CMU's Julie Downs Receives Grant To Create New Video
Aimed at Reducing Risky Behavior Among Teens
"Our goal is to create a tool that will help teenagers make better decisions for themselves," Downs said. "For the most part they don't want to get pregnant. They definitely don't want to contract a disease. By building on our research about what goes into their decisions, we can craft something that will be exactly what they need to avoid these negative outcomes."
The grant will allow Downs and her collaborators, including Pamela Murray, a professor of pediatrics at West Virginia University School of Medicine, to update the video content and make it compatible with current technology formats.
"I'm delighted to see such a strong funding endorsement of the application of quality behavioral decision research to the design and testing of key interventions," said John Miller, head of CMU's Department of Social and Decision Sciences. "This grant will help our department maintain its leadership in the area of behavioral decision research applied to public policy."
The new video is intended to help teenage girls as well as lower the costs of teen pregnancies and disease treatment for private and public health care agencies.
"Once the video has been tested, if it is found to be effective, it will be made available at a very low or no cost on DVD and online so that adolescents across the country can benefit from its effects," Downs said.