Population: Disadvantaged tweens (youth aged 11 to 13) attending selected Title I middle schools
Goal: To increase the interest of middle school students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the health sciences and to improve their ability to look for and evaluate health-related information, their health-related literacy and self-efficacy, and their ultimate health outcomes.
We are entering a new era in which people are increasingly interested in, and expected to take stewardship of their own health. Along with this desire and responsibility comes the need to be able to effectively and efficiently find, assess, and enact personally relevant health-related information within one’s day-to-day life. Today’s youth have an unprecedented opportunity to learn about and adapt healthy habits that will help them to maximize their chances for living long, healthy lives. However, this opportunity can only be realized if youth have both the requisite information and digital literacy skills and a strong sense of self-efficacy when it comes to their health.
HackHealth is an after-school program that will run for three consecutive 8-week cycles beginning in Fall 2013. Researchers from the University of Maryland College Park will work with school librarians in three Title I middle schools to lead after-school sessions that engage disadvantaged youth in (a) conducting scientific inquiry into health maintenance and/or disease prevention and management; (b) acting as health information intermediaries; and (c) taking action based on what they learn. Our overarching goals are to increase the interest of youth in the health sciences, their health information literacy, their health-related self-efficacy, and their understanding of the crucial link between their daily health-related behaviors and their ability to maintain their health and prevent disease. School librarians are important partners in this endeavor because they are trained information specialists who can teach participants effective strategies for information seeking and credibility assessment. Furthermore, they can introduce students to the online health information resources offered by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), such as MedlinePlus, and instruct them in how to access, search, and make use of these resources. The after-school program will include activities designed to teach youth how to look for and evaluate health-related information online, share the information with their families, and make decisions that will improve their (and their family members’) health. These activities will be structured into modules and these modules will be iteratively revised as the program is successively conducted with approximately 10-12 participating youth at each school. Data will be collected through youth’s logs, journals and interviews. Data analysis will focus on identifying changes in youth’s health-related knowledge and self-efficacy and their health behaviors. The outcomes of the program will be assessed through focus groups with youth and their parents. The final modules will be disseminated to the public through a project Website and the American Association of School Librarians Lesson Plan Database.
For more information, see our pages on the project phases and modules.