Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Balancing The Presentation Of Information And Options In Patient Decision Aids: An Updated Review, Purva Abhyankar, Robert J. Volk, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Paulina Bravo, Angela Buchholz, Elissa Ozanne, Dale C. Vidal, Nananda Col, Peep Stalmeier

Dartmouth Scholarship

Standards for patient decision aids require that information and options be presented in a balanced manner; this requirement is based on the argument that balanced presentation is essential to foster informed decision making. If information is presented in an incomplete/non-neutral manner, it can stimulate cognitive biases that can unduly affect individuals’ knowledge, perceptions of risks and benefits, and, ultimately, preferences. However, there is little clarity about what constitutes balance, and how it can be determined and enhanced. We conducted a literature review to examine the theoretical and empirical evidence related to balancing the presentation of information and options.

From Kids, Through Kids, To Kids: Examining The Social Influence Strategies Used By Adolescents To Promote Prevention Among Peers, Janice L. Krieger, Samantha Coveleski, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew, Allison Kootsikas

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent technological advances have increased the interest and ability of lay audiences to create messages; however, the feasibility of incorporating lay multimedia messages into health campaigns has seldom been examined. Drawing on the principle of cultural grounding and narrative engagement theory, this article seeks to examine what types of messages adolescents believe are most effective in persuading their peers to resist substance use and to provide empirical data on the extent to which audience-generated intervention messages are consistent with the associated campaign philosophy and branding. Data for the current study are prevention messages created by students as part of a …

Narrative Means To Preventative Ends: A Narrative Engagement Framework For Designing Prevention Interventions, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This article describes a Narrative Engagement Framework (NEF) for guiding communication-based prevention efforts. This framework suggests that personal narratives have distinctive capabilities in prevention. The article discusses the concept of narrative, links narrative to prevention, and discusses the central role of youth in developing narrative interventions. As illustration, the authors describe how the NEF is applied in the keepin' it REAL adolescent drug prevention curriculum, pose theoretical directions, and offer suggestions for future work in prevention communication.

The Drug Facts Box: Improving The Communication Of Prescription Drug Information, Lisa M. Schwartz, Steven Woloshin

Dartmouth Scholarship

Communication about prescription drugs ought to be a paragon of public science communication. Unfortunately, it is not. Consumers see $4 billion of direct-to-consumer advertising annually, which typically fails to present data about how well drugs work. The professional label—the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) mechanism to get physicians information needed for appropriate prescribing—may also fail to present benefit data. FDA labeling guidance, in fact, suggests that industry omit bene

Coping With Pediatric Cancer: Conversational Methods Utilized By Parents And Children When Dealing With Pediatric Cancer, Chelsi Morgan Walls

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study analyzed how people perceived parents should communicate with their child regarding pediatric cancer treatments. When dealing with pediatric cancer, it is vital that parents and their child communicate about the illness in order to effectively cope with the cancer. Using Uncertainty Management Theory, appraisals, inferences, and illusions, are examined in this study to discover how much affect-management and buffering would be used to manage the illness. Under UMT, the coping mechanisms of affect-management (i.e., religious coping and behavioral disengagement), and buffering (avoidance and child distraction) depend upon how individuals appraise the uncertain situation (positive vs. negative), the inferences …

Metaphor Use In Interpersonal Communication Of Body Perception In The Context Of Breast Cancer, Jennifer Mary Fillion

Dissertations and Theses

Female breast cancer patients are often confused, frustrated, and devastated by changes occurring in their bodies and the treatment process. Many women express frustration and concern with the inability to know what the next phases of their life will bring. Previous research also states that many women struggle to communicate with others about treatment as well as side effects. This research examined how woman are use metaphors to describe their experience with breast cancer, specifically throughout the treatment period related to body image struggles. I qualitatively conducted interviews with women who were either currently in treatment or just finishing. My …

I'M A Patient, Not A Problem: An Exploration Into The Roles Assigned In The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Monica C. Stewart

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Why Are There Delays In Seeking Treatment For Childhood Diarrhoea In India?, Nisha Malhotra

Nisha Malhotra

Abstract Aim To examine the barriers and facilitating factors for seeking treatment for childhood diarrhoea and to determine the main causes for delay in seeking treatment.

