Health Communication Commons^™

Prevalence And Correlates Of Invitation To Participate In Clinical Trials Among Us Adults, Aurora Occa, Allison Leip, Allison S. Merritt, Jerod L. Stapleton

Communication Faculty Publications

Clinical trials are essential to modern medicine, but several barriers, including poor communication, hamper their successful completion. We examined the prevalence and correlates of invitation to participate in clinical trials among a nationally-representative sample of US adults using survey responses from the 2020 HINTS (Cycle 5). Analyses were conducted in 2021.

Overall, 9% of respondents reported being invited to a clinical trial, a prevalence that is nearly half of previously reported rates in convenience samples recruited from health care settings. Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, Black respondents reported the higher prevalence of invitation (16.0%) whereas Asian respondents reported the lowest (2%). …

Developing A Health Communication Campaign For Disposal Of Unused Opioid Medications, Kathleen L. Egan, Mark Wolfson, Kaylee M. Lukacena, Carina Mazariegos Zelaya, Monique S. Mcleary, Donald W. Helme

Communication Faculty Publications

Introduction

Communities throughout the United States have implemented medicine disposal programs to prevent diversion of unused opioid analgesics from homes but a general lack of awareness may contribute to low rates of utilization. The objective of this study was to develop and test community-based campaign messages promoting appropriate disposal of unused opioids at disposal programs.

Methods

In Fall 2019, 491 residents (79% female, 97% White, mean age: 40 years) of five rural, Appalachian counties (3 in Kentucky and 2 in North Carolina) completed a web-based, experimental survey. Participants were randomly exposed to two of four messages and rated each message …

Impact Of Tobacco-Pack Pictorial Warnings On Youth And Young Adults: A Systematic Review Of Experimental Studies, Diane B. Francis, Nia Mason, Jennifer Cornacchione Ross, Seth M. Noar

Communication Faculty Publications

Introduction:
We conducted a systematic review of the experimental literature on the impact of tobacco-pack pictorial warning labels (PWLs) on youth and young adults.

Methods:
We systematically searched computerized databases and the reference list of relevant articles. We included studies that used an experimental protocol to assess PWLs. Studies had to report findings for youth or young adult samples (aged < 30 years). Thirty-one studies met the inclusion criteria, with a total sample size of 27506. Two coders independently coded all study characteristics and outcomes.

Results:
Twenty-eight studies experimentally evaluated PWLs for cigarette packs while three studies evaluated PWLs for smokeless tobacco packs. Generally, PWLs led to higher attention, stronger cognitive and affective reactions, more negative pack attitudes and smoking attitudes, and increased intentions not …

Care Transitions From Patient And Caregiver Perspectives, Suzanne E. Mitchell, Vivian Laurens, Gabriela M. Weigel, Karen B. Hirschman, Allison M. Scott, Huong Q. Nguyen, Jessica Martin Howard, Lance Laird, Carol Levine, Terry C. Davis, Brianna Gass, Elizabeth Shaid, Jing Li, Mark V. Williams, Brian W. Jack

Communication Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: Despite concerted actions to streamline care transitions, the journey from hospital to home remains hazardous for patients and caregivers. Remarkably little is known about the patient and caregiver experience during care transitions, the services they need, or the outcomes they value. The aims of this study were to (1) describe patient and caregiver experiences during care transitions and (2) characterize patient and caregiver desired outcomes of care transitions and the health services associated with them.

METHODS: We interviewed 138 patients and 110 family caregivers recruited from 6 health networks across the United States. We conducted 34 homogenous focus groups …

Testing A Risky Sex Behavior Intervention Pilot Website For Adolescents, Randall Starling, Don Helme, Jessica A. Nodulman, Angela D. Bryan, David B. Buller, Robert Lewis Donohew, W. Gill Woodall

Communication Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Each year, teenagers account for about one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies in the United States. As such, delivering sexual risk reduction educational materials to teens in a timely fashion is of critical importance. Web-based delivery of these materials shows promise for reaching and persuading teens away from risky sexual and substance abuse behaviors. The purpose of this study was to pilot test a web-based program aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior and related outcomes among adolescents in a high school setting.

