Health Communication Commons^™

Not Manly Enough: Femmephobia’S Stinging Impact On The Transmasculine Community, Tat Bellamy - Walker

Capstones

My capstone project is about femmephobia in the transmasculine community. In interviews with at least six trans men and non-binary people, they explained the struggles they faced accessing health care and the discrimination they faced within their families for having a femme gender presentation. In the story, I speak to Rhea Hoskin, one of the leading researchers on femmephobia in Canada who details why this issue is harmful to the transmasculine community. Additionally, the director of the National Center for Transgender Equality talks about how femmephobia can rear its head and contribute to suicidality and depression in the transmasculine community. …

The Never-Ending Lap, Ennica D. Jacob, Alexis Reese

Capstones

This personal film documents the journey of a Haitian-American woman dealing with sexual trauma in a culture that doesn’t speak candidly on the topic. How can women of the African- American diaspora break the cycle of sexual trauma and what are coping mechanisms to navigate their life choices with awareness?

The Never-Ending Lap will follow Ennica’s own healing process, delving delve into the cycles of sexual trauma. The film will explore past experiences through journal entries, therapy sessions and her love for track and field as she is on the road to search for coping mechanisms and healing.

Link: https://ennicajacob.myportfolio.com/videos

Narcan Can Save Your Loved One: Designing Messages For The Opioid Crisis Using The Extended Parallel Process Model, Braden Bagley

Dissertations

In 2017, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The opioid epidemic has become widespread because of over prescription and extreme addiction. In recent years, the crisis has become dire because of the staggering annual death toll from overdoses. Although the number of opioid-related deaths has risen, so too have the innovations designed to combat opioid abuse and overdoses. The use of naloxone is a safe and reliable option for treating overdose victims. In fact, many first responders are primarily relying on the medication in such emergencies. This study …

Improving Chinese Mothers’ Health Literacy: A Wechat Intervention, Qiong Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

The health literacy and eHealth literacy of women during the reproductive age is crucial, as it can affect their health and the health of their children. Promoting health literacy is essential to achieve mothers’ empowerment by improving access to and capacity of using health information effectively. However, functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy have never been assessed among Chinese women. The first study during this dissertation assessed functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy among 421 of Chinese mothers with children under 3 years old. The results revealed overall less than optimal level of health …

Patient And Provider Perspectives On Sexual History Taking During Gynecological Care: A Pilot Study In An Academic Family Medical Setting In New York City, Ashley M. Chastain

Dissertations and Theses

Background: In the United States (US), women face a number of serious issues concerning sexual health. Current surveillance data indicates that overall rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasing rapidly. While rates of new diagnoses have decreased, the risks of acquiring HIV are still relatively high for some females, specifically Black/African-American women. In New York City (NYC), where this dissertation research was conducted, similar HIV/STI rates exist among females of reproductive age (aged 15-44). Among women in the US, there are also high estimated rates of other sexual health problems, such as sexual anxiety, sexual dysfunction, and intimate …

Post-Secondary Students’ Perceptions Of Mental Health Messages Conveyed By Video Storytelling And Informational Approaches, Hung Quang Huynh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study’s aim was to examine how Western students perceive mental health messages conveyed by video storytelling and informational approaches. In focus group discussions, participants’ perceptions of help seeking behaviors were unchanged by either approach. However, discussions suggested that messages enhanced understanding and awareness, which potentially reduced stigma. Participants who watched the storytelling videos asserted that they were open and receptive to the messages and expressed perceptual changes. Four facilitators appeared to contribute to effective mental health messages: diversity; explicit instructions; shift toward understanding societal and biological causes of mental health conditions; and a combination of storytelling and information. Future …

‘A Better Country To Die In’: Self-Determination, Drugs, And The Limits Of Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Wendy Pringle

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines Canada’s legalization of medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Specifically, it focuses on how the debates surrounding the legalization process, the cultural history of euthanasia drugs, and the ethical dimensions of disability shaped assisted dying outcomes in the country in the period between the precedent-setting February 2015 Carter v. Canada Supreme Court case and the legislation, passed in June 2016, that enacted legalized MAiD. This mixed methods project uses discursive analysis of media texts, pharmacological history, and rhetorical analysis of first-person testimonies. The first analytic chapter, “Self-Determination, Euthanasia, and the Right to Die,” considers how the shift toward …

"Is There Really A Way To Prevent Cancer?": Exploring Cancer Prevention Information Seeking Among Cancer Patients And Their Caregivers, Kaitlin M. Magee

