Health Communication Commons^™

Menstruation Regulation: A Feminist Critique Of Menstrual Product Brands On Instagram, Max Faust

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Much research about advertisements for menstrual products reveals the ways in which such advertising perpetuates shame and reinforces unrealistic ideals of femininity and womanhood. This study aims to examine the content of Instagram posts by four different menstrual product brands in hopes of understanding how these functions may or may not be carried out by social media posts by these brands as well. Building on the body of research about menstrual shame and advertising, I specifically ask: How do the Instagram pages for four menstrual product brands dissuade individuality; how do they prescribe femininity; and how do these functions differ …

Online And Offline Identity Gaps: Cross-Contextual Predictors And Psychological Outcome, Ningyang Wang

Master's Theses

Using Communication Theory of Identity as a framework, this study compared an individual’s online and offline personal-enacted identity gap and examined the effect of each personal-enacted identity gap on individuals’ psychological well-being, as well as tested four cross-contextual predictors for online and offline personal-enacted identity gaps.

Survey data were collected from 214 participants on Amazon M-Turk. A sequence of hypotheses was tested. A questionnaire used for measuring individuals’ online personal-enacted identity gap was generated.

The result suggested individuals experience larger personal-enacted identity gap offline, which significantly negative predict individuals’ psychological well-being, whereas online personal-enacted identity gap positively predicts psychological well-being. …

Pornography: Adolescent Brain Development & Addiction, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

The Relationship Between Social Media Engagement And Psychological Well-Being In College Students At The University Of New Hampshire, Emily G. D'Antonio

Honors Theses and Capstones

Social media use has increased substantially in recent years, and for the college-aged population, social media is often the leading method of communication. Research indicates this reliance on digital connection could have a negative impact on the health of young adults (Bagroy et al., 2017). The college years are a time of personal growth and defining actions, yet can also be burdened by mental health issues related to stress, anxiety, and depression (Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010). Acknowledging these trends, the current study explores how college students’ specific frequency and intentionality while interacting on social media relates to their psychological well-being. …

Digital Addiction: A Conceptual Overview, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Digital addiction referred to an impulse control disorder that involves the obsessive use of digital devices, digital technologies, and digital platforms, i.e. internet, video game, online platforms, mobile devices, digital gadgets, and social network platform. It is an emerging domain of Cyberpsychology (Singh, Amarjit Kumar and Pawan Kumar Singh; 2019), which explore a problematic usage of digital media, device, and platforms by being obsessive and excessive. This article analyses, reviewed the current research, and established a conceptual overview on the digital addiction. The research literature on digital addiction has proliferated. However, we tried to categories the digital addiction, according …

#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, …

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, …

Effects Of Social Media On Patient Perceptions And Compliance, Annmarie Butare, Adarsh Gupta

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

It is the physician’s responsibility to ensure that their patients are collecting credible and accurate information. Considering the significant proportion of patients using social media to assist with medical decision making, physicians should incorporate this into their patient education in order to ensure patient understanding of the information gathered both outside and inside the medical office, thereby improving compliance and outcomes.

The goals of this study were to examine the influence of social media on patient perceptions of healthcare and use this infomration to improve physician understanding of patient health information-seeking behaviors to improve patient compliance. The three-part survey included …

Communication & The Body Positivity Movement, Alyssa Cannaday

Student Scholar Showcase

The Body Positivity Movement has gained a presence on social media. In this study, social media outlets were examined (such as Twitter and Instagram) to explore the communication within the movement, both from those advocating body positivity and from individuals responding in the comments. A variety of respondents, most of whom were women, give a broad perspective of the movement as a whole. Some respondents who contribute their viewpoints have educational backgrounds in counseling or work in the field. Themes uncovered in this study reveal the Body Positivity Movement to be welcoming, open minded, and expressive of messages of self-love …

Trying To Save The Game(R): Understanding The Meaning-Making Process Of Youtube Subscribers Surrounding Mental Health And Video Game Vlogging, Maria Mickles

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Through technological innovation and the rise of digital media platforms, many young adults are afforded the opportunity to spend their lives on the Internet. Not only is a large amount of time spent on the Internet by most people, but young adults are making media sharing-platforms, specifically YouTube, part of their daily lives (Westenberg, 2016, p. 8). YouTube allows content creators to produce videos that not only attract audiences of different ages and geographic location, but, too, create an intimate bond between creator and subscriber, allowing each party to communicate and engage in content related activities through the comments section …

