Health Communication Commons^™

Discourse: The Journal Of The Scasd, Volume 8 (2023), The Speech Communication Association Of South Dakota

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Medical Tourism & Communication, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

Medical tourism (MT), sometimes referred to as health tourism or medical travel, involves both the treatment of illness and the facilitation of wellness, with travel. Medical tourism is a multifaceted and multiphase process involving many agents and actors that requires careful planning and execution. The coordinated process involves the biomedical, transportation, tourism, and leisure industries. From the communication perspective, the process can be viewed as a 5-stage model consisting of the: (a) orientation, (b) preparation, (c) experiential and treatment, (d) convalescence, and (e) reflection phases. Medical tourism is uniquely situated in a nexus of academic literature related to communication, business …

Learning From Death: Health Education Considerations For Medical Tourists, Caregiving Companions, And Medical Tourism Providers, Alicia Mason, Sakshi Bhati, Ran Jiang, Elizabeth Spencer

Faculty Submissions

Medical tourism is a process in which a consumer travels from one’s health jurisdiction to receive biomedical treatments or services, thus becoming a patient. This chapter explores how global media frame cases of patient death associated with the medical tourism (MT) process between 2009-2019. A qualitative content analysis of 50 patient mortality cases found that (1) a majority of media representations of medical tourism patient death are of middle-class, minority females between 25-55 years of age seeking cosmetic surgery internationally; (2) sudden death, grief, and bereavement counseling is noticeably absent from medical tourism providers (MTPs); and (3) the acknowledgement of …

Outbreak Communication: Exploring The Relationships Between Health Information Seeking Behaviors, Vested Interests, And Covid-19 Knowledge In U.S. Midwest Populations, Alicia Mason, Josh Compton, Elizabeth Spencer, Kaitlin Barnett

Faculty Submissions

On February 15, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director, General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated at a Munich Security Conference, “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,” (Zarocostas, 2020, p. 676). The term ‘infodemic’ refers to the onslaught of both accurate and inaccurate health information surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of an ‘infodemic’ was quickly integrated into mass media, popular culture (i.e., documentaries, podcasts), and eventually scholarly literature. In response to COVID-19, health communication scholars have centered on understanding specific messaging strategies such as the use of fear appeals (Stolow et al., 2020), nature of advertising …

Comparative Analysis Of Covid-19 Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention Videos On Facebook: Insights From Nigeria And Benin Republic, Jimme Matyek, Sheba Umbule Tayo-Garbson, Philomena Effiong Umoren Phd, Benmun Paul, Emeka Williams Etumnu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Facebook has been adopted by public health organisations for health promotion, psychoeducation and behaviour change campaigns. Studies have underscored the potential advantages of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in decelerating the transmission of COVID-19 and mitigating its severe health consequences. However, these studies did not content analyse these NPI messages especially on Facebook. This study sought to investigate the phenomenon of NPI COVID-19 videos on Facebook that were viewed by Nigerians and Beninese. This study used quantitative content analysis as the research design and analysed 56 Nigerian videos and 36 Beninese videos totalling 92 on Facebook with an inter-rater reliability of 96%. …

Reactions To The U.S. Surgeon General’S Advisory On Social Media & Youth Mental Health, Susannah Stern

Communication: Faculty Scholarship

The United States Surgeon General issued an Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health on May 23 2023. Warnings by the Surgeon General are infrequent, but have the potential to influence the course of history. This survey captures awareness of and reaction to the Advisory. The survey finds that respondents are already convinced that social media influences young people, mostly negatively. The Surgeon General remains a meaningful public health communicator, with substantial reach and some power to influence both beliefs and behaviors. There is widespread agreement that more research is needed to better understand how social media impact youth …

Understanding The Consumption Of Antimicrobial Resistance–Related Content On Social Media: Twitter Analysis, Hyunuk Kim, Chris R. Proctor, Dylan Walker, Ronan R. Mccarthy

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing concerns in our society. Today, social media can function as an important channel to disseminate information about AMR. The way in which this information is engaged with depends on a number of factors, including the target audience and the content of the social media post.

