School + Internet + Tailored Sexual Health Program = MyHealthEd

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School + Internet + Sexual Health Program = MyHealthEd

Liz Chen Vichi Jagannathan

Co-Founders of MyHealthEd

April 6-8, 2014 San Francisco, CA

Annual Conference on Youth + Tech + Health

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• Introductions – How we met (and re-met) – Current positions – Career interests

Who are we?

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• Health disparities are inextricably linked with educational disparities.

• In North Carolina, there are significant disparities between urban and rural populations for health and education outcomes.

What’s the problem?

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• MyHealthEd will: – Individually tailor to students’ initial knowledge, attitudes, and

behaviors – Aim to change sexual health behaviors in addition to sexual health

knowledge (through health behavior theory) – Allow sexual health education to be taught through the computer

with/without a trained health educator

Why is our solution unique?

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What do we believe?

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• One year has passed since we started this project and won 1st place in the IntraHealth SwitchPoint Silo Busters Lightning Competition sponsored by Pfizer. Since then we have: – Adapted MyHealthEd’s curriculum from Reducing the Risk – Crowdfunded $25,000 and received a $50,000 Prize for Innovation Award

from the State Employees Credit Union – Actively engaged with stakeholders to gather feedback

What is our project timeline?

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• In May and June 2014, the “one size fits all” version of

MyHealthEd will be pilot tested in four rural high schools in Eastern North Carolina. – The pilot test will assess feasibility, usability, and basic measures

of effectiveness to guide the development of the individually tailored version of MyHealthEd for Fall 2014.

Where do we go now?

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• Religiosity (and perceived religiosity) • Identifying champions with powers • Time • Decision to silo or not • Virtualizing social and interpersonal aspects of health • School/district funding priorities

What barriers have we encountered?

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• We would love to get your thoughts on the following questions to better inform the development of our MyHealthEd intervention: – What online features must be present? – Are there any health topics that must be discussed in person? – In what aspect of health are students least supported? – What part of your health education has stuck with you and what do

you wish you had learned or talked more about?

How can you get involved?

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Liz: liz@myhealthed.org Vichi: vichi@myhealthed.org