Communication ETDs

This thesis investigated cancer prevention information (CPI) seeking among cancer patients and their caregivers. Interviews that were conducted in 2011 were analyzed thematically to deconstruct perceptions and sources of CPI among 47 participants. The thematic narrative analysis of the predominantly Hispanic, low-income and low-education sample revealed differences in CPI seeking related to ways cultural practices and socioeconomic status impact information seeking. The digital divide, Spanish language and perceived high cost presented barriers to information yet created opportunities for patients and family members to emerge as health champions to share information interpersonally and intergenerationally. Understanding CPI processes of racial and ethnic …

Adding Soul To The Message: Applying African American Jeremiad Rhetoric As Culturally Competent Health Communication Online, Wilbert Francisco Laveist

English Theses & Dissertations

This study examines whether online health communications targeting African Americans could be more effective by structuring the message in the format of African American jeremiad rhetoric, a culturally unique version of the American jeremiad literary form. Health disparities (also known as health inequality) persist among African Americans despite increased health knowledge, improved communication practices, and access to health facts online. The problem is systemic, and thus a predictable outcome that requires change in societal structures that produce and maintain inequality. Individual behavior changes to improve health is also necessary. Information alone does not change behavior. Altering environmental factors is also …

#Whyididntreport: Using Social Media Analysis To Inform Issues With Sexual Assault Reporting, Jordyn Warren

LSU Master's Theses

The #MeToo movement allowed victims of sexual assault to go public with their stories. When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September of 2018, she was scrutinized by President Trump for not reporting the incident to authorities “when it happened nearly 30 years ago.” Promptly, #WhyIDidntReport came to fruition on Twitter, uncovering the shame victims feel and the complexities behind why so many individuals didn’t and still don’t report their assaults. Victim-service agencies “provide victims with support and services to facilitate their physical and emotional recovery, offer protection from future victimizations, …

Illness And The American Workplace: Issues And Implications For Employers And Employees, Victoria R. Dolan

Student Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to identify American employee experiences and existing workplace policies and cultures surrounding illness, disability, and sick leave. This approach was taken in order to closely examine what looks to be working well for companies and workers, and what could benefit from a more human centric approach in regards to workplace policy and employee support programs. The study of employee experiences in particular represents a gap in the current scholarly literature regarding illness and illness policy in the American workplace, and more accurately represents the experiences for both employees and employers. Furthermore, it assists with distinguishing the types …

Science For All: Exploring Science Communication For Public Engagement In Culturally Diverse Scenarios In The Americas, Denisse Helena Vasquez-Guevara

Latin American Studies ETDs

Universities in the United States and Ecuador must meet various policy guidelines concerning research and teaching that address the needs of their local communities. In Ecuador, the higher education law requires that universities undertake research and public outreach projects that respond to societal needs. In the United States, Carnegie Research Classifications motivate universities to serve their publics by carrying out community-engaged research. However, evaluations of public outreach projects and community-engaged research have consistently demonstrated that the segments of society that are ostensibly served by these initiatives are not meaningfully engaged in them; members of the public are treated as, and …

Preparing Students For The Real World: Analyzing Public Relations (Pr) Education For Entry-Level Practice In The Health Industry, Olivia Maria Lason

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Public relations (PR) agencies are often called upon to service the needs of niche industry areas of practice. These areas include healthcare communication which generates over 15% of firm revenue alone. Agencies are also top-employers of PR graduates, yet literature shows students are not meeting the skills and abilities expected of an entry-level practitioner. This study examined whether entry-level foundational skills and abilities (FSAs) are taught to PR students interested in the health field. Through a content analysis of undergraduate health communication syllabi in PR programs, the study found most FSAs were addressed; however, some areas were lacking. As such, …

Empowering The Plus Size Body Using Dance As Therapy, Ashley Sampson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In Western society, having the “ideal” body image and size is a societal issue. It is advertised throughout media outlets that the “ideal” body is what should be desired, and any other body type is “abnormal”. This capstone thesis focused on the effectiveness of dance as therapy and changing the perspectives of all body types, to support and empower all bodies including plus-sized bodies. The use of individual interviews, in an open dialogue model, with a select few members (3) of Soul thru Sole, including the CEO of the dance company; which focuses on empowering women no matter their age, …

Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes Scapularis) Distribution In Maine, Usa, As Related To Climate Change, White-Tailed Deer, And The Landscape, Susan P. Elias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged (deer) tick (Ixodes scapularis). Geographic invasion of I. scapularis in North America has been attributed to causes including 20th century reforestation and suburbanization, burgeoning populations of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) which is the primary reproductive host of I. scapularis, tick-associated non-native plant invasions, and climate change. Maine, USA, is a high Lyme disease incidence state, with a history of increasing I. scapularis abundance and northward range expansion. This thesis addresses the question: “To …

The Sweet Tale: A Pilot Study Of An Interactive Narrative Health Communication Intervention Using Positive Deviance To Highlight Communicative Acts That Lead To Effective Management Of Diabetes Among Hispanics, Claudia M. Boyd

