July 19, 2023, Durham, NC – iRT Research Scientists Drs. Reina Evans-Paulson and Christina Dodson will lead an interactive Zoom session for the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance’s ECHO@edu: Campus Violence Prevention program on August 10, 2023 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The ECHO program is an international evidence-based model for training and peer-to-peer learning. The Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance invites staff at colleges, universities, and community colleges to join to discuss best practices in sexual and intimate partner violence primary prevention and new developments in peer education programs.

Evans-Paulson and Dodson will present a session entitled Building Media Aware Campuses: Media Literacy Education for Sexual and Relationship Health Promotion and Sexual Violence Prevention to discuss the effectiveness of using media literacy education strategies in sexual health interventions for young adults. Young adults are consistently exposed to and interacting with media, but media often contain unhealthy, inaccurate, and incomplete messages about sex and relationships. Media literacy education aims to fill this gap by enhancing critical thinking about media messages and providing medically accurate information about health. Media literacy education is an evidence-based strategy used in interventions to combat potential negative effects of media and promote young adults’ health.

Evans-Paulson and Dodson will share iRT’s research on the implementation of a media literacy education-based sexual health intervention on community college campuses during the webinar. Session attendees will have the opportunity to learn how media impact young adults’ sexual health and relationships, review and practice the foundational principles and skills of media literacy education, and learn about Media Aware, an evidence-based, online sexual health intervention for young adults that is grounded in media literacy education.

If you are interested in attending iRT’s session for the ECHO@edu program, register for the event here.