Objective: The aim of this study is to better understand how AMR-related content is consumed on the social media platform Twitter and to understand some of the drivers of engagement. This is essential to designing effective public health strategies, raising awareness about antimicrobial …

Implementation Of Health Communication In Tb Management In Indonesia, Olih Solihin, Djuara P. Lubis, Pudji Muljono, Siti Amanah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem in Indonesia despite various efforts to combat it. TB is the leading cause of death in Indonesia and requires more comprehensive action, including in health communication. Indonesia ranks second after India in the number of TB cases and fourth in TB deaths in Asia. Efforts to address TB in Indonesia continue, including the implementation of more comprehensive prevention and treatment programs and effective health communication campaigns. However, the implementation of health communication in TB management in Indonesia still faces challenges such as infrastructure, policy, human resources, and community participation. Evaluation of the effectiveness …

“Tweeting During Emergencies”: The Egyptian Ministry Of Health Twitter Communication Strategy Under The Umbrella Of The Crisis And Emergency Risk Communication Model (Cerc) Case Study: Covid-19 Pandemic, Pakinam Elgohary

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates using the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model (CERC) for COVID- 19 communication by analyzing the content of Twitter messages posted by the Government of Egypt through the Egyptian Ministry of Health (MOHP). It further examines how official communicators and institutions utilize social media to contact the public during emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting critical strategies of recommendations. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC), a five-staged theory, recommends a set of messaging and pertained communication characteristics to implement at each stage of the identified following stages: (1) “Pre-crisis, (2) Initial event, (3) Maintenance, (4) Resolution, and …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And International Students: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Relationships Between Social Media Use, Social Support, And Mental Health, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Husain Ebrahim, Muhammad Ittefaq, Donghwa Chung

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic and international students: A mixed-methods approach to relationships between social media use, social support, and mental healthThe COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the U.S. who already facemyriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining surveyand interview research involving international students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at aU.S. university to analyze how their social media use and perceived social support and social adjustmentare associated with their sense of mental well-being when taking into account demographic and socialpsychological characteristics. Our findings show that international students spent an …

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

A Systematic Literature Review Of Research From 2010 To 2020 Addressing User-Generated Online Comments Related To Health Issues And Recommendations For Future Research, Muhammad Ittefaq, Mauryne Abwao, Ioana A. Coman, Waqas Ejaz

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This systematic literature review was conducted to provide insights into how online readers’ comments have been studied in the context of health over a 10-year span. About 593 studies published between 2010 and 2020; of these, 34 met the research criteria for inclusion. Our findings reveal that 60% of the studies focused on the United States, and a qualitative method was used in 74.3% of these studies. About 23.5% of the studies explored vaccine-related issues. Our results reveal that among the selected studies, 76.5% and 20.6% had female and male first authors, respectively. Textual analysis of abstracts shows that the …

Ivf So White, So Medical: Digital Normativity And Algorithm Bias In Infertility On Instagram, Caitlyn M. Jarvis, Margaret M. Quinlan

Human-Machine Communication

Increasingly, women experiencing infertility are turning online to social media platforms, like Instagram, to engage with a support network and foster empathy. However, Instagram is also noted for its augmentation of White, cis, and heteronormative femininity through a process of silencing and minoritizing alternative, non-White voices. Through an inductive analysis of the most frequently used infertility hashtags, we collected and analyzed 252 Instagram posts to investigate how these algorithmic practices may socially construct the idealized IVF experience through communicating normative expectations. We identify predominant patterns of use that reinforce stratification within infertility treatments as primarily accessible to White women and …

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

The Student Athlete Wellness Portal: Translating Student Athletes’ Prescription Opioid Use Narratives Into A Targeted Public Health Intervention, Anne E. Pezalla, Hyejeong Choi, Francis Mckee, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Background and Objectives: The opioid epidemic has permeated all strata of society over the last two decades, especially within the adolescent student athletic environment, a group particularly at risk and presenting their own challenges for science and practice. This paper (a) describes the development of a web-based intervention called the Student Athlete Wellness Portal that models effective opioid misuse resistance strategies and (b) details the findings of a single-group design to test its effectiveness. Materials and Methods: Formative research included 35 student athletes residing in the United States, ages 14 to 21, who had been injured in their …

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume 6, 2022

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note To Volume 6 Of The Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, "Back To Business As Usual—Or Not: Pedagogy Of Renewal", Deanna D. Sellnow

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Editor’s Note to Volume 6 of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.

