mHealth Intervention via Mentors: Preventing Substance Use, Sexual Risk and Violence among Inner City Youth through Technology-Enhanced Mentoring

项目摘要 K01提案，“通过导师进行移动健康干预：预防物质使用、性风险和暴力 在内城巴尔的摩青年通过技术增强辅导，”地址两个研究领域 与青少年健康有关的问题，特别是它们如何相互交叉， 公共卫生：青年辅导和移动的保健预防干预措施。青少年成长 在巴尔的摩等低收入城市地区， 物质使用、性风险和参与暴力。对于缺乏社会保护资源的青少年 如家长、细心的教师或社区网络，导师可以在帮助 减少压力，防止消极的健康行为，并塑造积极的健康行为。然而， 关于学员健康行为改变发生的途径，特别是预防物质 使用，匹配的导师如何有效地传达健康促进信息，或者移动健康如何 可以利用技术来加强现有的指导模式。利用获得的知识和培训 通过这个奖项，在青少年物质使用，移动健康干预措施和分析的二元和 “大”社交媒体和智能手机数据，拟议研究的目标是制定预防干预措施 以智能手机应用程序（app）的形式，以及使用app的培训材料， 现有的指导模式，高度脆弱的非洲裔美国男性青少年在城市巴尔的摩。的 培训、专业发展和在该奖项下获得的试验数据将使我能够提出一个R01， 进行自然主义研究或随机对照试验，以测量物质减少的效应量 使用和相关的健康风险行为在指导的青少年男性。根据K奖提供的支助和 相关的职业发展经验将使我成为一名独立的调查员，专注于一个新的 专业领域的物质使用预防与美国城市青年使用mHealth和学习的技能 成功获得NIH研究资金所必需的。我的长期职业目标是回答以下问题 研究问题：1）指导如何帮助改善高危青少年的健康状况， 成年后的健康差距？和2）如何将mHealth用于预防干预 人口？充分理解如何建立一个系统的研究计划，青年交叉领域 指导和有效的移动健康干预有很大的潜力，引导我走向一个创新的， 在一个新的领域进行富有成效的独立研究。我在此培训补助金下的中期职业目标 是专注于当地工作与非洲裔美国青少年男性在巴尔的摩市，了解如何 技术强化辅导可以作为城市男性青少年的普遍预防工具， 分析二元数据以及社交媒体和智能手机应用程序产生的数据的能力， 与药物使用预防、青年指导和移动健康领域的主要研究人员开展合作 research.

PROJECT SUMMARY This K01 proposal, “mHealth Intervention via Mentors: Preventing Substance Use, Sexual Risk, and Violence among Inner City Baltimore Youth through Technology-Enhanced Mentoring,” addresses two fields of study relevant to adolescent health that deserve further attention, particularly in how they can intersect to improve public health: youth mentoring and mobile health (mHealth) prevention interventions. Adolescents growing up in low-income urban areas such as Baltimore are at particularly high risk for unhealthy practices such as substance use, sexual risk, and engagement in violence. For adolescents who lack socially protective resources such as parents, attentive teachers, or community networks, mentors can play a significant role in helping to reduce stress, prevent negative health behaviors, and model positive health behaviors. However, little is known about the pathways by which mentee health behavior change occurs, especially for the prevention of substance use, how matched mentors can effectively communicate health promotion messages, or how mHealth technology might be leveraged to enhance existing mentoring models. Utilizing knowledge and training gained through this award in the areas of adolescent substance use, mHealth interventions, and analysis of dyadic and “big” social media and smartphone data, the goal of the proposed study is to develop a prevention intervention in the form of a smartphone application (app), as well as training materials for using the app, to enhance existing mentoring models for highly vulnerable African American male adolescents in urban Baltimore. The training, professional development, and pilot data gained under this award will allow me to propose an R01 to conduct a naturalistic study or randomized controlled trial to measure effect sizes in the reduction of substance use and related health risk behaviors among mentored adolescent males. Support under a K award and the linked career development experiences will allow me to become an independent investigator focused on a new area of expertise—substance use prevention with urban American youth using mHealth—and to learn the skills required for successfully pursing NIH research funding. My long-term career goal is to answer the following research questions: 1) How can mentoring help improve health outcomes for at-risk adolescents and reduce health disparities in adulthood? and 2) How can mHealth be used in prevention intervention with this population? Fully understanding how to set up a systematic research program that intersects the fields of youth mentoring and effective mHealth intervention has great potential to lead me towards an innovative and productive independent research career in a new area. My intermediate career goals under this training grant are to focus work locally with African American adolescent males in Baltimore City, understand how technology-enhanced mentoring can serve as a universal prevention tool for urban male adolescents, build capacity to analyze dyadic data and data produced by social media and smartphone applications, and to develop collaborations with leading investigators in substance use prevention, youth mentoring, and mHealth research.