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High school peer-to-peer development and deployment of media interventions to increase self-awareness: Violence prevention for the win
Introduction: Recent US news media portray a horrifying incidence of violence that include the Boston Marathon bombing, Sandy Hook massacre, college abductions, movie theatre and mall shootings. Neither children/youth nor men/ women are spared from enslavement, assaults, rapes, and homicides. Against this background, society is increasingly involved with distracting daily activities that limit awareness of one’s surroundings. For example, technology plays an ever increasing role in modern day living, with ubiquitous mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets, phablets, ipods, and more. While these devices help people to manage a complex, busy and stressful world; they can also serve as distractors that inadvertently put people in harm’s way. Additional contributors arise from other risky personal and/or community behaviors.
Methods: An assessment of high school students’ usual routines/behaviors led to development of an intervention strategy - peer-to-peer outreach for improved situational awareness. After signing consent forms, several meetings, and collaboration among student stakeholders with health and film instructors; deliberations on peer’s behaviors regarding awareness led to creation of video clips to challenge peers on being aware of one’s surroundings. Film editing was followed by transfer to CD-ROMs.
Results: These Generation Y developed and appropriate video clips were viewed by high school peers in their classrooms; faculty also viewed the videos. Assessments after video showings included the following comments: “That was a great video,” “It’s true, these things can happen,” and “I’m not sure what I would do if this happened to me.” Thus the video screenings provided a targeted teaching moment and opportunity to move students along stages of the Precaution Adoption Process Model.
Conclusion: Fashioned by students’ peers, these replicable video clips are directly pertinent to Generation Y’s health education needs for violence prevention. Video clips would be a great teaching tool to begin a unit on Public Safety Awareness.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health educationAssessment of individual and community needs for health education
Communication and informatics
Environmental health sciences
Epidemiology
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the public health education merits, utility, and effectiveness of five peer-developed video clips/training materials (peer-to-peer media interventions) for service in a public health outreach to encourage timely and appropriate situational awareness among high school students (safety, violence prevention, and preparedness)
Describe how the ubiquitous use of modern technological devices can simultaneously be both boon and bane among high school students; and its effect on the lives of these high school youth and adolescents. Additionally, describe a variety of modern 21st century scenarios, surroundings, and oblivious activities that pose an imminent health risk to adolescents and other individuals
List practical and feasible health education intervention strategies that address and increase self-awareness among high school students, as part of a comprehensive violence prevention strategy that is germane to the needs of Generation Y (the Millennial Generation)
Keyword(s): Epidemiology, Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an experienced public health professional, epidemiologist, master certified health educator, environmental health specialist, and physician with many years of experience as a mentor and educator.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.