Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40928967›Full record

Trial reportGames for health journal2026

The "Secret of Seven Stones": Short-Term Efficacy of an Online Intergenerational Sexual Health Education Game for Early Adolescents and Their Parents.

Ross Shegog, Christine Markham, Melissa Peskin, Robert C Addy, Sara Dube, Diane Santa Maria, Susan Tortolero Emery, Johnny M Wilkerson, Elizabeth Baumler, Laura Armistead and 4 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Games for health journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Ross ShegogDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2750-0817
Christine MarkhamDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Melissa PeskinDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Robert C AddyDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Sara DubeThe Widen Lab, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Diane Santa MariaUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing, Houston, Texas, USA.
Susan Tortolero EmeryDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Johnny M WilkersonDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Elizabeth BaumlerUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, Houston, Texas, USA.
Laura ArmisteadMathematica Policy Research, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Pooja ChaudharyDepartment of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA.
Hsing-Yi SongUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, Texas, USA.
Angela SpencerSpecial Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Jeffery McLaughlinRadiant Digital, Vienna, Virginia, USA.

Funding

IYG-Family: Beyond "the talk" to effective pregnancy, STI, and HIV preventionR42HD074324 · NICHD · RADIANT CREATIVE GROUP, LLC · PI MARKHAM, CHRISTINE MARGARET, MCLAUGHLIN, JEFFERY · 2012 to 2014
$1.6M
NICHD NIH HHS R42 HD074324
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesIntergenerational games offer a potential channel to impact parent-youth sexual health communication. The "Secret of Seven Stones" (SSS) is an 18-level online adventure game and parent website designed to engage parents and youth (11-14 years) in conversations about healthy dating relationships and sexual behavior and to provide sexual health skills training to youth. Study hypotheses were that SSS exposure would increase sexual health parent-child communication, increase youth intentions to delay sexual debut, and reduce youth exposure to situations that promote sexual activity. MATERIALS AND

methodsSSS was evaluated in the homes of parent-youth dyads randomly assigned to intervention (

resultsDyads comprised parents (

conclusionThis study demonstrated the utility of an in-home intergenerational sexual health education game to impact parent-youth communication by short-term follow-up. Further investigation of longer-term behavioral impact is indicated.

Indexed as

Health EducationParentsSex EducationSexual HealthVideo GamesAdolescentAdolescent BehaviorAdultChildFemaleHumansInternetMaleParent-Child RelationsSexual BehaviorSurveys and Questionnairesintergenerational gamesparent–child communicationserious gamessexual healthsexually transmitted infectionsteenage pregnancy

Identifiers

PMID40928967
PMCPMC13144563

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.