Megan A. Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH
Assistant Professor
Related Links
Contact the Group
Megan Moreno
(608) 265-3710
mamoreno [at] pediatrics [dot] wisc [dot] edu
Department of Pediatrics
UW Hospital
600 Highland Ave - J3/125
Madison, WI 53792-4108
Adolescent Health Research Team
Major Research Interests
Adolescence is a critical period in which behaviors and attitudes towards health are developed. The major causes of morbidity and mortality in the adolescent population are accidents (including motor vehicle accidents), homicide and suicide. All are preventable deaths and involve behavioral aspects of medicine. Health risk behaviors, such as substance use, risky sexual activity and violence are associated with these causes of morbidity and mortality. Dr. Moreno’s research focuses on novel ways to prevent and intervene to reduce these causes of morbidity and mortality in the adolescent population.
One particular area of interest for Dr. Moreno is adolescents’ use of media and technology and how these may impact adolescent health behaviors. Adolescents’ interactions with media and technology have enormous influence on their health and development.
Dr. Moreno has investigated adolescents’ use of social networking web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, and ways in which adolescents display information about their health and behaviors on these public web profiles. Work to date includes:
- Descriptive studies detailing how adolescents portray health risk behaviors on MySpace and Facebook, the most popular social networking web sites used by teens and young adults. These studies found that roughly half of self-reported 18-year-olds on MySpace display health risk behaviors such as substance use, sexual behavior and violence, and that these displays were less frequent among teens who displayed information about other interests such as sports or religious affiliation on their web profiles. Follow up studies have included content analyses of sexual references and alcohol use references on these profiles.
- A pilot intervention study to reduce online risk behavior in a population of at-risk adolescents. This study found that a single email from a physician showed promise in reducing the public online display of sexual material by at-risk teens (defined as at-risk by display of multiple health risk behaviors and residence in a very low-income inner city area).
- Focus groups with teens discussing the online display of health behaviors and how that display may impact teen attitudes and behaviors towards engaging in health risk behaviors such as alcohol use.
- A current study investigating how adolescents and young adults use social networking web sites to display other aspects of their health, such as mental illness or obesity. Dr. Moreno’s group is investigating novel methods using social networking web sites to identify and interact with patients who suffer from these conditions.
Dr. Moreno’s work also involves how to provide adolescents access to online health systems. Research to date includes a study evaluating risks and benefits to providing adolescents access to their online health records. This study found that benefits to allowing teens access to their online health records included improved health care access, enhanced opportunities for health literacy and increased opportunities for chronic illness management. The risks involved in allowing teens access to their online health records included the limitations of current online systems to handle complex health information, confidentiality concerns, legal issues and health care systems’ lack of prioritization of the adolescent patient population.
Press Articles & Interviews
A Note to the Wise on MySpace Helps |
Doc Reaches Out to Misbehaving Teens on MySpace-Can Social Networking Improve Adolescent Health? |
Kids Reveal a Lot Online |
MySpace: All About Sex, Drugs and Violence for Teens, Study Says |
MySpace: New Venue to Find Kids Who Need Help? |
Online Profiles Show Risky Behaviour in Youth |
Physicians Can Curb References to Risky Behavior on Social Networking Sites Like Facebook |
Study Finds Many Teens Publicize Risk Behaviors on MySpace Pages |
Study: Teens on MySpace Mention Sex, Violence |
Teens Divulge Risky Behavior on Social Networking Sites |
Teens on MySpace |
Teen Sex, Drugs, Violence Plaster MySpace.com Networking Site |
Staff
 Kaitlin F. Bare Research Assistant |  Libby N. Brockman Research Assistant |  Mengmeng Chen Research Assistant |  Katie G. Egan Research Assistant |  Kathryn E. Gannon Graduate Trainee |
 Lauren E. Kacvinsky Research Assistant |  Erika J. Mikulec Graduate Trainee |  Megan A. Pumper Research Assistant |  Michael J. Swanson Associate Research Specialist |  Hope M. Villiard Research Assistant |
Libby N. Brockman
Libby Brockman is a clinical research assistant in the Department of Pediatrics at both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington, and at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her research involves the analysis of risk behaviors displayed online by adolescents on social networking websites (SNS), the interactions between teens and strangers on SNS, and bioethical issues regarding adolescents’ participation in clinical research. Libby graduated from Brandeis University in 2007 with degrees in neuroscience, biology and psychology. She is interested in pursuing a career in medicine and her clinical interests include adolescent medicine and neurology.
Mahaya Clark
Mahaya Clark is a current undergraduate student at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA majoring in Chemistry on a Pre-med track. Mahaya is at the University of Wisconsin for a Medical Research Program that has been formed in conjuction between the two schools. Mahaya’s research interest is in associations between relationship statuses that adolescents display on their Facebook profiles and mental health issues.