Methods Data from Indian Demographic and Health survey 2005–06 (NFHS-III) was used. Mothers were asked if their children (<5-years) had suffered from diarrhoea during the two weeks preceding the survey. Data were collected on the time of seeking treatment after start of the illness, and days waited to seek treatment after the diarrhoea started. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to find the determinants of seeking treatment at the health facility and the factors responsible for the “delay” in seeking advice/treatment.

Results Out of a sample of 41,287 children, 3890 (9.4%) reportedly had diarrhoea. Sixty percent of children with diarrhoea were taken to a health facility. Mother's education till higher secondary and above (OR 1.65; 95% CI, 1.08 – 2.54), richest (OR 1.76; 95% CI, 1.24 – 2.48) wealth index, mother's lack of knowledge of oral …

Factors Influencing Medical Adherence Of Clients In Aids Project Worcester, Marianne M. Sarkis, Abby Dnahue, Jacqueline Osei-Owusu, Shan Yi Koay, Maya Baum, Anna Shayo, Amanda Major

Local Knowledge: Worcester Area Community-Based Research

What are the factors and barriers that lead to levels of adherence for those receiving treatment for those in the HIV/AIDS community through AIDS Project Worcester?

Over the last few decades, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has undergone a visible shift. In particular, the demographics of HIV/AIDS infected persons have transitioned from mostly gay affluent, white males to women and men of various minority populations with lower resources and socioeconomic statuses. This trend has also been true for the Worcester community. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, this research project seeks to identify patterns between the recent change in client demographics and the relation …

Faculty Assessments Of The Potential For Emergency Events On Their Campus And Their Perceived Preparedness To Respond, Craig A. Bishop

Ed.D. Dissertations

This study examined the perspectives held by college and university faculty regarding the risk and potential for emergency events to occur on their campus. The study also examined the faculty assessments of the extent to which they are prepared to respond to an emergency event. Most significant was the examination of the perspective held by faculty at public institutions of higher education in comparison to faculty at private institutions of higher education. The study encouraged the development of a culture of preparedness within institutions of higher education to best fulfill state and federal mandates while also proactively reducing the risk …

Preventing Skin Cancer In Adolescent Girls Through Intervention With Their Mothers, Mary K. Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indoor tanning (IT) before the age of 35 increases one’s risk for melanoma by 75%, and epidemiological data show a 6.1% annual increase in the incidence of melanomas in white women younger than age 44 in the US. Population-based studies reveal that 15% of adolescents and 8% to 14% of their primary caregivers have engaged in IT in the past year.

The compelling case for IT being a significant risk factor for melanoma, together with the high rates of IT in teen girls and their mothers, provided a strong rationale for conducting an antitanning intervention directed at mother-daughter dyads. This …

Governing Occupation Through Constructions Of Risk: The Case Of The Aging Driver, Silke Dennhardt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Risk and risk-management have become increasingly pervasive features of modern society and governmentality scholars have highlighted various ways risk discourses are taken up to govern citizens and their everyday conduct. Thus, attending to risk is imperative to advance an understanding of how everyday occupation is shaped and governed within contemporary society. Within this study, the example of driving in later life is drawn upon to address two objectives: 1. to advance the understanding of how risk is taken up to govern everyday occupation, and 2. to explicate how risk is taken up in discourses to constitute particular subjectivities and their …

Coping With Pediatric Cancer: Conversational Methods Utilized By Parents And Children When Dealing With Pediatric Cancer, Chelsi Morgan Walls

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This thesis sought to analyze how parents communicate with their child regarding pediatric cancer treatments. When dealing with pediatric cancer, it is vital that parents and their child communicate about the illness in order to effectively cope with the cancer. Using Uncertainty Management Theory, along with sub-concepts of the theory (i.e., appraisals, inferences, and illusions), this thesis sought to discover which coping mechanism (i.e., affect-management or buffering) would be chosen to manage the illness. Under UMT, appraisals were assessed, resulting in positive and negative appraisal, which indicated whether the individual handled the issue with either an inference based on general …

Compassion Fatigue Or Ethics Exhaustion?, Sonnya Dennis

International Veterinary Social Work Summit

Compassion Fatigue or Ethics Exhaustion?

