Communication Commons^™

"Minor Setback, Major Comeback": A Multilevel Approach To The Development Of Academic Resilience, Brandi Frisby, Jessalyn I. Vallade

Information Science Faculty Publications

This study examined communicative processes at multiple levels that may influence students’ academic resilience through transitions. Participant interviews (N = 23) revealed that at the individual level, students develop a resilient mindset and effective academic strategies, engage in self-care, and compartmentalize. At the relational level, students rely on teachers to demonstrate positive teaching behaviors, receive academic and emotional support from a variety of sources, and find role models to inspire resilience. Finally, students reported that the campus community gave opportunities to build support networks and access campus resources, but identified threats to effective use of these resilience-building opportunities. Finally, …

Smartphone Use And Psychological Well-Being Among College Students In China: A Qualitative Assessment, Cheng Dai, Zixue Tai, Shan Ni

Journalism and Media Faculty Publications

Background: Problematic smartphone use is widespread, and college-age youth faces an especially high risk of its associated consequences. While a promising body of research has emerged in recent years in this area, the domination of quantitative inquiries can be fruitfully and conceptually complemented by perspectives informed through qualitative research. Toward that end, this study aimed to interrogate the myriad behavioral, attitudinal, and psychological tendencies as a side effect of college students’ engagement with the smartphone in their everyday lived experience through in-depth interviews.

Methods: We recruited 70 participants from seven college campuses hailing from different geographic regions in China, and …

The Impact Of Contact Tracing On The Spread Of Covid-19: An Egocentric Agent-Based Model, Andrew Pilny, Lin Xiang, Corey Huber, Will Silberman, Sean Goatley-Soan

Communication Faculty Publications

At its core, contact tracing is a form of egocentric network analysis (ENA). One of the biggest obstacles for ENA is informant accuracy (i.e., amount of true contacts identified), which is even more prominent for interaction-based network ties because they often represent episodic relational events, rather than enduring relational states. This research examines the effect of informant accuracy on the spread of COVID-19 through an egocentric, agent-based model. Overall when the average person transmits COVID-19 to 1.62 other people (i.e., the R₀), they must be, on average, 75% accurate with naming their contacts. In higher transmission contexts (i.e., …

Dating App Use Among Rural Men Who Have Sex With Men And Its Relationship To Hiv Prevention And Risk Behaviors: A Mixed-Methods Analysis, Lauren Bineau, Danielle Lambert, Natalia Truszczynski, Nathan Hansen, Carolyn Lauckner

Center for Health Equity Transformation Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Men who have sex with men (MSM) in rural areas have limited access to HIV prevention and education resources. Given the growing usage of mobile dating apps among the wider MSM population, this research sought to explore their use among MSM in rural areas and their potential for delivering HIV prevention information.

METHODS: Participants were recruited from different areas of the rural Southern USA. This mixed-methods study consisted of an online survey (n=85) and follow-up qualitative phone interviews with 20 survey respondents. The survey assessed dating app use, sexual behaviors, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness, usage, and attitudes among …

The Public’S Perceptions Of Government Officials’ Communication In The Wake Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shaniece B. Bickham, Diane B. Francis

Communication Faculty Publications

Early news coverage in the US about the COVID-19 pandemic focused on information released from local, state and federal government officials. With an emphasis on US government at these levels, this study examined whether the public’s credibility perceptions and trust in government, along with message exposure, influenced their adherence to information from the government about (a) stay-at-home orders, (b) social distancing and (c) COVID-19 testing. Source credibility theory and situational crisis communication theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Through the survey data analysis, we investigated communication preferences in the wake of the pandemic and whether credibility perceptions differed …

Beyond Hours Of Video Gameplay: Connections Between Verbal Aggressiveness, Genre Preference, And Technology Used, William T. Howe, Ioana A. Cionea

Communication Faculty Publications

This research examined how multiple factors (i.e., hours of gameplay, types of gameplay, preferred genre of video games, technology used to play games, and biological sex) were associated with both trait and situational verbal aggressiveness. Cross-sectional data were collected from 435 undergraduate students via an online questionnaire. Results indicated similar patterns to previous literature in that video gameplay hours were positively related to verbal aggressiveness. However, we extended research by also showing that a preference for certain genres and technology used to play video games were also related with both situational and trait verbal aggressiveness. Based on these results, we …

An Egocentric Network Contact Tracing Experiment: Testing Different Procedures To Elicit Contacts And Places, Andrew Pilny, C. Joseph Huber

Communication Faculty Publications

Contact tracing is one of the oldest social network health interventions used to reduce the diffusion of various infectious diseases. However, some infectious diseases like COVID-19 amass at such a great scope that traditional methods of conducting contact tracing (e.g., face-to-face interviews) remain difficult to implement, pointing to the need to develop reliable and valid survey approaches. The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of three different egocentric survey methods for extracting contact tracing data: (1) a baseline approach, (2) a retrieval cue approach, and (3) a context-based approach. A sample of 397 college students were randomized …

Effects Of Website Interactivity On Skin Cancer-Related Intentions And User Experience: Factorial Randomized Experiment, Zhaomeng Niu, Jessica Fitts Willoughby, Elliot J. Coups, Jerod L. Stapleton

Health, Behavior & Society Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Digital media technologies provide users with the ability to interact with content and to receive information based on their preferences and engagement.

