies, and design of their mentoring program to achieve positive outcomes for every mentee enrolled in the program. iRT consulted with Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) and [...]

iRT Contributes to the Development of a Disability Inclusion Guide for Mentoring ProgramsElizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:42:55+00:00

Journal of Health Communication Publishes iRT’s New Research on Media Aware Parent

Elizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:45:18+00:00

January 31, 2023, Durham, NC – Media Aware Parent, one of iRT’s self-paced, online prevention programs, is designed to equip parents of teens with the skills they need to engage in high-quality conversations with their children about sexual and relationship health, teach their children to think critically about media messages, and create effective family rules around media use. A previous paper published by Dr. Tracy Scull and her colleagues at iRT reported on the impact of the program after access to it for one month. At that point in time, the Media Aware Parent program improved parents-adolescent communication, and parents and [...]

Journal of Health Communication Publishes iRT’s New Research on Media Aware ParentElizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:45:18+00:00

New product! Building the Foundation for Mentees Virtual Toolkit: Demystifying Mentoring for Youth While Building Their Motivation and Skills to Safely and Fully Participate in a Mentoring Relationship

Elizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:46:53+00:00

January 31, 2023, Durham, NC – Most mentees participating in a youth mentoring program are signed up to participate by one or more of their parents, and if you ask them, what they will get out of being a mentee in a mentoring program or what a mentor does or what to expect, they often tell you that they have no idea. The Building the Foundation for Mentees workshop was developed to fill this gap in knowledge in youth, as well as to build their interest and motivation to participate. Without proper knowledge about what it means to have a [...]

New product! Building the Foundation for Mentees Virtual Toolkit: Demystifying Mentoring for Youth While Building Their Motivation and Skills to Safely and Fully Participate in a Mentoring RelationshipElizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:46:53+00:00

iRT Creates Virtual Reality Scenarios for Plan My Ride to Prevent Impaired and Distracted Driving

Elizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:50:48+00:00

January 31, 2023, Durham, NC – iRT is dedicated to developing high quality, evidence-based programs for children, teens, and families using emerging technologies. Drs. Rebecca Stelter and Allison Schmidt, research scientists at iRT, are integrating virtual reality (VR) technology into the online safe driving program, Plan My Ride, to provide teens with more immersive ways to learn strategies to prevent impaired and distracted driving. Stelter and Schmidt, Co-Principal Investigators for the Plan My Ride project, have utilized and investigated immersive technologies by attending the 2022 DevLearn Conference & Expo, developing 360-degree videos for safe driving programs, and studying literature regarding the [...]

iRT Creates Virtual Reality Scenarios for Plan My Ride to Prevent Impaired and Distracted DrivingElizabeth Porter2023-02-23T20:50:48+00:00

iRT Collaborates on a Cultural Adaptation of a Parent-Child Communication Program

Elizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:24:52+00:00

December 30, 2022, Durham, NC – Literature suggests that Latino parents, like other communities, lack confidence in their knowledge and ability to discuss sex and relationships with their kids. However, few resources are available to guide parents in communicating with their teenagers about sexual health, especially in a culturally relevant format. iRT’s self-paced, interactive online program, Media Aware Parent, is designed to help parents navigate conversations with their teenagers about sex, relationships, and media. Dr. Tracy Scull, Senior Research Scientist for iRT, and Dr. Mercedes M. Morales-Alemán, Assistant Professor for The University of Alabama, aim to adapt Media Aware Parent to [...]

iRT Collaborates on a Cultural Adaptation of a Parent-Child Communication ProgramElizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:24:52+00:00

iRT Researcher Contributes to Meta-Analysis of Studies on Adolescent Sexual Health

Elizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:03:09+00:00

December 30, 2022, Durham, NC – iRT Research Scientist Dr. Reina Evans-Paulson is consulting on a grant awarded to North Carolina State University to conduct a meta-analysis on predictors of adolescent condom use. Condoms are the most accessible, cost-effective protection against transmission of STDs and HIV for sexually active adolescents, and they are an effective method of pregnancy prevention for youth. Unfortunately, research has shown that only 54% of U.S. adolescents used a condom the last time they had sex. It is critical that we understand the factors that most strongly predict condom use so that they can be targeted in [...]

iRT Researcher Contributes to Meta-Analysis of Studies on Adolescent Sexual HealthElizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:03:09+00:00

iRT Enhances Media Literacy Education and Substance Abuse Prevention Program for Children

Elizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:01:41+00:00

December 30, 2022, Durham, NC – iRT is pleased to announce the third and newest edition of Media Detective Spanish, a media literacy, alcohol, tobacco, and vaping abuse prevention program designed for elementary school students. The Media Detective program consists of instructor-led, interactive classroom activities and hands-on practice opportunities to help students apply critical thinking skills to analyzing the media messages they consume. The Spanish version of Media Detective provides all curriculum content in Spanish to allow teachers to present program content in the language that students are most comfortable with. Media Detective Spanish’s updated edition has expanded upon past editions [...]

iRT Enhances Media Literacy Education and Substance Abuse Prevention Program for ChildrenElizabeth Porter2022-12-30T19:01:41+00:00

iRT Receives Grant for Development of a Parent Training Program to Improve Tween Health

Elizabeth Porter2022-12-14T20:25:31+00:00

November 30, 2022, Durham, NC – innovation Research & Training (iRT) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to develop and evaluate a self-paced, interactive online program designed to educate parents about tween development and help them have high-quality conversations with their tweens about puberty, body-image, relationships, sexuality, and media use. Preadolescence is an integral time in development for children to form lifelong beliefs about appearance, gender roles, relationships, and sex. Children are more susceptible to eating disorders, dating violence perpetration, aggressive behavior, and decreased self-confidence [...]

iRT Receives Grant for Development of a Parent Training Program to Improve Tween HealthElizabeth Porter2022-12-14T20:25:31+00:00