In veterinary practice, the diagnosis is critical for proper treatment. Different diseases can cause the same symptoms, and while palliative treatment is sometimes necessary, ideally we want prevention or cure. In this talk, I will speak from the experiential perspective of companion animal general practice about the very real and common problem of compassion fatigue, and why it is different from, and can mask, what I call Ethics Exhaustion. In brief, I define Ethics Exhaustion as the feeling of being powerless to even try to do what you think that you ethically should do, because …

Developing Standardized Language For Use In Lgbt Health Research, Vaibhav Jain, Marisa Workman, Sara Mostafa, Abigail Wolfe, Stefania Davia, Natalie Terens, Keith Li, Blaine Parrish

GW Research Days 2013

BACKGROUND: In the past two decades, the LGBT community in the United States has been more visible, active, and positively accepted by society. As acceptance progresses, research interests on the LGBT population have increased, driving the need for standard language for researchers to share for comparative and community-based participatory research. "What term is right?" is often the question researchers ask a very diverse LGBT community. In August 2012, the District of Columbia's Office of LGBT Affairs identified incongruent language in a number of published reports commissioned by the Mayor's Office. The Office realized the importance of standardized language for health …

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.

The Nature And Perceived Influence Of Lifestyle Discussions With Older Adults In Primary Care, Shoshana H. Bardach

Theses and Dissertations--Gerontology

The Nature and Perceived Influence of Lifestyle Discussions with Older Adults in Primary Care Rationale: A healthy diet and physical activity help with disease prevention and disease management and can promote quality of life regardless of the age at which an individual begins engaging in these behaviors. Despite the value of these health behaviors, many older adults do not follow lifestyle recommendations. Given that older adults frequently interact with the healthcare system, primary care providers are well situated to counsel older adults to improve their health behaviors. Unfortunately, we do not know how to most effectively engage in this counseling. …

The Impact Of The Internet On The Sexual Health Of Adolescents: A Brief Review, Julia Springate, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The object of this review is to summarize the impact of the Internet on the sexual health of adolescents. This article examines the use of websites, blogs and chat rooms as sources for sexual health information for adolescents. The influence of Internet pornography on sexual behaviors and attitudes is addressed. The use of the Internet as a place to find sexual partners is also assessed. During a time of great physical, emotional and sexual change, the Internet is playing a huge role in the decisions adolescents are making, both positive and negative.

Medical Tourism: The Role Of Communication Regarding Risks And Benefits Of Obtaining Medical Services Abroad., Kevin Wright, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

The ever-increasing globalization of healthcare has led to a greater number of consumers using the World Wide Web for the purpose of accessing health information and medical services that transcends international borders (Kangas, 2010; Lunt, Mannion, & Exworthy, 2012; MacReady, 2007; Snyder, Crooks, Adams, Kingsbury, & Johnston, 2011). When faced with the high cost of health care or limited treatment options in the United States, more and more Americans are looking to developing countries to obtain a variety of health-related services, including cosmetic surgery, dentistry, diagnostic testing, fertility treatment, and major surgeries such as heart valve operations and organ transplants …

Social Media For The Promotion Of Holistic Self-Participatory Care: An Evidence Based Approach, T Miron-Shatz, Margaret M. Hansen Edd, Msn, Rn, Fj Grajales, F Martin-Sanchez, Pd Bamidis

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives: As health information is becoming increasingly accessible, social media offers ample opportunities to track, be informed, share and promote health. These authors explore how social media and holistic care may work together; more specifically however, our objective is to document, from different perspectives, how social networks have impacted, supported and helped sustain holistic self-participatory care.

Methods: A literature review was performed to investigate the use of social media for promoting health in general and complementary alternative care in particular. We also explore a case study of an intervention for improving the health of Greek senior citizens through digital and …

Analysis United Kingdom And United States Healthcare, Joyce K. Kutin

Joyce K Kutin RN, MSN, MOL

United Kingdom and the United States are two dissimilar health systems each having uniquely differing focuses, where the primary differences are a parliamentary verses a republic government application toward the socioeconomic requirements of the populace. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service interprets health care as a public service rather than the commodity. The United States healthcare system is riddled with disparities regarding quality, access and cost. The socioeconomic poor and or homeless are less likely to utilize the healthcare system when compared to others who are more fortunate. Health care systems are facing the same challenges around the world with …