OBJECTIVE: We used skin cancer and sun protection as a health topic to explore how modality interactivity, interface tools that afford users greater activity, resulting in greater depth and breadth of mentally representing and experiencing mediated content, and message interactivity, the extent to which the system allows users to exchange messages back and forth on health websites, influenced users' attitudes, knowledge, behavioral intentions, and experience.

METHODS: We employed a 2×2 (modality interactivity: high vs low; message interactivity: …

Understanding Struggles And Triumphs Of Widows In Central Nigeria: A Path To Communication And Economic Empowerment, Meredith Annette Garrison

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

One in ten African women age 15 or older are widows. Approximately 8 million widows live in Nigeria with many living in extreme poverty. Throughout the nation, widows are subjected to physical and psychological harm from their families and communities following the deaths of their husbands. Women are marginalized across Nigeria, but widowed women often experience ostracization and oppression that leads to poverty. Most widows rely on informal business and petty trading to survive but these ventures typically only bring in less than a $1 a day for a family. This dissertation critically examined the situation of widows in a …

Communication Strategies To Intervene In Intimate Partner Violence Among Young Adult Couples, Kaylee Marie Lukacena

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social and behavioral health issue of importance among the young adult population (Cupp et al., 2015). IPV includes acts of physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression, and stalking enacted by an intimate partner (Smith, Zhang, Basile, Merrick, Wang, Kresnow, & Chen, 2018). In the United States., approximately one in three women and one in ten men experience IPV during their lifetime (Smith et al., 2018). Furthermore, over more than 70% of women who experience indicate that the first act occurred before the age of 25. One approach to preemptively address IPV on college campuses …

Toward Improving Physician/Patient Communication Regarding Invisible Chronic Illness (Ici): The Potential Of Mhealth Technology In Instructional Communication, Jami Leigh Warren, Karen Clancy, Christy F. Brady, Kendall Rump, Tayla New-Oglesby

Health and Clinical Sciences Faculty Publications

Patients that suffer from invisible chronic illness (ICI) such as autoimmune conditions, neurological conditions, and gastrointestinal problems often struggle to obtain a proper medical diagnosis due to a lack of objective indicators to help health-care providers diagnose patients with ICIs. Thus, researchers conducted interviews with 21 participants with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) to determine what messages they received from health-care providers as they pursued a diagnosis, how they interpreted those messages, and what role mHealth technology may play in improving patient/provider communication and effective diagnosis/treatment of ICIs. Several themes regarding potential instructional communication intervention content emerged from the interview …

I Need To See Me On Tv: Parasocial Affirmations Of Sexual And Gender Identity Development Of Lgbtq+ Mass Media Consumers, Donald I. Lowe

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation presents a new cycle model of media usage by LGBTQ+ community members in the United States that reveals a purpose previously unnamed and undefined. While parasocial contact, parasocial interaction, and parasocial relationships have been present in the academic literature for quite some time (as early as 1956 when Horton and Wohl first wrote of the phenomenon), use of media to parasocially affirm one’s LGBTQ+ status is unique to this study. This study used qualitative methods to examine a specific mass media audience, LGBTQ+ individuals, and asked them, in one-on-one interviews, how they utilize mass media to assist with …

The Persuasive Power Of Instagram Metrics: Examining How User-Generated Cues Affect Consumer’S Perception Of Influencer Credibility, Madison Lea Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Since 2019, Instagram has been testing the removal of a visible like count on posts. This change particularly pertains to social media influencers whose popularity is visibly displayed through the number of likes and comments their posts receive. Therefore, the present study experimentally investigated how varying levels of the like (i.e. hidden, approximate, and exact) and comment (hidden and exact) display on Instagram’s Explore page affect user’s credibility evaluations of unknown influencers. Guided by the Heuristic Systematic Model, MAIN Model and Warranting Principle, this study conducted a 3 (like display: hidden likes, approximated number of likes, and exact number of …

Meeting Their Expectations: Student Expectations And Perceptions Of Instructor Clarity, Credibility, Rapport, And Climate In Online Courses, Nikki Kowalski

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Continued advancements in technology have steadily increased accessibility to online learning and have provided more tools with which instructors can communicate with their students. As our technology evolves, so too does the students’ expectations for how course content will be communicated. It is important to understand students’ expectations for their online learning experiences so that those expectations can be met. The field of instructional communication has demonstrated the importance of behaviors that establish an instructor’s credibility, clarity, rapport, and climate in the classroom finding these constructs contribute to student cognitive and affective learning. The significance of these constructs has been …

A Multiple Goals Perspective On Burnout Disclosure And Support Among Attending Physicians, Alison N. Buckley