2019 Icrcc Proceedings Table Of Contents, Conference Organizers

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

These proceedings are a representative sample of the presentations given by professional practitioners and academic scholars at the 2019 International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference (ICRCC) held March 11-13, 2019. The ICRCC is an annual event that takes place the second week in March in beautiful sunny Orlando, Florida. The conference hosts are faculty and staff from the Nicholson School of Communication. The goal of the ICRCC is to bring together prominent professional practitioners and academic scholars that work directly with crisis and risk communication on a daily basis. We define crisis and risk broadly to include, for example, natural …

Tweeting To Prepare: An Examination Of Government And Organizational Messages During National Preparedness Month, Jenna L. Currie-Mueller

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Each year, disasters have devastating consequences in the United States. Consequences are long term and extend beyond the disaster’s immediate impact area. Establishing a culture of preparedness is necessary for the U.S. A prepared populace responds more effectively to disasters and is less stressful on community infrastructure and resources during the response phase. One of the ways government organizations and non-government organizations can encourage preparedness actions is via social media. This study examined preparedness messages existing independently of an emerging event disseminated on Twitter by government and non-government organizations. A total of 6,374 tweets were analyzed from data collected during …

Promoting Support For Public Health Policies Through Mediated Contact: Can Narrator Perspective And Self-Disclosure Curb In-Group Favoritism?, Riva Tukachinsky, Emily Brogan-Freitas, Tessa Urbanovich

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

An online 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 203) examined the effect of parasocial contact on support for public health policies in the context of opioid addiction. We hypothesize that because of an intergroup dynamic, individuals are less likely to engage with an outgroup character than an in-group character featured in a news magazine article. Results support the in-group favoritism hypothesis. The study examines two narrative devices for overcoming this tendency: the narrator’s perspective and amount of insight into the character’s inner world through character self-disclosure. We find support for the narrator perspective but not for the self-disclosure effect. …

Parental Verbal Mediation For Children's Internet Use, Daeun Grace Lee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This study explores the different communication strategies parents employ when speaking to their children about their Internet use. The Internet is continuously and rapidly expanding in terms of content range and mobility, and is becoming more and more an integrated and essential part of children across the nation. Thus, parents must be willing and equipped to educate their children about their habits of Internet use through effective mediation strategies. The goal of this study is to understand not only how parents speak to their children about their Internet use, but also how parents currently perceive the significance of these conversations. …

Using Social Media To Assess The Consumer Nutrition Environment: Comparing Yelp Reviews With A Direct Observation Audit Instrument For Grocery Stores, Ying Shen, Philippa Clarke, Iris N. Gomez-Lopez, Alex B. Hill, Daniel M. Romero, Robert Goodspeed, Veronica J. Berrocal, Vg Vinod Vydiswaran, Tiffany C. Veinot

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

Objective
To examine the feasibility of using social media to assess the consumer nutrition environment by comparing sentiment expressed in Yelp reviews with information obtained from a direct observation audit instrument for grocery stores.

Design
Trained raters used the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) in 100 grocery stores from July 2015 to March 2016. Yelp reviews were available for sixty-nine of these stores and were retrieved in February 2017 using the Yelp Application Program Interface. A sentiment analysis was conducted to quantify the perceptions of the consumer nutrition environment in the review text. Pearson correlation coefficients (ρ) were …

Conspiracy Theories And The Zika Epidemic, Shawn Smallman

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

After a Zika outbreak began in Brazil in April 2015, narratives blamed the virus on a variety of international actors, including chemical companies and the Gates Foundation. Many of these narratives drew upon older conspiracy theories that had circulated in Latin America during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Whether these narratives denounced transgenic mosquitoes or pesticides, they reflected not only the fear created by a mysterious wave of birth defects but also a profound mistrust of health authorities and transnational corporations. This paper will examine the narratives that circulated on YouTube, blogs, podcasts, and other alternative media sources, which typically …

Reactions To Fda E-Cigarette Regulation : How Vape Shops In Different Socioeconomic Areas Of Kentucky Use Facebook., Brooke A. Moody

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

In May 2016 the FDA deemed e-cigarettes a tobacco product. The “deeming rule” gave regulation to e-cigarettes where none had existed prior. Some of the regulations included: prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, prohibiting giving away free e-cigarette products, requiring FDA-approved warning labels on e-cigarette packaging, and requiring pre-market authorization of all new e-cigarette products. The consequences of these regulations primarily affected e-cigarette manufacturers and vape shops, where most e-cigarette sales take place. In July 2017 the FDA announced an extended timeline for some e-cigarette regulations, citing the reason as having limited research on if, and how, e-cigarettes can …

Egg Awareness, Hailee J. French

Agricultural Education and Communication

In 2008, Proposition 2 passed, forcing all egg producers in California to provide more room inside of cages to their laying hens. The Humane Society of the United States [HSUS] initiated this battle and won but, less than a decade later decided that still wasn’t enough room for the birds. HSUS is now pushing to have a new measure on the ballot in November 2018 forcing all egg producers in California to produce their eggs cage free.