International Migrants And Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccinations: Social Media, Motivated Information Management, And Vaccination Willingness, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Muhammad Ittefaq, Fatemeh Shayesteh, Ursula Kamanga, Annalise Baines

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Objective

This study examines how those who were born outside the United States and migrated to the country in the past decade used social media and other online sites to deal with uncertainties around the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In particular, we examine how they used digital communication technologies to tap into online resources and social connections both in the United States and their origin country and how various aspects of online information management were associated with their willingness to get vaccinated against the virus.

Method

We conducted an online survey and in-depth interviews with international migrants aged 18–64 years …

Online Privacy Challenges And Their Forensic Solutions, Bandr Fakiha

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

In the digital age, internet users are exposed to privacy issues online. Few rarely know when someone else is eavesdropping or about to scam them. Companies, governments, and individual internet users are all vulnerable to security breaches due to the challenges of online privacy ranging from trust and hierarchical control to financial losses. As systems advance, people are optimistic that forensic science will provide long-term interventions that surpass the current solutions, including setting stronger passwords and firewall protection. The future of online privacy is changing, and more practical interventions, such as email, malware, mobile, and network forensics, must be integrated, …

Misinformation And Disinformation: Detecting Fakes With The Eye And Ai, Victoria Rubin

Data and Test Instruments

How do we detect, deter, and prevent the spread of mis- and disinformationwith the human eye and AI? How does theory inform the practice, and how do theevidence-based research and best practices in lie-catching and truth-seekingprofessions—inform AI? The book looks into well-established human practicessuch as the routines and processes used in detective work, journalism, and scientificinquiry, and how they contribute toward innovative AI solutions. The book explainsthe principles, inner workings, and recent evolution of five types of state-of-the-artAI technologies suitable for curtailing the spread of mis- and disinformation:automated deception detectors, clickbait detectors, satirical fake detectors, rumordebunkers, and computational fact-checking tools.

Governmental Persuasion Strategies On Social Media During Covid-19: A Comparative Study Of The Us And China, Fan Wang

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This study compared persuasive strategies of the governments of the U.S. and China during a public health crisis using social media messages. Collecting data with R and Python from two national public health sectors' official accounts on Twitter (N = 1,630) and Sina Weibo (N = 3,554), the researcher investigated how the organizations' messages reflected Cialdini's seven principles of persuasion and whether other emergent messaging patterns occurred. According to the different phases that the two countries had gone through during the pandemic, the researcher also conducted a pooled times series analysis to investigate the relationship between the frequency of daily …

Communicative Strategies For Building Public Confidence In Data Governance: Analyzing Singapore's Covid-19 Contact-Tracing Initiatives, Gordon Kuo Siong Tan, Sun Sun Lim

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Effective social data governance rests on a bedrock of social support. Without securing trust from the populace whose information is being collected, analyzed, and deployed, policies on which such data are based will be undermined by a lack of public confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitalization and datafication by governments for the purposes of contact tracing and epidemiological investigation. However, concerns about surveillance and data privacy have stunted the adoption of such contact-tracing initiatives. This commentary analyzes Singapore's contact-tracing initiative to uncover the reasons for public resistance and efforts by the state to address them. The government's contact-tracing program …

Georgia Southern University's Communication During Covid-19 Analyzed Using The Discourse Of Renewal Theory, Jessica Hickman

Honors College Theses

This research aims to analyze how Georgia Southern University handled COVID-19 through a public relations perspective using the discourse of renewal theory. In order to do this, this research looks at the communication sent from the University to the faculty, staff, and students during the time periods of March to April of 2020 and July to August of 2020. The three research questions this research will examine are: how did the University apply the discourse of renewal theory to speak to the students, faculty, and staff regarding COVID-19, how did the University use its email system to communicate with the …

