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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Optimism And Compliance: An Examination Of Disempowering Processes Within Online Patient Communities, Wendi F. Coleman May 2018

Optimism And Compliance: An Examination Of Disempowering Processes Within Online Patient Communities, Wendi F. Coleman

Technical Communication Capstone Course

Patients diagnosed with long-term conditions (LTCs) are now being asked of medical practitioners to take an active role in their own health care as “expert patients.” This trend has accelerated the increase in people with LTCs who are using the internet for both information and social support. A valuable resource to these patients, and of interest to researchers, is a new type of online space: online patient communities (OPCs) created for patients suffering from specific illnesses. In order to better understand potential disempowering processes within OLPs, I follow the research and examine the illness narratives, focusing on their various external …


Credibility Strategies Of Popular Health Websites: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Parkinson's Information Pages, Abigail Bakke Jan 2018

Credibility Strategies Of Popular Health Websites: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Parkinson's Information Pages, Abigail Bakke

English Department Publications

Though using e-health is a common patient practice, unregulated and inaccurate online medical content can pose real dangers. To effectively convey important and accurate health messages, online health organizations must make their information stand out as trustworthy. To identify credibility strategies, I conducted a rhetorical analysis of Parkinson’s disease content from the two most popular U.S. health websites: NIH.gov and WebMD. Based on the range of credibility strategies identified in these webpages, I recommend that medical writers and e-health designers convey both expertise and trustworthiness to build credibility in their content.


The Relationship Between Instruction Specificity And Resistiveness To Care During Activities Of Daily Living In Persons With Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Britta Dejager, Sandra Garcia, Daniel Houlihan, Carolina Sears, Kathleen Fairchild, Adam Sattler Jan 2018

The Relationship Between Instruction Specificity And Resistiveness To Care During Activities Of Daily Living In Persons With Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Britta Dejager, Sandra Garcia, Daniel Houlihan, Carolina Sears, Kathleen Fairchild, Adam Sattler

Psychology Department Publications

It is common for persons with dementia to display resistant behaviors during activities of daily living (ADLs) and caregiver communication skills can influence the likelihood of these behaviors. Previous research suggests that the type of instructions issued by caregivers is related to rates of compliance during ADLs in persons with dementia. It is unclear, however, if these instruction types affect the likelihood resistiveness to care (RTC) during ADLs. The purpose of the current study was to examine how the use of different types of instructions relate to instances of RTC during ADLs. Results indicated that vague and ambiguous instructions (i.e., …


Implications Of Skinner's Verbal Behavior For Studying Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Daniel Houlihan, Peter J.N. Linnerooth Jan 2010

Implications Of Skinner's Verbal Behavior For Studying Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Daniel Houlihan, Peter J.N. Linnerooth

Psychology Department Publications

Persons with dementia experience continual declines in a number of abilities. Language abilities are particularly hard hit and become increasingly impaired as the underlying disease progresses. These language impairments make verbal communication very challenging for family and professional caregivers. As a result, caregivers may inadvertently punish verbal behavior, thereby exacerbating the deterioration of verbal repertoires. Although the topography of language impairments associated with dementia have been well described, less empirical work has been conducted concerning how to minimize these impairments and their deleterious effects. In 1957 B.F. Skinner outlined his conceptualization of language and cognition in his book Verbal Behavior. …