This project will survey the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo campus to gauge the campus’s understanding of egg production in California. …

The Flint Food Store Survey: Combining Spatial Analysis With A Modified Nutrition Environment Measures Survey In Stores (Nems-S) To Measure The Community And Consumer Nutrition Environments, Erika R. Shaver, Richard C. Sadler, Alex B. Hill, Kendall Bell, Myah Ray, Jennifer Choy-Shin, Joy Lerner, Teresa Soldner, Andrew D. Jones

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

Objective
The goal of the present study was to use a methodology that accurately and reliably describes the availability, price and quality of healthy foods at both the store and community levels using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S), to propose a spatial methodology for integrating these store and community data into measures for defining objective food access.

Setting
Two hundred and sixty-five retail food stores in and within 2 miles (3·2 km) of Flint, Michigan, USA, were mapped using ArcGIS mapping software.

Design
A survey based on the validated NEMS-S was conducted at each retail food store. …

Orthodontists’ And Patients’ Preferences In Website Design In The Selection Of An Orthodontic Practice: A Comparative Study, Taylor R. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To determine which website characteristics are preferred by orthodontists, adult patients, and parents of patients.

Materials and Methods: 1,000 active members of the American Association of Orthodontists and 750 active orthodontic patients/parents were sampled. Participants rated the importance of website characteristics, indicated presence of those characteristics on the current website, and ranked sample website images. Preferences were compared between orthodontist and the patient/parent group using t-tests and sample websites were compared using ANOVA models and Tukey’s adjusted post-hoc tests. Significance level was set at 0.05.

Results: 11 of the 16 website features showed significant differences between patients/parents and orthodontists. …

Promoting Trustworthiness And Discoverability In An S-Town Of Osn Documents, Laurie J. Bonnici

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The realm of online social networks (OSN) has evolved rapidly over the last decade. While literature has primarily focused on Twitter, Facebook presents a unique forum for seeking secondhand knowledge on highly specialized topics including life-threatening medical conditions. Cognitive authority expressed through accounts of personal experiences augments authoritative resources that often are inaccessible or non-existent. OSN posts in Facebook groups appear as a plethora of documents thrown upon the virtual floor, disorganized and unsearchable. This paper offers ideas of what could be possible when interaction design (Ixd) is applied to Facebook groups to promote trustworthiness and discoverability for the information …

The Choose H2o Challenge #Ich2oose: Piloting A Health Communication Campaign To Encourage Teens In Rural New Mexico To Drink More Water, Emily A. Lilo

Communication ETDs

This dissertation explains the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating a two-tiered health campaign on social media and in a rural New Mexico high school. The Choose H2O Challenge was an 8-week contest to engage youth in examining their beverage consumption habits, to increase awareness about the health risks of sugary beverages, the benefits of water, and the influence of beverage marketing on their choices. The goals were to change the culture of beverage consumption at the school by making it fun to drink more water, and to encourage teens to become health messengers to their families and friends. This …

Growing Up With Porn: The Developmental And Societal Impact Of Pornography On Children, Gail Dines

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Digital Mindfulness: An Emerging Field Of Inquiry And Practice, Sherri Henderson

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This two-part paper explores digital mindfulness as an emerging field of inquiry and practice into the integration of technology and contemplative practices. The first part surveys the growing research on the effects of technology on health and well-being. Investigating Buddhist teachings leads to a more balanced and aware approach towards integrating mindfulness with the digital world. Digital mindfulness encourages meaningful engagement while online. It also encourages thoughtfulness, awareness and intention. Digital mindfulness also reshapes and encourages conversations in our homes, schools, and proposes digital responsibility and digital citizenship. The second part of the paper proposes a framework for a workshop …

Social Media And Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents: Is There A Link?, Megan Landry, Monique M. Turner, Amita N. Vyas, Susan Wood

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: Adolescent sexual risk taking and its consequences remain a global public health concern. Empirical evidence on the impact that social media has on sexual health behaviors among youth is sparse.

Objective: The study aimed to examine the relationship between social media and the change in sexual risk over time and whether parental monitoring moderates this relationship.