Communication ETDs

In this dissertation, I conducted a pilot study that applied positive deviance (Singhal, 2011; Pascale, Sternin, & Sternin, 2012) findings from my master’s thesis (Boyd, 2015) to an entertainment-education (Singhal & Rogers, 1999) driven intervention in a Hispanic community (Baezconde-Garbanti et al., 2014; Murphy et al., 2013; Wang & Singhal, 2016), using an interactive narrative (Green & Jenkins, 2014) to develop achildren’s book. In the current pilot study, I created a children’s book The Sweet Taleusing extensive formative research and created a framework to aid in the development offuture Hispanic children’s books on diabetes. To evaluate The Sweet Tale, I …

The Relationship Between Health Literacy And Self-Management, Carli A. Zegers

Theses & Dissertations

Health literacy is an evolving concept, impacting all areas of health care. There is a need for improved understanding of the concept and its relationship with self-management especially in the United States (US) where health literacy has been limited to functional health literacy consisting of basic reading and writing. Health literacy is defined as the “ability to obtain, understand, and apply health information for healthcare decisions” (Nielsen, 2004, p. 32) and has been expanded into three sub-concepts of functional, communicative, and critical health literacy. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore and better understand the relationship between health literacy …

Understanding Substance Use And Recovery In Maine: A Culture-Centered Approach, Carter Hathaway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is ever-increasing attention to Maine’s substance use problem, particularly in the case of opioid-related deaths. With yearly death tolls increasing, citizens of Maine wonder what the best methods are in approaching the issue and preventing further harm. While statistics about the issue are repeated in news coverage and by political figures, there is a need to understand what substance use and recovery actually mean to individuals who experience them on a daily basis. The following thesis uses Mohan J. Dutta’s (2008) culture-centered approach to health communication to explore the meanings of substance use and recovery as well as the …

Increasing Understanding Of Professor’S Adhd Knowledge And Perception Of Adhd And How This Informs Their Behavior Towards Students With Adhd, Rebecca Rosen

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent learning disability experience by 5.3% of students. The behaviors associated with ADHD (hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention) can impact a students’ ability to learn and their behavior and relationships in the classroom. Teachers can help to create a supportive or unsupportive learning environment for students with learning disabilities, specifically ADHD. Unfortunately, these needs are not always met for students in college. Previous research has uncovered primary and secondary teacher’s knowledge, perception, and behavior regarding children with ADHD, but little work has focused on college professors. College professors are likely to have significantly less …

Fertility Awareness Based Methods (Fabms): Evaluating And Promoting Female Interest For Purposes Of Health Monitoring And Family Planning, Amylynn Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural or fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) help users monitor, interpret, and systematically chart female biological markers. FABMs are used as family planning methods and sometimes as reproductive health monitoring methods. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) encourages medical professionals to use female reproductive cycle patterns, ‘the female fifth-vital sign’, as a means of improving the diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health diseases, disorders, and conditions. Patients need to have accurate knowledge of healthy and unhealthy cycle patterns. The general public does not have a sufficient level of fertility health knowledge. This study examined whether females that are interested …

American Sign-Language (Asl) For Audiologists, Colette Vossler-Welch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this project is to provide a means for Audiologists, Speech-Language-pathologists and related personnel to improve their ability to communicate and connect with culturally Deaf individuals through the use of video-animated sign-language interpretations. Arguments for or against the bilingual approach of using ASL and the spoken language with regards to Deaf education will be discussed through both a personal memoir and a review of current literature. This study will also shed light upon the history of the American Deaf population, American Sign-Language (ASL) and will conclude with a training module in ASL. The training module will be available …

A Bilingual Approach To Pediatric Occupational Therapy: The Importance Of Communication Between Providers & Spanish-Speaking Families In Northwest Arkansas, Emily Ann Davidson

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to the demographic demands of Northwest Arkansas and the prevalence of disparities in health care, this study aims to assess the current practices, perceived need, and willingness to provide bilingual Spanish-English outpatient pediatric occupational therapy options in Northwest Arkansas. The hope of this study is to better inform pediatric occupational therapy providers of the growing need for bilingual services so that they may respond appropriately in order to better serve Latino and Spanish-speaking patients and their families or caregivers.

