Health Communication Commons^™

Health And Education: Perspectives On The Role Of Schools In Health Promotion, Miranda Powell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to understand learners’ perceptions of the role schools play in health promotion. Health promotion encompasses health education and can be highly effective in the school setting. Given the high rates of HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, early sexual debut, and abuse, health education is highly important in South African schools. All learners are required to take Life Orientation classes, which cover many topics including health education. Comparing the views of what learners expect, experience, and the curriculum, my study addressed the gaps in Life Orientation classes with regards to health promotion education.

For this study I …

The Hapless State Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis In India: A Comprehensive Look At Life And Medical Services For Als Patients In Rural Himachal Pradesh, Carson J. Bergström

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to paralysis. The disease requires a high amount of medical intervention and interdisciplinary focus to achieve quality of life for patients. This study looks at ALS patient’s lifestyles, their access to these medical devices, Indian therapeutic approaches and policy that impacts patients in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. As caretakers have a critical part in the care for this disease, their lives were also considered in the case studies. It was found that ALS patients are not experiencing access to medical devices necessary for life because of physical …

Perceptions Of Rural Birthing Practices: A Glimpse Into Maternal And Child Health For Women In Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, Mackenzie Burke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past two decades birthing practices within India have drastically changed. This change is most visible in the shift from homebirths to hospital births following the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission. This study aims to understand and give voice to women’s perceptions of birthing practices in the rural villages of Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. A total of ten interviews were conducted with both mothers and healthcare practitioners in the surrounding villages of Kangra District in order to gain a thorough, qualitative understanding of birthing practices in the local communities. The healthcare practitioners’ responses were divided according …

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome On Health Information Websites: How Much Credible They Are?, Shahabedin Rahmatizadeh, Saeideh Valizadeh-Haghi, Arefeh Kalavani, Nadereh Fakhimi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: The most recent MERS outbreak has raised questions about prevention and symptoms since there is currently no vaccine to prevent MERS. People can help protect themselves from this illness by taking everyday preventive actions. To do so, it is helpful to get medical information on the Internet about this illness. Regarding the importance of ensuring the provision of accurate online information, the aim of this study was to assess the credibility of health websites about MERS by using HONcode tool.

Materials and methods: The term “MERS” was searched in Google, Yahoo, and Bing and the first three pages …

When Black And White Medicine Turns Gray: Exploring The Interplay And Meaning Of Discoursing About Parenting A Child With A Complex Chronic Condition, Katherine A. Rafferty, Kara Hutton

The Qualitative Report

Parents of children diagnosed with complex chronic conditions (CCCs) face many challenges with managing their child's health. As parents are tasked with competing demands and the constant changes required to provide the best care possible for their child, talk about contradictions regarding their dual, and oftentimes competing, roles and responsibilities as both parent and caregiver is likely to occur. Using relational dialectics theory (Baxter, 2011) as a framework, we conducted a contrapuntal analysis to analyze 35 White, mostly Christian parents’ narratives about their experiences managing their child’s healthcare. Two primary discourses emerged: the centripetal discourse of normal health and the …

Guidelines For Costing Of Social And Behavior Change Health Interventions, James Rosen, Willyanne Decormier Plosky, Lori Bollinger

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

These Guidelines for Costing of Social and Behavior Change Health Interventions (SBC Costing Guidelines) provide a framework for estimating the cost of interventions for social and behavior change, which seek to change health behaviors by addressing factors such as knowledge, attitudes, and social norms.

Patient And Provider Perspectives On Sexual History Taking During Gynecological Care: A Pilot Study In An Academic Family Medical Setting In New York City, Ashley M. Chastain

Dissertations and Theses

Background: In the United States (US), women face a number of serious issues concerning sexual health. Current surveillance data indicates that overall rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasing rapidly. While rates of new diagnoses have decreased, the risks of acquiring HIV are still relatively high for some females, specifically Black/African-American women. In New York City (NYC), where this dissertation research was conducted, similar HIV/STI rates exist among females of reproductive age (aged 15-44). Among women in the US, there are also high estimated rates of other sexual health problems, such as sexual anxiety, sexual dysfunction, and intimate …

