Focus Area News Post

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

Elizabeth Porter2023-07-19T17:59:24+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 misuse 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 Use Prevention Program for ChildrenElizabeth Porter2023-07-19T17:59:24+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

iRT Scientists Present at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Conference

IRT Inc2022-01-28T15:55:10+00:00

iRT scientists, Drs. Tracy Scull, Christina Dodson, and Reina Evans-Paulson, presented a symposium entitled, Promoting Adolescent Sexual Health In The Digital Age Through Media Literacy And Sexual Communication, at the most recent Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November 2021. Their symposium featured a review of research on the relationship between media and adolescent sexuality as well as the benefits of media literacy education on adolescent sexual and relationship health. They were joined in the symposium by co-authors Dr. Laura Widman and Hannah Javidi from the Teen Health Lab at NC State [...]

iRT Scientists Present at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality ConferenceIRT Inc2022-01-28T15:55:10+00:00

iRT Awarded Grant for Development of a Parent-Focused Media Literacy Education Program for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:44:17+00:00

September 2021, Durham, NC - innovation Research & Training (iRT) is honored to share that it has received a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop and evaluate the Media World Parent program. iRT Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Tracy Scull, is the Principal Investigator for the project. She is joined by Co-Investigators, Dr. Christina Dodson and Dr. Katie Stump. The team will create an evidence-based program to help parents effectively communicate with their middle school-aged children about substance use and media. Media World Parent will build upon several of their previously funded projects, including the classroom curriculum, [...]

iRT Awarded Grant for Development of a Parent-Focused Media Literacy Education Program for Adolescent Substance Use PreventionIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:44:17+00:00

Building the Foundation for e-Mentoring Release

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:45:11+00:00

September 13, 2021, Durham, NC – After co-authoring “the book” on mentoring and committing themselves to empowering youth, researchers at innovation Research and Training started a new Mentoring Central venture and developed a new asynchronous, online mentor training course, Building the Foundation for e-Mentoring. This course includes core foundational topics that all mentors need to learn, tailored for the e-mentoring experience. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mentoring programs were required to transform from in-person to virtual. Because of this transformation, as well as the general increase in virtual interactions and growth in virtual mentoring programs that provide mentees with access to [...]

Building the Foundation for e-Mentoring ReleaseIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:45:11+00:00

iRT Publishes New Research on Parent-Gender Differences in Sexual Health Communication

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:46:30+00:00

July 14, 2021, Durham, NC- Decades of research point to parents having a major influence on their child’s sexual health. High quality parent-child communication has been repeatedly shown to reduce adverse sexual health outcomes. Despite the critical role of parents, research on parent-adolescent sexual health communication (SHC) overwhelming focuses on mothers with little known about the role of fathers. Furthermore, research on SHC is typically conducted with either parents or adolescents, but not on both simultaneously. New research from iRT scientists investigates both of these blind spots. Authors Scull, Carl, Keefe, and Malik published the results of this research in a [...]

iRT Publishes New Research on Parent-Gender Differences in Sexual Health CommunicationIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:46:30+00:00

Welcome Summer 2021 Graduate Student Interns

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:48:01+00:00

May 26, 2021, Durham, NC - innovation Research & Training welcomes two new graduate student interns this summer. The interns will contribute their expertise to our projects on educating teens about participating in a research project and STEM . “We are delighted to welcome Yontii and Kathryn,” said Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, the President of iRT. “Their exceptional experience, unique perspectives, and academic prowess will enrich our work on these federally funded projects, as well as the products being developed through these awards.” The Graduate Student Interns Yontii Wheeler is pursuing her Master of Public Health with a Health Equity, Social Justice, [...]

Welcome Summer 2021 Graduate Student InternsIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:48:01+00:00

New Study from iRT Finds Web-Based Media Literacy Program an Effective Vehicle for High School Sex Ed

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:38:12+00:00

May 14, 2021, Durham, NC - Web-based media literacy education was found to be an effective way to promote sexual health and critical media analysis in high school students, according to a new randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives. The findings were reported by innovation Research & Training (iRT), a behavioral sciences research company. Decades of research have shown that school-based, comprehensive sex education is an effective way to improve adolescent sexual health. However, yesterday’s programs don’t necessarily work today; with the pervasiveness of smartphones and online social networks, adolescents’ constant access to media means [...]

New Study from iRT Finds Web-Based Media Literacy Program an Effective Vehicle for High School Sex EdIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:38:12+00:00

Dr. Stelter Appointed to the MENTOR NC Board of Directors

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:54:30+00:00

May 5, 2021, Durham, NC - innovation Research & Training is pleased to announce Dr. Rebecca Stelter’s appointment to the MENTOR NC Board of Directors. MENTOR NC is a non-profit organization that is a state affiliate of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership that is “dedicated to increasing the number of youth in quality mentoring relationships across North Carolina while working to address the systemic barriers that young people face on a daily basis.” MENTOR NC works primarily in three core areas to advance the local mentoring movement; increasing mentoring program capacity, increasing local engagement, and providing expertise and raising awareness about mentoring. [...]

Dr. Stelter Appointed to the MENTOR NC Board of DirectorsIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:54:30+00:00

Dr. Scull Appointed to Center for Scientific Review Study Section

IRT Inc2021-05-03T13:25:07+00:00

Durham, NC, May 2, 2021 – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has selected Dr. Tracy Scull, Senior Research Scientist at innovation Research & Training, for her demonstrated achievement and competence to serve as a member of the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention (PDRP) Study Section for a four-year term, beginning this July. The CSR is responsible for organizing the peer review groups and study sections that evaluate most of the research grant applications sent to NIH. It works to execute fair, independent, expert, and timely scientific reviews for NIH grant applications. “I am honored to [...]

Dr. Scull Appointed to Center for Scientific Review Study SectionIRT Inc2021-05-03T13:25:07+00:00