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Burnout is a common experience among physicians and has been identified as a precursor to substance abuse and suicide ideation. When not addressed, burnout can have many negative personal, relational and professional consequences. Research about the burnout experience is limited due to the taboo nature of the topic. The present study used a multiple goals theoretical perspective to examine how physicians disclose burnout in order to access social support. Attending physicians from various specialties (N = 30) participated in one-on-one interviews and were asked to discuss their burnout experience, conversational goals during burnout disclosure, catalysts and barriers for disclosure, and …

Integrating Persuasive Messaging Strategies Into Higher Education Early Alert Interventions To Improve Student Academic Behaviors, Joseph Gayheart

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Higher Education is at a critical juncture as both public and private institutions seek to attract, retain, and graduate students. Institutions of higher education have traditionally developed communication and engagement strategies that become part of early warning/alert systems intended to increase student positive academic behaviors and improve student success. Persuasion can be a powerful tool in improving communication—especially when persuasive messages are deployed within the complex and ever-changing media landscape. Communication and persuasion scholars, for example, have applied persuasive messaging interventions in a variety of contexts but have yet to substantially apply these persuasive tactics in a higher education setting. …

An Examination Of Communication Sequencing In Enacted Support Interactions For People With Major Depressive Disorder, Madison Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Social support is integral to helping one manage Major Depressive Disorder [MDD], but enacted social support, or the supportive behavior itself, is not always beneficial. Using a normative theoretical perspective on social support and theory related to sequencing as guiding frameworks, in this thesis I examined common sequential patterns of enacted support between support providers and individuals with MDD. Moreover, I investigated how individuals with MDD evaluated the helpfulness of each of the different sequential patterns. To examine the sequential patterns and how individuals with MDD evaluated their helpfulness, I interviewed 20 participants who had been diagnosed with MDD. The …

Podcasting, Jennifer A. Bartlett

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Podcasts seem to be everywhere these days, on every topic including current events, games, entertainment, education, business, financial management and more.

As podcasts have now become a recognized source of entertainment, news, and information, how can we become familiar with listening to podcasts and integrating them into our work in libraries? The following resources offer a few places to get started. Given the nature of the medium, some sites are optimized for viewing and listening on mobile devices.

A Qualitative Examination Of The Agency Of Women In Their 30s And 40s Who Use Dating Applications, Tera Buerkle

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The use of dating applications (apps) to find romantic and sexual partners is widespread across age groups, however, there is a paucity of research on dating apps with those in middle adulthood. Sexual script theory suggests that women’s agency (i.e. the ability to act in one’s own best interest) may be impacted by expectations from an inherently sexualized context, such as dating apps. Feminist theory contends that women’s agency is complicated by gender socialization due to the imbalance of power in society that greatly favors men. In this study seventeen women aged 30 to 49 completed in-depth semi-structured interviews, and …

“It’S The Only Thing We Have”: Whisper Networks Among Women Theatre Actors, Richard Edward Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Women who secretly warn one another via informal communications about men in their environment who may engage in some kind of misconduct are participating in a whisper network. This dissertation employs the narrative paradigm to understand how these networks function in the context of professional actors. Interviews conducted with actors who have worked in a variety of communities were analyzed in order to better understand how whisper networks function as warning systems that must be created because conventional means of protection may not exist or be trusted in their industry.

Gender Violence On Television: Insights And Implications From Female Audiences Of Drama Series, Mary Celeste Clark

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Gender-based violence is pervasive across many television shows that are targeted toward a variety of audiences and cover a range of genres and settings, yet there is a dearth of literature regarding gender violence in fictional television drama series and how female audiences interpret and react to the depictions of gender violence in those programs. For this study, I spoke with 13 women about their experiences viewing programs with depictions of gender violence. The data was analyzed qualitatively using a phronetic iterative approach and demonstrates why these women watch these shows, what affective responses they have, and how they interpret …

Exploring Health And Risk Information Seeking In The Context Of Covid-19: Testing The Comprehensive Model Of Information Seeking And Risk Information Seeking And Processing Model As Competing Explanatory Models, Xianlin Jin

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Facing a pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the public feels uncertainty and fear. To cope with the pandemic and reduce uncertainty, the public needs accurate and prompt information. By theoretically and empirically comparing the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) and the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP), this dissertation aims to unpack the core mechanism of health and risk information seeking. Built on the two models, the author proposed an Integrated Model and explored which variables are the significant predictors of health and risk information seeking.

The author recruited 729 adult participants and analyzed 394 completed …

The Consent Of Man: An Examination Of Privacy Awareness, Surveillance, And Privacy Policy (Mis)Use, Will Reilley Silberman

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The problem of privacy is nuanced, pervasive, and requires an elevated approach. Given the lack of consistency with regard to privacy’s conceptualization and operationalization, research is needed that examines variables related to privacy to better understand how privacy operates in the present day. This dissertation aims to better understand nuances of privacy by gauging knowledge of online privacy, technological affordances related to privacy, and knowledge of surveillance. In this study, human subjects from a large southern University were presented with an opportunity to use a privacy-invasive smartphone application. After doing so, they viewed one of three privacy policies. Finally, they …