iRT Awarded Grant for Further Development of a High School Media Literacy Education Program for Sexual Health Promotion

innovation Research & Training (iRT) is honored to announce that it has received a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) to further develop and evaluate the Media Aware program.

 

Media Aware is a comprehensive sexual health education program for high school students that uses a media literacy education (MLE) approach to build students’ critical thinking skills and promote healthy decision-making about relationships and sexual health. The web-based program includes four interactive lessons that cover a variety of health topics including gender role stereotypes, healthy and unhealthy relationships, dating violence, consent, abstinence, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and teen pregnancy. Media Aware teaches students to think critically about the messages that see and hear in media about sex and relationships, and includes many current media examples—movies, advertisements, music— that are relevant and engaging for teens.