Information Sources In Relation To Information Quality, Information-Seeking, And Uncertainty In The Context Of Healthcare Reform, Jennifer L. Bevan

Communication Faculty Books and Book Chapters

This exploratory study examines information-seeking about the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e. healthcare reform) in relation to the potential barriers of uncertainty,uncertainty discrepancy, and low health self-efficacy. Adult United States participants completed an anonymous online survey about their perceptions and understanding of healthcare reform. Results confirmed recent literature, suggesting a complex relationship between information-seeking and uncertainty. Specifically, for this sample, significant positive relationships were observed between information-seeking about healthcare reform and uncertainty, uncertainty discrepancy, health self-efficacy. Further, uncertainty discrepancy was the potential barrier that accounted for the most variance in predicting information-seeking.Implications of these findings for improving …

Tackling Overweight And Obesity: Does The Public Health Message Match The Science?, Katherine Hafekost, David Lawrence, Francis Mitrou, Therese O'Sullivan, Stephen R. Zubrick

Research outputs 2013

Background

Despite the increasing understanding of the mechanisms relating to weight loss and maintenance, there are currently no validated public health interventions that are able to achieve sustained long-term weight loss or to stem the increasing prevalence of obesity in the population. We aimed to examine the models of energy balance underpinning current research about weight-loss intervention from the field of public health, and to determine whether they are consistent with the model provided by basic science. EMBASE was searched for papers published in 2011 on weight-loss interventions. We extracted details of the population, nature of the intervention, and key …

Internet-Based Photoaging Within Australian Pharmacies To Promote Smoking Cessation: Randomized Controlled Trial, Oksana Burford, Moyez Jiwa, Owen B. Carter, Richard Parsons, Delia Hendrie

Research outputs 2013

Background: Tobacco smoking leads to death or disability and a drain on national resources. The literature suggests that cigarette smoking continues to be a major modifiable risk factor for a variety of diseases and that smokers aged 18-30 years are relatively resistant to antismoking messages due to their widely held belief that they will not be lifelong smokers. Objective: To conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a computer-generated photoaging intervention to promote smoking cessation among young adult smokers within a community pharmacy setting. Methods: A trial was designed with 80% power based on the effect size observed in a …

Social Cognitive Theory Vs. Social Comparison Theory: Examining The Relationship Between Social Influence And Weight Loss, Emily Grigg

Masters Theses

This qualitative study investigated the impact of social influence on weight loss, more specifically, the internal and external elements that effect response and success of those who are trying to lose weight. The research focused on three questions: (1) How great of an influence does self-efficacy have in weight loss success? (2) How great of an influence does social comparison have in weight loss success? (3) Which factor has the largest impact on weight loss: self-efficacy, peer efficacy, or positive social support, or negative social support? Data was collected by the researcher conducting semi-structured interviews. These interview were conducted with …

Health Literacy Promotion: Contemporary Conceptualizations And Current Implementations In Canadian Health Librarianship, Nicole K. Dalmer

FIMS Publications

Research questions: What are the current conceptualizations of health literacy, and what strategies are Canadian health librarians in public, academic, and hospital libraries enacting to put health literacy promotion into practice? Data sources: Serving as the basis of this scoping review, library and information science, health sciences, and interdisciplinary databases were searched using key terms relating to health literacy promotion as it relates to services, programming, or resources used in a variety of library settings. A web searched allowed for the inclusion of grey literature sources. Study selection: Data sources were searched using a combination of subject headings …

Untangling Neoliberalism’S Gordian Knot: Cancer Prevention And Control Services For Rural Appalachian Populations, George F. Bills

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In eastern Kentucky, as in much of central Appalachia, current local storylines narrate the frictions and contradictions involved in the structural transition from a post-WWII Fordist industrial economy and a Keynesian welfare state to a Post-Fordist service economy and Neoliberal hollow state, starving for energy to sustain consumer indulgence (Jessop, 1993; Harvey, 2003; 2005). Neoliberalism is the ideological force redefining the “societal infrastructure of language” that legitimates this transition, in part by redefining the key terms of democracy and citizenship, as well as valorizing the market, the individual, and technocratic innovation (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Harvey, 2005). This project develops …