Health Communication Commons^™

Trends In American Newspaper Coverage Of Autism, Allison Miller

Master of Arts in Communication

The public's understanding of disabilities is cultivated via several media resources, including news media. Disability scholars often cite negative representations of disabilities in mass media, yet analyses of newspaper journalists' coverage of autism remain scarce. The present study explores the frames, stereotypes, stigmatizing cues, and individuals cited in news coverage of autism through a content analysis of The New York Times and USA Today coverage of autism from 2013-2016. The findings revealed that episodic frames are consistently utilized to discuss autism. References to abnormal social tendencies and coupling autism with adverse circumstances were the most common stereotypes in newspaper coverage. …

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. …

Crisis Communication In Context: History And Publication Trends, Kenneth A. Lachlan, Patric R. Spence, Matt Seeger, Christine Gilbert, Xialing Lin

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study aims to describe the development of crisis communication as a subfield of Communication Studies, through an analysis of data taken from journal publications. By tracing the origins of crisis communication, this study identifies some of the primary forces that have influenced its development. Next, the results of an analysis of crisis communication articles drawn from twelve periodicals over nineteen years within the larger communication discipline are offered. The results suggest that Journal of Applied Communication Research has been the most common outlet for this subdiscipline, human subjects data accounts for less than half of the published research, and …

Assessment Of Pediatric Residents’ Attitudes Toward Anticipatory Counseling On Gun Safety, Daon D. Juang, Diane L. Mcdonald, Elizabeth A. Johnson-Young, Tierra D. Burrell, Dana L. Silver, Yan Wang, Richard Lichenstein

Communication & Digital Studies Articles

Guns remain a major cause of injury and death among children. We determined pediatric residents’ familiarity with gun safety campaigns and their gun safety counseling practices. We determined pediatric residents’ comfort with the Asking Saves Kids (ASK) campaign, which recommends that parents ask about gun safety and storage where their children play. Methods: Cross-sectional 27-item electronic survey was distributed to three pediatric residency programs in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Residents were asked to respond to statements using a seven-point Likert scale on familiarity with three gun safety campaigns and their attitudes toward gun safety counseling. Results: 82% of respondents were not …

“It’S Hard To Get Your Head Around Something Like This”: Figurative And Intense Language For Sensegiving During Severe Weather Coverage, Robert W. Prestley

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

During high-impact weather events like Hurricane Harvey, broadcast meteorologists take on the role of sensegiver, as they develop frameworks to help their viewers make sense of the storm. These frameworks are communicated through rhetorical choices evident in the language the meteorologists use to describe the storm’s threat and impact. This study investigates the rhetorical choices of KHOU broadcast meteorologists during Hurricane Harvey in order to make sense of the disaster, using an inductive thematic analysis. The results indicate that the KHOU broadcasters framed Harvey figuratively as an all-encompassing monster and a heat-seeking machine. The meteorologists used emotionally intense language to …

“I Want To Feel What They Feel”: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Emotional Flow In Narrative Health Blogs, Sarah Elizabeth Sheff

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Emotion has long been implemented in persuasive messages and campaigns to influence attitudes and health behavior. Research demonstrates that messages often evoke more than one emotion during and after exposure, and this was previously viewed as an undesirable outcome; however, the literature suggests that the intentional inclusion of multiple emotions, or emotional flow, could positively impact persuasive outcomes, such as attitudes and behavioral intention.

The proposed study employs the concept of emotional flow, the intentional inclusion of more than one discrete emotion, in the context of narrative health blogs addressing mental health topics relevant to college students. The study specifically …

“Standing On The Front Lines And Down In The Trenches With Her”: An Exploration Of The Dialectical Tensions And Competing Goals Of Adult Children Of Mentally Ill Parents, Kelley Hodgson

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Mental illness is a pervasive health epidemic in the United States and worldwide, and available data suggest that mentally ill adults are statistically more likely to be parents than non-parents. The prevalence and continued growth of parental mental illness means that millions of children in the United States have a parent with some form of mental health issues.

This dissertation contributes to and extends existing literature on children of mentally ill parents by exploring 15 adult children’s subjective perspectives on how they navigate the tension-wrought experience of having a mentally ill parent, and how this has implications for the management …

Writing Cross-Culturally: A Mental Health Fotonovela For The Younger U.S. Latino Population, Isabella Garza

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Clean Water In Rural Ecuador: The Connection Between Willingness To Pay And Population Health, Micalea Leaska

Capstone Collection

Climate change is affecting social and environmental determinants of health through access to safe drinking water, safely managed sanitation systems, and access to health care services and the ability for individuals to break free from unsuitable circumstances. Ecological disturbances such as those caused by climate change can cause a shift in host vectors or a change in habitat that results in a greater likelihood of the pathogen coming in contact with humans. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services and their accessibility to populations can directly impact a community’s vulnerability to diseases and limiting factors to increase economic growth. If rural …

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 …

Deaf Mis-Interpretation During Hurricane Irma: A Case Study And Evaluation, Sherilyn D. Burris

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

In 2017, Manatee County Government (Florida, USA) used an untrained sign language interpreter during a media briefing on Hurricane Irma evacuation orders. The individual signed incorrectly, resulting in confusion for the community and embarrassment for the organization. This case study presents the background of accessible information in crisis management -- why and how disaster preparedness information is interpreted for the deaf community; provides the event's consequences, as well as local and global implications; and discusses ways to incorporate deaf and hard-of-hearing stakeholders and groups into existing structures and programs.

