Study Details

Citation

Fiellin, L.E., Hieftje, K.D., Pendergrass, T.M., Kyriakides, T.C., Duncan, L.R., Dziura, J.D., Sawyer, B.G., Mayes, L., Crusto, C.A., Forsyth, B.W.C., Fiellin, D.A. (2017). Video game intervention for sexual risk reduction in minority adolescents: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(9), e314. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8148

Fiellin, L.E., Kyriakides, T.C., Hieftje, K.D., Pendergrass, T.M., Duncan, L.R., Dziura, J.D., Sawyer, B.G., Fiellin, D.A. (2016). The design and implementation of a randomized controlled trial of a risk reduction and human immunodeficiency virus prevention videogame intervention in minority adolescents: Play Forward: Elm City Stories. Clinical Trials, 13(4), 400-408.

Program or Component Study?
Program
Program or Component Name

PlayForward: Elm City Stories

Show Evidence of Effectiveness
No
Study Rating and Explanation
High —

This study received a high study quality rating because it is a low-attrition randomized controlled trial with no known issues that would suggest the findings cannot be attributed to the program

Program Information

Program Length
Fewer than 10 sessions

Evaluation Setting

Evaluation Setting
After school
Community-based organization

Study Sample

Average Age Group
13 or younger
Majority Racial/Ethnic Group
Hispanic or Latino
Sex
Male and female youth

Research Design

Assignment Method
Randomized controlled trial
Number of Follow-Ups

4

Length of Last Follow-Up

12 months after randomization

Year of Last Data Collection
2015

Study Findings

Result Sexual Activity
Indeterminate evidence
Reviewed Studies
High-Quality Randomized Trial
Protocol Version
Version 6.0
Details

The program was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial involving middle school Hispanic and African American youth in urban areas. Participants were randomly assigned to play either the PlayForward: Elm City Stories two-dimensional, role-playing adventure video game or the attention control video games that had no content related to Elm City Stories. Participants in each group were assigned to play two hourlong sessions per week for six weeks at their sites, which were after-school programs and a summer camp. Surveys were administered six weeks, three months, six months, and 12 months after randomization.



The study did not find any statistically significant effects on delaying sexual initiation at any of the follow-ups. The effect sizes ranged from -0.10 to 0.24 across the four time points.



The study also examined program impacts on measures of sexual health attitudes, sexual health knowledge, and intentions to delay initiation of sex. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they fell outside the review's scope.

Effect Sizes
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NA = Not available. This means the authors did not report the information in the manuscripts associated with the studies we reviewed.

a This information was not available whenever authors did not report information for the treatment and comparison groups separately on outcome means, standard deviations, and/or sample sizes.

b Authors reported that the program effect (impact) estimate is statistically significant with a p-value of less than 0.05 based on a two-tailed test.

c For some outcomes, having less of that outcome is favorable. In those cases, an effect with a negative sign is favorable to the treatment group (that is, the treatment group had a more favorable outcome than the comparison group, on average).

d An effect shows credibly estimated, statistically significant evidence whenever it has a p-value of less than 0.05 based on a two-tailed test, includes the appropriate adjustment for clustering (if applicable), and it is not based on an endogenous subgroup.

Language directly from the program model developer or authors.