An Innovative Dialogue about College Drinking: Developing an Immediate Response Technology Model for Health Promotion

Abstract

New communication technologies, including personal response ''clickers,'' have become increasingly popular across college campuses as a way to promote a wide range of practices. This paper calls attention to the need for communication models that account for the usefulness of these new technologies, especially as they relate to health promotion, dialogue, and the (re)construction of social norms. Based on observational data from a health promotion simulation game, the authors developed an Immediate Response Technology Model. The model describes the usefulness of new communication technologies in promoting the dialogue and reflexivity necessary to co-construct health-related norms and practices.

Using Immediate Response Technology to Gather Electronic Health Data and Promote Telemental Health Among Youth

“…In line with LeGreco et al’s 2010 IRT model [7], we expected these experiences to result in reconstructed, social-norm based perceptions of TMH, as measured by their reported willingness to engage with these resources.…”

“…Although few adolescents (less than 10 percent) had previously used the highlighted TMH resources, after educating teens on these resources using high-fidelity videos, approximately one third (29 percent to 43 percent) expressed some willingness to engage with different types of TMH. According to LeGreco et al’s (2010) IRT model, the IRT system provides a unique opportunity for evaluating personal experience in the context of social norms [7]. In this case, we believe that the IRT was useful in reducing stigma surrounding mental health care, allowing participants to develop new social-based norms about TMH resources based on immediate feedback from peers.…”

“…However, the use of EHRs is not without issues, including patients’ reticence to share private health information for health care and research purposes [4] and, when used for research, the overrepresentation of sick patients with complete records in EHR databases [5]. Thus, efforts have been made to harness other, less formalized technologies, like crowdsourcing (i.e., large scale Internet sampling) and audience response systems (i.e., audience members respond anonymously to questions on their devices and watch as answers instantaneously populate displays) [6], to gather health data and promote wellness [789]. …”

“…Ultimately, this resulted in more positive attitudes and actions towards health-behavior change among participants [8]. IRTs have also been used by other researchers to promote healthy decision making about alcohol abuse [7]. According to LeGreco et al’s (2010) IRT model, experiences from one’s environment can be used to create meaningful learning moments, which, when filtered through the IRT and accompanying dialogue, can help create a reconstructed, social-based reality [7].…”

“…IRTs have also been used by other researchers to promote healthy decision making about alcohol abuse [7]. According to LeGreco et al’s (2010) IRT model, experiences from one’s environment can be used to create meaningful learning moments, which, when filtered through the IRT and accompanying dialogue, can help create a reconstructed, social-based reality [7]. In this study, as students responded anonymously to questions about alcohol-related behaviors, responses were displayed on a screen as bar graphs or charts to establish social norms around alcohol activity.…”