A Digital Pornography Education Prototype Co-Designed With Young People: Formative Evaluation.

The majority of participants found The Gist prototype easy to use and safe.

• 85% (17/20) of participants reported The Gist was easy to use.
• 83% (19/23) reported the platform felt safe.
• Participants were aged 15–24 years and recruited from an alternative education school in Melbourne, Australia.
• Total sample consisted of 33 young people across iterative workshops.

The Gist prototype received strong approval for its visual branding ('hot' branding) among participants.

• 83% (25/30) of participants rated the branding as 'hot' (i.e., visually appealing/desirable).
• This finding emerged through interactive desirability evaluation activities during facilitated workshops.
• Positive branding perception was one of the stronger endorsements across usability and desirability metrics.

Perceived personal relevance of The Gist's content was low overall, with only 31% of participants agreeing the platform felt made for them.

• Only 31% (7/23) of participants agreed that 'The Gist feels like it was made for me.'
• Perceived content relevance was dependent on participants' existing level of sexual health knowledge and experience.
• This suggests the platform may not sufficiently address the specific needs of structurally marginalized young people in its current form.

Interactive learning features such as myth-busting ('debunked') and quiz activities were among the most used and well-liked elements of the prototype.

• The 'debunked' (myth-busting) and quiz features were identified as the most used and well-liked features on The Gist platform.
• These interactive elements outperformed heavily text-based features in user engagement and preference.
• Findings support recommendations for more interactive activities and visual information in future design iterations.

Unprompted engagement with The Gist outside of facilitated workshop settings was low, suggesting the platform is unlikely to be effective as a standalone digital tool.

• Low unprompted engagement outside workshops was documented during the formative evaluation.
• This confirmed 'previous researcher postulations that The Gist as a standalone digital platform is unlikely to meet the needs of this population group.'
• The finding points to the need for hybrid or face-to-face delivery models to better capture student engagement.

The study employed iterative co-design workshops with structurally marginalized young people to evaluate the prototype across usability, desirability, inclusiveness, and potential for impact.

• 33 young people aged 15–24 years participated across iterative workshops.
• Participants were recruited from an alternative education school in Melbourne, Australia, representing a population disengaged from mainstream schooling.
• Interactive activities were used to evaluate overall prototype design dimensions including usability, desirability, inclusiveness, and potential for impact.
• The study used a formative evaluation design, meaning findings are intended to inform further development rather than assess final efficacy.

Further design refinements are needed, including more interactive and visual content to replace text-heavy features, and future research should assess the prototype's ability to influence sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

• Authors recommend replacing heavily text-based features with more interactive activities and visual information.
• Further research is needed to assess 'the overall efficacy of The Gist prototype, as well as its ability to positively influence young people's sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.'
• Future iterations should consider hybrid or face-to-face delivery models.
• The study identified that structurally marginalized young people who experience disruptions to education have less access to school-based pornography literacy programs.