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Communication Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Communication

Variance In Patient Access To Support Persons By Race/Ethnicity And Language Preference: An Analysis Of Patient Survey Data, Andrew J. Jager, Matthew K. Wynia Aug 2013

Variance In Patient Access To Support Persons By Race/Ethnicity And Language Preference: An Analysis Of Patient Survey Data, Andrew J. Jager, Matthew K. Wynia

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Regulatory and accreditation organizations have advocated open visitation policies and allowance of support persons of patients’ choosing, but it is unknown if support is allowed equitably. Data from hospitalized patients were analyzed to determine access to support persons, stratified by patient-reported race/ethnicity, language, sex, age, and education. A multivariate regression model was constructed using race and language, controlling for site and patient sex, education and age. Additionally, sites’ policies explicitly allowing support persons were correlated to reports of allowance of support persons. Among 1,196 respondents, 17% reported not being allowed a support person or being unsure. African American patients had …


Commentary: Changing The Channel: Public Health Communication In The 21st Century, Anna Goodman Hoover Jan 2013

Commentary: Changing The Channel: Public Health Communication In The 21st Century, Anna Goodman Hoover

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This commentary asserts the need for research examining the use and efficacy of social media as a tool for meeting public health stakeholders’ information needs. The author points to several potential research questions for the field, situates studies addressing these questions within the PHSSR Research Agenda, and introduces the work of Harris et al. that is included in this issue of Frontiers. The commentary closes with a call for horizontal stakeholder communication that supports evidence-based decision-making.


Chairs Mentoring Faculty Colleagues, Jeff Kerssen-Griep Jan 2013

Chairs Mentoring Faculty Colleagues, Jeff Kerssen-Griep

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Many academics struggle to manage the changes that come with suddenly being responsible for chairing a group of peers. As in skilled classroom instruction, leading an academic unit invokes specific structural, strategic, tactical, and interpersonal abilities. New chairs often quickly have to add ways of thinking and acting that are beyond the precise expertise that got them to that point in the first place. With our focus on understanding process, communication scholars may be better equipped than some others to understand this role shift’s dynamics, but often we struggle as mightily as our chemist or engineering or nursing peers to …


Rethinking The Classroom: One Department’S Attempt To Connect Student Learning And National Events, John A. Mcarthur Jan 2013

Rethinking The Classroom: One Department’S Attempt To Connect Student Learning And National Events, John A. Mcarthur

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Communication programs have a rich anecdotal history of connecting student learning to real-world experience. Yet, the same programs, including ours, often privilege classroom-based instruction and instructor-led experiential learning over other types of experiences. When community organizers announced a national mega-event for our city, faculty in our communication department knew that we wanted to use it as a learning experience. We brainstormed ideas, most of which were classroom- and semester-based concepts typical of traditional topics courses. But, one of our faculty members suggested that we think outside of the concept of classroom. What resulted was a unique experience unlike any we …


Differences In Relational Maintenance Strategies: A Comparative Study, Ariana Smith, Kama Konda Jan 2013

Differences In Relational Maintenance Strategies: A Comparative Study, Ariana Smith, Kama Konda

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Individuals in long-term relationships use relational maintenance strategies to sustain their relationships. This study investigates differences in the use of relational maintenance strategies by relational status (dating, engaged, and married) and by choice of communication channel. Findings from N = 96 individuals in long-term romantic relationships revealed that the most commonly used strategy was assurances, and that positivity and openness decreased as the length of relationship increased. Face-to-face was the most commonly used communication channel across all relational maintenance strategies, and social networking sites were the least used. In addition, married couples were less likely than either dating or engaged …