Focus Area News Post

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 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