- Kognito is a “health simulation company” that offers computer simulations to help educate college students about substance use and sexual misconduct prevention.
- The creators of these programs say being able to participate in the trainings from the privacy of one’s home rather than in a classroom or school auditorium is a lot less intimidating, allowing students to get more out of the training from the beginning.
- These programs may also help students develop effective “bystander skills,” or ways students can intervene if they see a situation as potentially dangerous for others around them.
This fall, millions of students started college programs as the new school year began.
Many were returning to in-person classes on campus for the first time in a year and a half, following the move to virtual learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many, it has been a disorienting time to return to school amid shifting norms of life during a pandemic.
With a return to studying and living on physical campuses comes efforts by college administrators, counselors, and peer support staff to help students — especially freshmen and transfer students who are new to their college communities — navigate some of the challenges they may face.
Two of those include substance misuse issues and the epidemic of sexual assault on U.S. campuses.
Right now, one company is turning to avatar-based computer simulations to help students prepare for some of these most challenging, traumatizing situations that are all too familiar in college life.
Is modern technology effective at helping students navigate these problems? How has the pandemic further exacerbated and complicated these issues?
To find answers, Healthline spoke with several experts to weigh in on where we are today with raising awareness and providing training to deal with substance use disorders and sexual assault on college campuses.
Source: healthline