What Influences Our Decision To Vaccinate? The Social Amplification Of Risk Framework And Vaccination, Laura B. Carper

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

The current study applies the social amplification risk framework to the anti-vaccination movement, specifically to the social factors that influence the likelihood to vaccinate. A total of 264 participants were recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk engine and students from a large southern university. Participants responded to questions about their personal, friend, and family experiences with vaccines, their discussion about vaccines, and trust in vaccine literature (CDC, Facebook, family, etc.). Lastly, participants responded to a modified Duke’s social support scale. Results indicated that the likelihood to vaccinate is impacted by several social factors and that those factors can be amplified based …

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 …

Health Risk Tolerance As A Key Determinant Of (Un)Willingness To Behavior Change: Conceptualization And Scale Development, Hyoyeun Jun, Yan Jin

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

After the study of testing determinants of risk tolerance affecting information sharing, this study was conducted as a second step to actually develop the scale for risk tolerance. Firstly, this study followed qualitative steps, such as in-depth interview and focus group, to capture how public describes the situation when they are tolerating the risk, when they knew what the recommended behavior is to relieve the risk. Secondly, this study collected 1000 U.S. public sample for the survey questionnaire that are the items generated from the qualitative steps.

Run, Hide, Fight: Leveraging Academics To Enhance Emergency Preparedness Training For Active Shooter Events, Andrew S. Pyle, S. Paul Gennett, Darren L. Linvill

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

College and university campuses are regularly faced with various types of crises. One category of crisis that is becoming a more regular event of concern is the active shooter event. Trainings exist that can help individuals respond more confidently in the event of an active shooter incident on campus. However, the authors were concerned that students with certain personality traits may be less likely to abide by active shooter training guidelines. We surveyed undergraduate students and compared the Big Five personality traits with perceptions of self and response efficacy related to the “Run, Hide, Fight” active shooter training video. Our …

Social Isolation And Loneliness And The Experience Of Gratitude And Affection, Elizabeth Sholey

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of social isolation and loneliness among older adults living in Missoula, Montana, and the possibility that affection and gratitude may help ameliorate these negative states. The research questions that were created for this study are: How do older adults perceive social isolation and loneliness? What experiences do elderly people associate with affection and gratitude? Do elderly individuals who are socially isolated see themselves as such? What experiences of affection and/or gratitude do elderly individuals typically remember receiving? Which persons do elderly individuals associate most strongly with feelings of affection and/or …

Factors That Influence Maternal Feeding Decisions For Toddlers: Extending The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Elizabeth Lucas Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Establishing healthy eating behaviors is vital in the early years to help combat the development of obesity and other chronic diseases. Mothers play an invaluable role in shaping their children's eating habits through controlling what and when children eat as well as the overall food environment, which is why a better understanding of what influences mothers’ decisions about these behaviors is important.

The purpose of the dissertation was to gain a better understanding of what impacts maternal feeding decisions regarding toddler nutrition behaviors. This was a two-phased mixed methods study. The aim of the initial study was to explore, using …

The Influence Of Patient-Provider Interaction, Self-Concept, And The Socio-Physical Environment On Pelvic Exam Seeking Behavior, Anxiety, And The Health Care Experience, Julie Lasslo

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Regular gynecological screenings are critical for women in promotion of health and preventing diseases like cervical cancer. Despite the importance of such examinations, many women fail to adhere to recommended screening protocols. As a result, women experience an increased disease risk. The current study examined the relationship between patient-provider communication quality, skill, and empathy on pelvic exam seeking behavior and exam-related anxiety and satisfaction. Additionally, negative self-concept, perceived poor genital self-image, and various elements of the socio-physical clinic environment were explored to better understand their impact on a women’s care seeking behavior.

A total of 350 women 19 through 80 …

Patient Empowerment Via Mobile Personal Health Records And Mobile Health Applications: A Review Of The Current Use, Abdulaziz S. Alhomod, Saeed Alzahrani

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Consumer empowerment has gained a significant attention in the medical field recently, and despite the ambiguity of its definitions, elements and measurement tools, it is apparent that mobile and other communication technology can play a major role in keeping patients informed, involved and empowered. This paper aims to explore methods by which mobile applications contribute to consumer empowerment and allowed enhanced patient control over their health.

Building Assets Toolkit: Developing Positive Benchmarks For Adolescent Girls—Asset Cards [Spanish], Judith Bruce, Sarah Engebretsen, Kimberly Glazer

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

La Caja de herramientas: Fortalecimiento de habilidades del Population Council ayuda a los profesionales, los encargados de formular políticas y los defensores a crear contenido personalizado, significativo y positivo para ayudar a subpoblaciones específicas de niñas. La caja de herramientas guía a los profesionales a través de una serie de pasos que deben tomarse para definir objetivos de sentido común: qué información, habilidad o activo físico (como una tarjeta de identificación) debe tener una niña en un entorno particular para una edad en particular. Este documento consta de las tarjetas de activos que forman parte de la Caja de herramientas: …