IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INNOVATIVE COMPUTERIZED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS FOR A HIGH SCHOOL HEALTH CENTER

The purpose of this project was to use the existing evidence to implement and evaluate an interactive computerized educational program on sexually transmitted infections for a high school health center. This researcher constructed the program from a teaching tool template based on the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Students who visited the clinic were from a large urban high school in Los Angeles, California, and were asked to view and evaluate the computer program. This study had 55 patient participants (16 males and 39 females) who completed a 7-question, 5-point Likert-type scale questionnaire where 1 = strongly disagreed and 5 = strongly agreed. The students were asked if they found the program usable, understandable, and enjoyable. Students were also asked if they had accessed similar programs previously and whether they felt they learned new information on STIs and HIV. Average mean scores with their standard deviations were calculated for each item. Results indicated that the program was mostly well received by these patients, with the lowest score indicating that they had not necessarily accessed similar types of programs in the past (M = 2.3, SD = 1.1). With the significance set at 0.05, an independent samples t test found there were no significant differences between male and female responses on all the questions. For Questions 1-6, there were also no significant differences found between age groups. However, on Question 7, when students were asked whether they enjoyed the program, there was a significant difference, t(53) = -2.28, p = 0.026, between the two age groups. iv This result showed that the younger aged patients (14-16 years) found the program more enjoyable than the older adolescent group (17-19 years)