The ConRed program, an evidence-based practice

Abstract

The incredible force with which ITCs have arrived in society and the consequent risks to children when dealing with the Internet and social networks make it necessary for the domain of virtual environments to be included in the school curriculum. However, the initiatives in this direction are limited and there is a lack of rigorously evaluated programs that might act as a basis for designing educational lines of action. The ConRed Program is based on the theory of normative social behavior and aims to reduce problems such as cyber-bullying and addiction to the Internet and refocus the misadjusted perception of information control in the social networks in order to promote their use in a more beneficial way. The ConRed Program has been evaluated using a quasi-experimental methodology, with an experimental group (N=595) and a quasi-control group (N=298) consisting of 893 students (45.9% girls) with an average age of 13.80 years (SD= 1.47). The reduction of problems in the experimental group and the lack of change in the control group is evidence of the program's validity, and show that by working and collaborating with the whole educational community it is possible to improve the quality of the virtual and, therefore, the real life of adolescents.