MyHealthEd

Backed by Elizabeth Chen, Joseph Lorusso, Kenneth Abrams, So-Fai Tsang, Cathy Chen, Erik Escuro, Courtney Crumpler, Anne Marshall, Heather Lewis, Tracy Kinsey, and 235 other backers
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
EducationMedicine
Open Access
DOI: 10.18258/0551
$25,129
Raised of $25,000 Goal
100%
Funded on 7/27/13
Successfully Funded
  • $25,129
    pledged
  • 100%
    funded
  • Funded
    on 7/27/13

About This Project

Each child deserves quality comprehensive sexual health education. No child is the same, so why should the sexual health education they receive be one size fits all? Support individualized comprehensive sexual education for all students.

Ask the Scientists

Join The Discussion

What is the context of this research?

The goal of this project is to create and evaluate MyHealthEd, a tailored online sexual health curriculum that increases sexual health knowledge and decreases risky sexual behaviors among middle and high school students in rural North Carolina, thereby decreasing rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Once shown to be effective, Liz and Vichi plan to offer this program to public schools across the state and to expand MyHealthEd to include all additional health topics covered in the North Carolina Essential Standards for Health Education.

What is the significance of this project?

Even though the Healthy Youth Act of 2009 requires comprehensive sexual health to be taught at each NC public school, currently, not all students receive comprehensive sexual health education in North Carolina. This contributes to to disproportionately high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections in rural parts of the state. Recently, the North Carolina General Assembly approved Senate Bill 132, mandating that K through 9 curriculum include scientifically inaccurate information on safe abortion care; teachers would be required to teach students about the so-called link between abortion and pre-term deliveries that evidence does not support. In order to prevent prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among teens in the first place, it is critical that we transform sexual health education in North Carolina because it is the only primary prevention strategy all middle and high school students are exposed to.

What are the goals of the project?

Liz and Vichi will use the funds to create a sexual health curriculum that students can access via the internet. At the start of the MyHealthEd course, students will log in and complete a questionnaire on health knowledge and behaviors. Based on their individual survey responses, the software will then generate a curriculum tailored to each student. The students will then work through a series of interactive modules that will also assess sexual health knowledge and behaviors along the way. Not only will MyHealthEd improve sexual health outcomes, but it will also contribute to the evidence base on the effectiveness of tailored on-line curricula in preventing teen pregnancy and STIs. Liz and Vichi plan to have a prototype of MyHealthEd's sexual health curriculum ready to pilot in five rural public schools by January 2014. MyHealthEd will have pre- and post-assessments built into the curriculum, so it will be possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in changing sexual health knowledge and behaviors.

Budget

Please wait...

The majority of the budget will go towards hiring a software developer to create the platform for the tailored online sexual health curriculum.

Additional funds will be used to purchase existing evidence-based interventions that have improved sexual health outcomes for students. Liz and Vichi will ground the MyHealthEd curriculum in health behavior theory and evidence-based strategies in both public health and education fields.

Meet the Team

Elizabeth Chen
Elizabeth Chen

Affiliates

Liz graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from Princeton University in 2010. She is currently entering her second year in the Masters in Public Health program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. Vichi graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 2010 and a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2011.
View Profile
Vichitra Jagannathan
Vichitra Jagannathan

Team Bio

After graduating from Princeton, Liz joined Teach for America and taught high school chemistry and biology for two years in Gaston, NC. She served as the graduate research assistant to Dean Bill McDiarmid at UNC's School of Education. Liz is interested in leveraging the intersection between education and public health to simultaneously address health disparities and educational inequities in low-resourced communities in rural North Carolina. After completing her Master's degree, Vichi also joined Teach For America and taught high school science for two years in the same county as Liz. Vichi is interested in using technology, and especially the internet, to broaden access to education in developing regions.

Elizabeth Chen

After graduating from Princeton, Liz joined Teach for America and taught high school chemistry and biology for two years in Gaston, NC. She served as the graduate research assistant to Dean Bill McDiarmid at UNC's School of Education. Liz is interested in leveraging the intersection between education and public health to simultaneously address health disparities and educational inequities in low-resourced communities in rural North Carolina. After completing her Master's degree, Vichi also joined Teach For America and taught high school science for two years in the same county as Liz. Vichi is interested in using technology, and especially the internet, to broaden access to education in developing regions.

Additional Information

In April 2013, Liz and Vichi won 1st place in the IntraHealth SwitchPoint Silo Busters Lightning Competition sponsored by Pfizer for their MyHealthEd idea. Please email them at myhealthed@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.


Project Backers

  • 245Backers
  • 100%Funded
  • $25,129Total Donations
  • $101.74Average Donation
Please wait...