Communicating The Significance Of Home: Stroke Survivors And Caregivers Share Their Stories, Donna Pawlowski

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The goal of this qualitative study was to examine how stroke survivors and caregivers communicated the significance of home in the short-term transition from hospital discharge to home care. Narratives from 12 stroke survivors and their caregivers produced five themes: marker events as motivation, comfort of home and family, emotional privacy of home, excited anticipation of going home, and nervous preparation for home. While much of the communication focused on the positive and hopeful recovery of stroke survivors upon going home, caregiver preparedness and the modifications to home impacted physical and emotional recovery. Results have implications for the transactive model …

Effectiveness Of Community Outreach Hiv Prevention Programs In Vietnam: A Mixed Methods Evaluation, Lora L. Sabin, Katherine Semrau, Mary Bachman Desilva, Le T T Loan, Jennifer J. Beard, Davidson H. Hamer, Jordan Tuchman, Ted Hammett, Nafisa Halim, Manisha Reuben, Aldina Mesic, Taryn Vian

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Background

In 2014, Vietnam was the first Southeast Asian country to commit to achieving the World Health Organization’s 90–90-90 global HIV targets (90% know their HIV status, 90% on sustained treatment, and 90% virally suppressed) by 2020. This pledge represented further confirmation of Vietnam’s efforts to respond to the HIV epidemic, one feature of which has been close collaboration with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Starting in 2004, PEPFAR supported community outreach programs targeting high-risk populations (people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers). To provide early evidence on program impact, …

Advancing Integrated Social And Behavior Change Programming, Breakthrough Research

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

In recent years, social and behavior change (SBC) programming has experienced a notable shift away from a vertical approach focusing on one health or development topic to integrated approaches concerning multiple health or development issues or outcomes under the same program. To help address important evidence gaps in SBC programming, Breakthrough RESEARCH worked with a range of SBC experts to generate a research and learning agenda that includes a core set of consensus-driven, prioritized implementation science questions. Implementation science research is well-suited to the challenges of SBC because it assesses interventions taking place in real-world contexts and factors in various …

Conocimiento, Actitudes Y Prácticas Sobre El Zika: Implicancias Programaticas Para La Prevencion Del Zika En Honduras, Breakthrough Research

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief provides key insights for implementers of social and behavior change activities for Zika prevention in Honduras, based on data from a representative sample of people living in selected USAID Zika program implementation communities, supporting an evidence-based approach to increase Zika and other Aedes aegypti-transmitted virus prevention behaviors.

Zika-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices: Programmatic Implications For Zika Prevention In Honduras, Breakthrough Research

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief provides key insights for implementers of social and behavior change activities for Zika prevention in Honduras, based on data from a representative sample of people living in selected USAID Zika program implementation communities, supporting an evidence-based approach to increase Zika and other Aedes aegypti-transmitted virus prevention behaviors.

Enhancing Respectful Maternal Care During Labor And Delivery, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

This brief informs national ministries of Health, health system officials, staff and clients, implementing partners, and donors of innovative ways to improve women's experiences during labor and delivery. ideas42, in partnership with Safe Motherhood 360+ and the Chipata District Health Office in Zambia, under the Breakthrough RESEARCH project, used behavioral design to analyze contextual features and behavioral barriers to respectful maternal care in urban and rural health care settings. Behavioral design revealed new insights into why health care providers may not follow best practices for respectful maternal care, and resulted in a set of simple, adaptable low cost solutions to …

Family Planning And Youth In West Africa: Mass Media, Digital Media, And Social And Behavior Change Communication Strategies, Sarah Castle, Martha Silva

Reproductive Health

This review presents evidence about the impact of mass media and digital media on young people’s family planning attitudes and behaviors. It primarily focuses on the Ouagadougou Partnership countries, but also describes lessons from other initiatives implemented more widely in Africa and elsewhere. Due to the paucity of family planning evidence, the review also includes material from higher income countries where mass and digital media have been used in communication initiatives to prevent non-communicable diseases. In addition, it draws on studies from low- and middle income countries where such media have been used to create demand for maternal and child …