Our Stories, Katelyn S. Lopez

Publications and Research

This semester, we participated in the “Our Stories” qualitative research project that involves learning more about students' first year, and first-semester experiences at City Tech during pandemic times. As we organized and read students’ posts, we journaled and practiced reflexivity, a qualitative research process that helps us examine how we are interpreting the data that we are engaging with. T Reflexivity is a process in qualitative research involving frequent examination of one’s position in the project. These positions include one’s assumptions, feelings, and so forth. An essential question for qualitative researchers, according to Leavy (2011), is “Has the researcher engaged …

A Wellbeing@Ksu Journey: Mapw Portfolio, Meghan Cooper

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

A process narrative and samples and complete works from my time in MAPW and as a GRA within the health and well-being departments at KSU. The portfolio showcases my journey as a communicator and professional writer and how it has impacted my current career.

Extending Psychological Reactance Theory To Include Denial Of Threat And Media Sharing Intentions As Freedom Restoration Behavior, Noel H. Mcguire, Hannah Ball

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study extends psychological reactance theory by examining denial of a public health threat and resistance toward media sharing as two novel types of freedom restoration. Participants (N = 220) were randomly assigned to watch a video advocating COVID-19 guidelines and completed an online survey assessing corresponding perceptions and behavioral intentions. Results of structural equation modeling supported the two-step model of reactance: greater perceived freedom threat was related to greater reactance, which in turn was linked to lower intentions to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, lower intentions to share the video with one’s online social network, and greater denial of COVID-19 …

Correlation Between Social Media Use And Eating Disorder Symptoms: A Literature Review, Makenna Rose Burger

Kinesiology and Public Health

Importance: Social media is a pervasive influence in modern society presenting many potential public health implications.

Objective: The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize current research regarding social media and eating disorders.

Methods: Primary research was gathered from Google Scholar and OneSearch database resulting in 7 articles. Articles were examined for common themes.

Results: Common themes found in the resulting research is the prevalence of ‘thinspiration’, gamified content, and overlap of eating disorders with other mental illnesses. Several articles found a significant correlation between social media use and the severity of eating disorder symptoms. …

Predictors Of Online Patient Portal Use Among A Diverse Sample Of Emerging Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey, Julie A. Wright Ph.D., Julie E. Volkman Ph.D., Suzanne G. Leveille Rn, Daniel J. Amante Mph, P.Hd.

Communications and Language Studies Faculty Journal Articles

Background: Health self-management is increasingly being influenced by emerging health information technologies (IT), especially online patient portals. Patient portals provide patients with direct access to their health information, electronic tools to manage their health, and additional opportunities to engage with their care team. Previous studies have found that patient portal use is highest among patients with high eHealth literacy, the ability to find health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to solve a health problem. The role of eHealth literacy on patient portal use appears to be especially strong among older adults with chronic diseases. The use …

Winter 2022

Conversations

Dean's Letter; Remembering Jill O'Brien (1947-2021); Mastering the Art of Professional Communication: A new online master's program helps communications professionals advance their careers; Inclusive Journalism for a Diverse Society: Faculty member Judith McCray aims to deepen the bench of diverse journalists; An Alumna with an Ear for News: Rachel Hinton; Interorganizational Networks for Social Impact: A conversation with Assistant Professor Kate Cooper

A Framework Of Social Media Messages For Crisis And Risk Communication: A Study Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nic Depaula, Loni Hagen, Stiven Roytman, Deaundre Dyson, Dana Alnahass, Mihir Patel, Alex B. Hill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

Social media are important channels for crisis and risk communication by government agencies. However, existing frameworks for studying these messages use loose and inconsistent terminology, making it difficult to build on this research and understand how message features impact message diffusion. In this study, we provide a framework based on textual and media dimensions of messages for improved analysis of social media crisis and risk communication. We apply the framework to a sample of Twitter posts from United States local, state and federal public health agencies during a year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Results show reasonable reliability levels for coding …