Me & You-Tech: A Socio-Ecological Solution to Teen Dating Violence for the Digital Age (MYTech)

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a multi-level (youth, parent, school) Internet-based dating violence prevention program, 'Me & You-Tech' (MYT) for 6th-grade middle school students.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Domestic Violence; Adolescent Behavior; Interpersonal Relations; Physical Violence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Me & You - Tech

Detailed Description

The purpose of this three year study is to develop and evaluate Me & You - Tech, a computer-based healthy relationships and dating violence prevention curriculum for 6th grade students. The curriculum will be developed and adapted from an existing effective healthy relationship curriculum, Me & You: Building Healthy Relationships. A randomized two-arm design will be conducted among 6th grade students, where students receiving the curriculum were compared to students receiving usual care. Four middle schools participated in the study, 2 schools were randomly assigned to receive the curriculum and two to receive usual care. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 3 months following completion of the intervention, and 9 months after baseline. Parental permission and student assent were obtained prior to administration of the surveys. The primary hypothesis is that students who receive the curriculum will have significantly lower teen dating violence perpetration than those who do not receive the curriculum.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 11 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 6th grade student
• Currently attending a middle school

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous participation in usability and feasibility testing
• Inability to complete activities
• Inability to read English
• Lack of home internet connectivity

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Students randomized to the intervention group will receive Me & You Tech in place of their standard health education.	Behavioral: Me & You - Tech; The 13 MYT lessons will train youth to adopt a zero tolerance approach to dating violence (DV) and contain activities to enable youth to recognize healthy (non-abusive) and unhealthy (abusive) relationships, assess their own relationships, and adopt and practice a lifestyle paradigm of select-detect-protect informed by SCT self-regulatory frameworks. Within this lifestyle paradigm, youth select their personal rules to have only healthy (non-abusive) relationships, detect unhealthy (abusive) relationships that might threaten their rules, and learn to protect their rules using communication, management, and avoidance skills. MYT will tailor content by gender, relationship status, and the youth's DV profile of perpetration or victimization based on the Conflict in Adolescent Dating and Relationship Inventory (CADRI).
No Intervention: Control; Students assigned to the standard care condition will receive their usual health education which usually includes knowledge-based content on violence prevention taught from the state textbook

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Percent of youth who perpetrated any type of teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by any type of teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Percent of youth who perpetrated psychological teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by psychological teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who perpetrated physical teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by physical teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who perpetrated sexual teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by sexual teen dating violence as indicated by the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory	Validated self report measure by Wolfe et al.	One year
Percent of youth who perpetrated electronic teen dating violence as indicated measures adapted from Picard and Zweig	Validated self report measure by Picard et al. and Zweig et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by electronic teen dating violence as indicated measures adapted from Picard and Zweig	Validated self report measure by Picard et al. and Zweig et al.	One year
Mean score reflecting student norms toward violence for boys and girls as indicated byt the Acceptance of Dating Abuse Survey	Validated self report measure by Foshee et al.	One year
Mean score for self-efficacy to resolve conflict as indicated by the Teen Conflict Survey	Validated self report measure by Dahlberg et al.	One year
Percent of youth reported one or more positive coping strategies as indicated by the Kidcope-Child Survey Form	Kidcope-Child Form by Laslo et al	One year
Mean score of constructive and destructive conflict resolution skills as indicated by valid scales developed by Foshee et al.	Validated self report measure by Foshee et al.	One year
Mean score for attitudes towards sexting as indicated by a scale developed by Strassberg et al.	Validated self report measure by Strassberg et al.	One year
Mean score related to a student's belief in the need for help for dating violence victimization as indicated by measures developed by Foshee et al.	Validated self report measure by Foshee et al.	One year
Mean score for perceived peer dating violence perpetration (from the perspective of student) - newly developed	newly developed self-report measure	One year
Mean score for parental communication about drugs, sex, and relationships as indicated by measures developed by Tharp et al.	Validated self report measure by Tharp and Noonan	One year
Percent of youth who indicated social support from source as indicated by measures adapted from the Social Support Rating Scale	Validated self report measure by Cauce et al.	One year
Percent of youth who perpetrated bullying as indicated by measures developed by Wang et al.	Validated self report measure by Wang et al.	One year
Percent of youth who were victimized by bullying as indicated by measures developed from Wang et al.	Validated self report measure by Wang et al.	One year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: University of Texas; Radiant Creative Group, LLC
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Melissa Peskin, PhD, University of Texas Houston School of Public Health; Principal Investigator: Ross Shegog, PhD, University of Texas Houston School of Public Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 24, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 24, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): February 4, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 9, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 7, 2024
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: program evaluation; adolescent behavior; teen dating violence; interpersonal relationships; intimate partner violence; Violence/prevention & control; programs using technology
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-SPH-19-0253

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No