Zika Message Analysis, Alexandria Phipps

Master's Theses

The following study employs the Extended Parallel Processing Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to understand how to create health messages with the greatest influence on individuals’ behavioral intent to adopt mosquito-borne virus protection behaviors. The study employs a 2 (susceptibility) x 2 (self-efficacy) factorial design, evenly distributing the participants between four messages (N=186). Although the selfefficacy manipulation was ultimately unsuccessful, the findings highlighted the significance of perceived susceptibility on one’s intent to adopt protective behaviors. The results exemplify the importance of the theoretical critical point of the EPPM, where danger control shifts to fear control, and the importance of …

The Road To Recovery: Injured Athlete's Perspectives On Recovery Through Social Support, Brooke Kuhn

Master's Theses

Injured athletes’ perspectives on different aspect of their recovery process were analyzed using concepts such as social support, responsiveness, and self-disclosure based on three different sources: coaches, trainers, and teammates. 39 participants were used for this study. With an age range from 18-44 years old, the participants are both current college and former college athletes. Many of them ranged from the different types of sports played and at different divisional levels. 82.1% of participants were Caucasian, 12.8% were African American, and 5.1% selected other as their ethnicity. The results exemplify, through linear regression, that trainers are the most effective source …

Crumbling Foundations: The Case For Prioritizing Self-Care Among Educational Leaders, Joshua Brent Ray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a potentially dangerous disassociation between human behavior, decision-making, and ethics and the notion that these fundamental aspects of what it means to be human originate simply as the functions of an organ. A deeper knowledge of the operation and limitations of the brain suggests biological input could possess the ability to unknowingly alter human behavior and effectiveness. This study utilizes a research-based understanding of the implications of human health and self-care habits on neurological, psychological, and behavioral function to examine the current practices of educational administrators across Arkansas while exploring systemic and job-based factors within the profession that …

Patient-Perceived Stigma & Communication In Mental Healthcare: Predictors Of Medication Adherence And Mental Health Outcomes, Cameron A. Cloud

Honors Theses

Patients with mental illness often report feeling stigmatized by their mental healthcare providers, which may deter them from seeking care services altogether. Although workplace interventions can be implemented to reduce stigma, outcomes are limited and may not be long-lasting. The objectives of this study are to investigate which variables of interpersonal communication are significant predictors of medication adherence and mental health outcomes in patients with mental illness. This study surveyed 258 participants from the United States who were at least 18 years of age and reported seeing a mental healthcare provider and taking psychotropic medication within the past five years. …

Hemoglobin A1c Levels And Sport Participation In Children With Type 1 Diabetes., Amy Kozerski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study’s purpose was to determine a possible difference in hemoglobin A1c levels and sport participation in children with type 1 diabetes. Patients with provided consent via an iPad electronic informed consent/assent (preamble) completed a physical activity and sport participation survey. The survey was linked to their medical chart including demographic and diabetes medical history (e.g. HbA1c). The analyses provided a sample of 120 participants, 40 in the no sport participation group and 78 in the sport participation group with 56 females and 64 males, with an average age12.94±2.8 years. An independent sample t-test, removing one outlier from the …

The Importance Of Responsiveness: Improving Health-Related Outcomes Among Ostomates, Carrie Reif

Dissertations

More than 750,000 individuals in the United States live with an ostomy appliance, and additional 130,000 patients undergo ostomy surgery each year (United Ostomy Association of America, 2018). Although a life-saving procedure, patients confront significant physical (e.g., bowel routine and activity levels) and emotional (e.g., poor body image and depression) challenges that impede the adjustment process. When faced with health-related threats, the transactional action model of stress and coping argues that patients use strategies, such as seeking support, to effectively cope. However, because of perceptions of felt and enacted stigma and health-related uncertainty, some patients conceal ostomy-related issues and limit …

Innovation And Equity In Public Health Research : Testing Arts-Based Methods For Trauma-Informed, Culturally-Responsive Inquiry., Tasha Golden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the field of Public Health has shifted from a biomedical paradigm to a social ecological approach, focusing on health equity and social determinants of health, it has increasingly acknowledged the roles of culture and trauma in health outcomes. The field has responded by modifying some research practices, but continues to prioritize conventional methodologies—with few options designed to foreground trauma- and cultural-responsiveness. Unfortunately, to the extent that conventional approaches require health to be defined, communicated, or valued according to dominant norms, they risk perpetuating inequities. Health equity therefore requires the development of research methodologies that increase inclusivity and access, elicit …

The Ill Man: An Exploration Of Chronic Illness Disclosure Within Masculine Culture, Matthew Daggett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Masculine culture is known for teaching men to be strong, independent, and in control; however, the presence of chronic illness creates challenges for men when attempting to uphold a dominant masculine identity and make disclosure decisions about sharing illness information. This study explores the intersection between illness related self-disclosure and masculine culture. Utilizing qualitative methods, it examines the challenges chronically ill men face when making decisions about self-disclosure. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five men (N=5) who have one or more chronic illnesses. Transcripts were analyzed and coded using grounded theory to identify emergent themes. The analysis revealed three primary …