Product 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

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 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

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

DigiKnowIt News for Increasing Youth Knowledge about and Confidence in Participating in a Clinical Trial

IRT Inc2023-01-11T19:36:30+00:00

May 17, 2021, Durham, NC - Youth participation in clinical trials is a vital step to ensuring the safety of pediatric medical treatments. For example, clinical trials across the country are currently evaluating children’s and teens’ response to potential Covid-19 vaccines. However, youth may be understandably anxious about taking part in a process they don’t fully understand. Researchers at innovation Research & Training created an innovative method for educating children about what it means to be in a clinical trial: a new multimedia, interactive website called DigiKnowIt News. As reported in a new paper in Journal of Child Health Care, by [...]

DigiKnowIt News for Increasing Youth Knowledge about and Confidence in Participating in a Clinical TrialIRT Inc2023-01-11T19:36:30+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