Beneath The Surface Of Talking About Physicians: A Statistical Model Of Language For Patient Experience Comments, Taylor Turpen, Lea Matthews Md, Senem Guney Phd, Cpxp

Patient Experience Journal

This study applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques to patient experience comments. Our goal was to examine the language describing care experiences with two groups of physicians: those with scores in the top 100 and those with scores in the bottom 100 among all physicians (n=498) who received scores from patient satisfaction surveys. Our analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the language used to describe care experiences with these two distinct groups of physicians. This analysis illustrates how to apply NLP techniques in categorizing and building a statistical model for language use in order to identify meaningful language and …

Socio-Demographic Predictors Associated With Capacity To Engage In Health Care, Ran Sun, Linden Wu, Scott Barnett, Patsy Deyo, Ellen Swartwout

Patient Experience Journal

Patient engagement is essential to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. This study aimed to examine the socio-demographic factors associated with one’s capacity to engage in their health care. An observational, cross-sectional study was performed including patients from five medical/surgical units of four health systems. Patients’ engagement capacity was assessed using the person engagement index (PEI) instrument which contains four subscales: engagement in health care, technology use in health care, proactive approach to health care, and psychosocial support for health care. Separate general linear models were applied for the PEI total score and each of the four subscale scores. Our …

West Virginia’S Sugary Drink Tax: Examining Print Media Frames In Local News Sources, Lauri Andress, Ogaga Urhie, Christine Compton

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Framing is an important aspect of the policy process that helps the public and decision makers sort through and resolve highly charged claims about an issue. Through slight changes in the presentation of issues, a framing effect may alter public support. The way a proposed sugary drink tax is discussed in public discourse and by the media significantly influences policy acceptance. Given the public health significance of obesity and diabetes in West Virginia (WV) the study of media frames employed to represent a sugary drink tax policy is useful.

Methods: Using quantitative content analysis, this study assessed news articles—published …

Adding Soul To The Message: Applying African American Jeremiad Rhetoric As Culturally Competent Health Communication Online, Wilbert Francisco Laveist

English Theses & Dissertations

This study examines whether online health communications targeting African Americans could be more effective by structuring the message in the format of African American jeremiad rhetoric, a culturally unique version of the American jeremiad literary form. Health disparities (also known as health inequality) persist among African Americans despite increased health knowledge, improved communication practices, and access to health facts online. The problem is systemic, and thus a predictable outcome that requires change in societal structures that produce and maintain inequality. Individual behavior changes to improve health is also necessary. Information alone does not change behavior. Altering environmental factors is also …

"Is There Really A Way To Prevent Cancer?": Exploring Cancer Prevention Information Seeking Among Cancer Patients And Their Caregivers, Kaitlin M. Magee

Communication ETDs

This thesis investigated cancer prevention information (CPI) seeking among cancer patients and their caregivers. Interviews that were conducted in 2011 were analyzed thematically to deconstruct perceptions and sources of CPI among 47 participants. The thematic narrative analysis of the predominantly Hispanic, low-income and low-education sample revealed differences in CPI seeking related to ways cultural practices and socioeconomic status impact information seeking. The digital divide, Spanish language and perceived high cost presented barriers to information yet created opportunities for patients and family members to emerge as health champions to share information interpersonally and intergenerationally. Understanding CPI processes of racial and ethnic …

Health Information Literacy On The Risks Of Using Skin Bleaching Products, Olufemi K. Aramide Phd, Olusoji S. Olatunji, Olusola Ayandele

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information enables individuals to develop knowledge which can influence their health behavior and attitude while inadequate literacy about health information is associated with poor understanding of medical advice and negative health outcomes among the population. Skin bleaching is a health practice involving the (mis)use of chemical solutions to change one’s complexion to a lighter tone. This paper investigated the viability of using the concept of health information literacy to reduce skin bleaching by reviewing previous empirical studies on skin bleaching with emphasis on health information. Finding showed that skin bleaching is driven by a self-destructive, unattainable beauty standard. It also …