Evaluation of a Computer-Based Decision Aid for Promoting Informed Prostate Cancer Screening Decisions Among African American Men: iDecide.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of iDecide on prostate cancer knowledge, informed decision-making self-efficacy, technology use self-efficacy, and intention to engage in informed decision-making among African American men. DESIGN: One-group, pretest/posttest. SETTING: Community settings in South Carolina. PARTICIPANTS: African American men, ages 40 years +, without a prior prostate cancer diagnosis (n = 354). INTERVENTION: iDecide, an embodied conversational agent-led, computer-based prostate cancer screening decision aid. MEASURES: Prostate cancer knowledge, informed decision-making self-efficacy, technology use self-efficacy, and intention to engage in informed decision-making. ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics, paired t tests, general linear modeling, Spearman correlations. RESULTS: On average, participants experienced significant improvements in their prostate cancer knowledge ( P ≤ .001), informed decision-making self-efficacy ( P ≤ .001), and technology use self-efficacy ( P ≤ .001), postintervention. Additionally, 67% of participants reported an intention to engage in informed decision-making. CONCLUSION: Given the significant improvements across all measures, this research demonstrates that embodied conversational agent-led decision aids can be used to enhance the capacity for making informed prostate cancer screening decisions among African American men and increase their technology use self-efficacy. One critical limitation of this study is that most men had received prostate cancer screening prior to engaging in our intervention, so the implications of this intervention may be different for men who do not have a history of screening. Additionally, actual engagement in informed decision-making postintervention was not assessed.

Aggressive and Violent Behavior and Emotional Self-Efficacy: Is There a Relationship for Adolescents?

BACKGROUND: In this cross-sectional study we explored relationships between aggressive and violent behaviors and emotional self-efficacy (ESE) in a statewide sample of public high school adolescents in South Carolina (N = 3836). METHODS: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey items on aggressive and violent behavior items and an adolescent ESE scale were used. Logistic regression analyses and multivariate models constructed separately, revealed significant race by sex findings. RESULTS: Results suggest that carrying a weapon to school (past 30 days) and being threatened or injured with a gun, knife, or club at school (past 12 months) were significantly associated (p < .05) with reduced ESE for specific race/sex groups. CONCLUSIONS: Results have implications for school- and community-based mental health services and social and emotional learning and aggression/violence prevention programs for adolescents. Measures of ESE as a component of comprehensive assessments of adolescent mental health, social and emotional learning and aggressive/violent behaviors in fieldwork, research, and program-evaluation efforts should be considered.