Bickham David S, Moukalled Summer, Inyart Heather K, Zlokower Rona
Digital Wellness Lab, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
Media Power Youth, Manchester, NH, United States.
JMIR Ment Health. 2021 Sep 15;8(9):e26197. doi: 10.2196/26197.
Screenshots is an in-school curriculum that seeks to develop positive digital social skills in middle school students with the long-term goal of improving their health and well-being. The program imparts knowledge and teaches skills upon which young adolescents can build a set of beliefs and behaviors that foster respectful interactions, prosocial conflict resolutions, and safe and secure use of communication technology. Intervening in this way can improve young people's mental health by limiting their exposure to cyberbullying and other forms of negative online interactions. This study reports on an evaluation of the Screenshots program conducted with seventh graders in a public school system in a midsized New England city.
This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the Screenshots program in increasing participants' knowledge about key concepts of digital citizenship and in shifting beliefs and intended behaviors to align with prosocial and safe online interactions. In addition, the study examines whether the program has varying effects on males' and females' conflict and bullying resolution strategies.
This quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted in four middle schools in which one group of seventh graders received the Screenshots curriculum and another did not. Before and after the curriculum, all students completed a questionnaire that measured their knowledge of and beliefs about digital citizenship and related online behavioral concepts, their attitudes regarding strategies for stopping online bullying, and their intended online conflict resolution behaviors.
The sample included 92 students who received the curriculum and 71 students who were included in the comparison group. Pre- to postinstruction retention rates ranged from 52% (33/63) to 84% (21/25), varying by school and condition. The results showed an increase in knowledge about key curricular concepts for some students (F=9.97; P=.003). In response to some individual items, students decreased their belief supportive of a negative online behavior (F=9.00; P=.004) and increased their belief consistent with an online safety behavior (F=4.39; P=.04) compared with the comparison group. Gender moderated the results related to conflict resolution, with males from one school reducing their endorsement of an aggressive option (F=5.77; P=.006) and males from another school increasing their reported tendency to pursue a nonaggressive option (F=3.65; P=.04). On average, participants reported learning something new from the classes.
This study represents a rare evaluation of an in-school digital citizenship program and demonstrates the effectiveness of Screenshots. Students' increased knowledge of key curricular concepts represents a foundation for developing future beliefs and healthy behaviors. Differences in how adolescent males and females experience and perpetrate online aggression likely explain the conflict resolution findings and emphasize the need to examine gender differences in response to these programs. Students' high ratings of the relevance of Screenshots' content reinforce the need for this type of intervention.
“截图”是一项校内课程，旨在培养中学生积极的数字社交技能，其长期目标是改善他们的健康和幸福状况。该课程传授知识并教授技能，青少年可以在此基础上建立一套信念和行为，以促进尊重性互动、亲社会冲突解决方式以及安全可靠地使用通信技术。通过这种方式进行干预可以通过限制青少年接触网络欺凌和其他形式的负面在线互动来改善他们的心理健康。本研究报告了对新英格兰一个中型城市公立学校系统中七年级学生开展的“截图”课程的评估情况。
本研究旨在确定“截图”课程在增加参与者对数字公民关键概念的了解以及使信念和预期行为转变为与亲社会和安全的在线互动保持一致方面的有效性。此外，该研究还考察了该课程对男性和女性冲突及欺凌解决策略是否有不同影响。
这项准实验评估在四所中学进行，其中一组七年级学生接受了“截图”课程，另一组没有。在课程前后，所有学生都完成了一份问卷，该问卷测量了他们对数字公民及相关在线行为概念的了解和信念、他们对阻止网络欺凌策略的态度以及他们预期的在线冲突解决行为。
样本包括92名接受该课程的学生和71名纳入对照组的学生。教学前到教学后的留存率从52%（33/63）到84%（21/25）不等，因学校和条件而异。结果显示，一些学生对关键课程概念的了解有所增加（F = 9.97；P = 0.003）。与对照组相比，在回答一些单项问题时，学生减少了对负面在线行为的支持信念（F = 9.00；P = 0.004），并增加了与在线安全行为一致的信念（F = 4.39；P = 0.04）。性别对冲突解决相关结果产生了调节作用，一所学校的男生减少了对激进选项的认可（F = 5.77；P = 0.006），另一所学校的男生增加了报告的采取非激进选项的倾向（F = 3.65；P = 0.04）。平均而言，参与者报告从课程中学到了新东西。
本研究是对一项校内数字公民课程的罕见评估，并证明了“截图”课程的有效性。学生对关键课程概念的了解增加为培养未来的信念和健康行为奠定了基础。青少年男性和女性在经历和实施在线攻击方面的差异可能解释了冲突解决的结果，并强调了在应对这些课程时研究性别差异的必要性。学生对“截图”课程内容相关性的高度评价强化了对这类干预措施的需求。