Methods: This study comprised a sample of 555 Latino youth aged 13-19 years from Maryland, United States completing baseline and follow-up surveys. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to examine the relationship between social media and the change in sexual risk over time and …

The Effect Of Perceived System Risks On His Misuse Intention: The Role Of System Resilience Under The Context Of Disasters, Dheyaaldin Alsalman, Insu Park

Research & Publications

Although, the usage of healthcare information systems (HIS) has provided many potential benefits such as enhancing the availability, accessibility and readability of information, healthcare information security has become a growing public concern. Most of the studies have shown the importance of sanctions, information security policy, and information awareness programs in reducing IS misuse behavior, but individuals may still tend to engage in inappropriate behaviors, especially under the context of disasters. The vulnerabilities and risks associated with the HIS could be very extreme under disasters, which may cause employees to misuse their HIS for the sake of delivery of health services …

Health Social Network Websites: Design Features And Users’ Participation, Mohammad A. Al-Ramahi, Insu Park

Research & Publications

Patients are increasingly utilizing health Social Network Sites (SNSs) to share useful health information and support with peers. The long-term viability of health SNSs depends critically on voluntary contributions by their members, which in turn relies on members’ participation. Literature examined the drivers of users’ participation in online communities and suggested that social identity plays important roles in determining virtual community members’ participation and contribution to the community. However, little known regarding healthcare SNSs design features that facilitate users’ social identity. With such knowledge, it could determine the most effective design features that motivate higher levels of participation, which in …

Let’S Tweet!: A Content Analysis Of Health Campaigns’ Usage Of Twitter, Chasiti Gaines

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Twitter, a popular social networking platform, offers unique opportunities for sharing and disseminating health-related information to the public. Health campaigns frequently use Twitter to raise awareness and encourage a healthy lifestyle among users. The present study aims to investigate health campaigns’ use of Twitter for promoting strategic health messages and public engagement. Through a content analysis of a sample of national health campaigns’ (Let’s Move!, The Heart Truth, Breast Cancer Awareness & Truth) tweets, the research identifies interactive features and message functions across campaign profiles. This study found that most health campaigns use Twitter as a one-way communication tool. This …

Welcome To Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Online Information Seeking By Patients With Bipolar Disorder: Results From An International Multisite Survey, Jörn Conell, Rita Bauer, Tasha Glenn, Martin Alda, Raffaella Ardau, Bernhard T. Baune, Michael Berk, Yuly Bersudsky, Amy Bilderbeck, Alberto Bocchetta, Letizia Bossini, Angela Marianne Paredes Castron, Eric Yat Wo Cheung, Caterina Chillotti, Sabine Choppin, Maria Del Zompo, Rodrigo Dias, Seetal Dodd, Anne Duffy, Bruno Etain, Andrea Fagiolini, Julie Garnham, John Geddes, Jonas Gidebro, Ana Gonzalez-Pinto, Guy M. Goodwin, Paul Grof, Hirohiko Harima, Stefanie Hassel, Chantal Henry, Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei, Vaisnvy Kapur, Girish Kunigiri, Beny Lafer, Chun Lam, Erik Roj Larsen, Ute Lewitzka, Ramus Licht, Anne Hvenegaard Lund, Blazej Misiak, Patryk Piotrowski, Scott Monteith, Rodrigo Munoz, Takako Nakanotani, René E. Nielsen, Claire O'Donovan, Yasushi Okamura, Yamima Osher, Andreas Reif, Philipp Ritter, Janusz K. Rybakowski, Kemal Sagduyu, Brett Sawchuk, Elon Shwartz, Ângela Miranda Scippa, Claire Slaney, Ahmad Hatim Sulaiman, Kirsi Suominen, Aleksandra Suwalska, Peter Tam, Yoshitaka Tatebayashi, Leonardo Tondo, Eduard Vieta, Maj Vinberg, Biju Viswanath, Julia Volkert, Mark Zetin, Iñaki Zorrilla, Peter C. Whybrow, Michael Bauer

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Information seeking is an important coping mechanism for dealing with chronic illness. Despite a growing number of mental health websites, there is little understanding of how patients with bipolar disorder use the Internet to seek information.

Methods

A 39 question, paper-based, anonymous survey, translated into 12 languages, was completed by 1222 patients in 17 countries as a convenience sample between March 2014 and January 2016. All patients had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder from a psychiatrist. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized estimating equations to account for correlated data.

Results

976 (81 % of 1212 valid responses) …