METHODS: A beta-test of the website was conducted in three public schools in New Mexico, USA …

Illegal Yet Developmentally Normative: A Descriptive Analysis Of Young, Urban Adolescents' Dating And Sexual Behaviour In Cape Town, South Africa, Aník Gevers, Cathy Mathews, Pam Cupp, Marcia Russell, Rachel Jewkes

Communication Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In South Africa, it is illegal for adolescents under age 16 years to engage in any sexual behaviour whether kissing, petting, or penetrative sex, regardless of consent. This cross-sectional study investigated the extent to which young adolescents engage in various sexual behaviours and the associations between dating status and sexual behaviours.

METHOD: Grade 8 adolescents (N = 474, ages 12--15 years, mean = 14.14 years) recruited from Cape Town schools completed surveys providing information about their sociodemographic backgrounds, dating experience, sexual behaviour, and substance use.

RESULTS: Lower hierarchy sexual behaviours, such as kissing (71.4% of girls; 88.4% of boys), …

Seeking Care: Mindfulness, Reflexive Struggle, And Puffy Selves In Bullying, Keith Berry

Communication Faculty Publications

What does it mean to become ourselves, to experience who we and others understand us to be? What might the process look like for younger selves who are immersed in the looming problem of bullying, and what is at stake regarding how we respond to its complex storyline? How can we engage ethnographic research that studies ourselves and others in ways that are also more caring than harmful for all persons involved? As senseless bullying continues, I seek meaningful answers to questions of becoming and identities within these intricate relational spaces. Yet as I perform this seeking, the search becomes …

Formative Research Regarding Kidney Disease Health Information In A Latino American Sample: Associations Among Threat, Efficacy, Frame, And Behavioral Intent, Katheryn C. Maguire, Jay Gardner, Pradeep Sopory, Guowei Jian, Marcia Roach, Joe Amschlinger, Marcia Moreno, Garey Pettey, Gianfranco Piccone

Communication Faculty Publications

Using prospect theory and the extended parallel process model, this study examined the effect of gain/loss message framing on perceptions of severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self efficacy (derived from the extended parallel process model), as well as perception of message effectiveness and behavioral intention in a community based Latino American sample. Results indicated no significant differences between a gain- and loss-frame for any of the outcome variables. In addition, message effectiveness, susceptibility, and response efficacy were the best predictors of intention to engage in early testing behavior.

Warm Ideas And Chilling Consequences, Arthur P. Bochner

Communication Faculty Publications

In the process of writing my academic memoirs spanning a period of more than thirty-five years, I discovered how crucial the work of Gregory Bateson had been to my life as a teacher, a scholar, and a relational partner. In this paper I celebrate Bateson's charming and incisive ideas about how communication works, his deep reservations about the worship of quantification, and his astute analysis of what is at stake when we make epistemological errors in everyday life. Reviewing a turning point in my academic life—a conference held in 1979, I reaffirm the importance of warm ideas and provide a …

Are Anti-Spit Tobacco Campaigns Striking Out? A Survey Of Iowa And Nebraska College Baseball Players, David C. Ogden, Teresa A. Lamsam, Hugh J. Reilly, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

Anti-spit tobacco information is replete with fear appeals, including firsthand accounts of death and debilitation, to make users aware of the health risks and dangers. Those dangers, however, are well known by baseball players whose association with spit tobacco is historic. A survey of 217 Iowa and Nebraska college players showed that despite their awareness of spit tobacco's dangers, the players use spit tobacco to relax and focus on the field. This study supports other research showing that fear appeals may not be the most appropriate approach for anti-tobacco advertising campaigns. The study suggests that campaigns should promote relaxation and …

Intention To Seek Information On Cancer Genetics, James E. Andrews, J. David Johnson, Donald O. Case, Suzanne L. Allard, Kimberly Kelly

Communication Faculty Publications

Objective. The public has a high interest in seeking personal genetic information, which holds implications for health information seeking research and health care policy. Rapid advances in cancer genetics research promise early detection, prevention and treatment, yet consumers may have greater difficulty finding and using the information they may need to make informed decisions regarding their personal health and the future of their families.

Design. A statewide telephone survey was conducted of non-institutionalized Kentucky residents 18 years of age or older to investigate factors associated with the intention to seek cancer genetics information, including the need for such information seeking …