Katie G. Egan
Katie Egan is an undergraduate nursing student at the University of Wisconsin and a research assistant in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin. Katie’s research interests include the use of technology and social networking sites for prevention and diagnosis of health conditions, with a focus on stress-related illnesses. Katie also works as a nursing assistant at the UW Hospital and volunteers as an Emergency Medical Technician. Katie is the Service Director and founder of the UWPD First Responders.
Kathryn E. Gannon
Kerry Gannon is a second year medical student at the University of Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Dayton with a Bachelor of Science in Premedicine. She is a 2009 Shapiro Scholar and her project uses the social networking site Facebook, with her main focus on analyzing the risk and protective displays on college students’ profiles. She is interested in pursuing a career in pediatric medicine.
Erika J. Mikulec
Erika Mikulec is a second year medical student at the University of Wisconsin. She received her BS in Biology from the University of Wisconsin. Erika is a 2009 Shapiro Scholar. Her current research is a survey on adolescents between the ages of 11-19 which accesses their fitness goals and technology use. The research aims to help adolescents in achieving and maintaining a fitness program through the use of technology.
Michael J. Swanson
Mike Swanson graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Strategic Communications, emphasizing New Media marketing and branding, from the School of Journalism & Mass Communications. Mike fostered his New Media marketing passion by previously working for Atlantic Records and Warner Music Group, both considered the premier leaders in New Media marketing and branding within the music industry. Mike’s areas of research interests include the implications of social media, social networking, Web and mobile-based applications for improving health care education and access to adolescents.
Active Grants
Exploring Adolescent Health Behaviors and Social Networking Web Sites
Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH)
NICHD K12 HD055894
10/15/08-10/15/13
Online Display of Sexual Material by Adolescents and Association with Sexual Intention
University of Washington Center for AIDS Research
11/08-12/09
Honors & Awards
| Fellow’s Research Award Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA |
2008 |
Recent Publications
Moreno MA, Ralston JR, Grossman D. Adolescent access to online health services: Perils and Promise. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2009;44:244-251.
Moreno MA, Parks MR, Zimmerman FJ, Brito TE, Christakis DA. Adolescents’ Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace: Prevalence and Associations. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2009;163:35-41.
Moreno MA, VanderStoep A, Parks MR, Zimmerman FJ, Kurth A, Christakis DC. A Randomized Pilot Intervention to Reduce At-Risk Adolescents’ Online Risk Behavior Display on a Social Networking Web Site. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2009;163:27-34.
Moreno MA, Breuner CC, Lozano P. Provocative Questions in Parochial Sex Education Classes: Higher Incidence in Younger Students. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. 2008;21:259-264.
Moreno MA, Fost NC, Christakis DC. Research Ethics in the MySpace Era. Pediatrics 2008;121:157-61.
Moreno MA, Parks MR, Richardson LP. What are adolescents showing the world about their health risk behaviors on MySpace? Medscape General Medicine. 2007;9(4):9.
Related Publications
Dr. Moreno is also the lead author for the ongoing column "Advice for Patients" published each month in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Book Chapters
Stoval K, Kreager D, Moreno MA. Social Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality. In: Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Edited by Holmes KK et al. New York: Humana Press; 2007.
Breuner CC, Moreno MA. Adolescent substance use. In: Chicago Companion to the Child. In press.
Virtual Mentor
Virtual Mentor is the American Medical Association's online ethics journal. Founded in 1999, Virtual Mentor (VM) explores the ethical issues and challenges that students, residents, and other physicians are likely to confront in their training and daily practice. For this reason, the journal is a valuable teaching resource for medical educators at all levels as well as for doctors and doctors-to-be. Each monthly issue of VM contains original articles and commentary on a given theme-e.g., access to care; quality-of-life considerations in clinical decision making, public roles of physicians, ethical issues in endocrinology, conflict of values in the clinic.
*Brockman L, Moreno MA. Withholding information from an adolescent. Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(8):496-500. (*Dr. Moreno served as primary mentor to Ms. Brockman on this manuscript) http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2008/08/ccas3-0808.html.
Moreno MA. From the Editor: Speaking of Sex. American Medical Association: Virtual Mentor. October 2005.
Moreno MA. From the Editor: Ethics in the Care of Adolescents. American Medical Association: Virtual Mentor. March 2005
Dr. Moreno as theme editor for VM:
Issue theme: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, October 2005 http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2005/10/toc-0510.html
Issue theme: Ethics in the care of Adolescence, March 2005 http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2005/10/toc-0510.html