Abstract: News media stories and content can influence people’s understanding of vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases, including making them more knowledgeable about the need for a recommended vaccination and more willing to receive it (Perez, Fedoruk, et al., 2016). China is one of the most recent countries to license and develop HPV vaccine recommendations. In […]

Abstract: This experimental study (N=113) examined the effects of the visual presentations of data in television news on young Americans’ recall of information about sexually transmitted diseases, as well as the roles of individual characteristics in this process. The results show that individuals who saw either a tabular or graphical presentation of information about sexually […]

Abstract: This paper presents the case of Black Girls RUN! (BGR), an Atlanta-based organization and social movement with a grassroots and community-driven approach to changing fitness-related ideology and health outcomes within the Black community. Using an interdisciplinary approach built built upon tenets of media studies, cultural studies, Black Feminist Thought, and health promotion theory, this […]

Abstract: Source credibility has been an important area of research in persuasive communications for quite some time. In the risk communication literature, source cues have been found to impact both individual food risk perceptions and food purchase intentions (e.g., Frewer, Howard, Hedderley, & Shepherd, 1997; Phillips & Hallman, 2013). The rapid development of genetic engineering technology […]

Abstract: Fortune magazine publishes its list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” and its ranking formula for evaluating companies includes measures of “…overall job satisfaction,” as well as and evaluation of company “pay and benefits programs” (Fortune, n.d.). At many companies, a tangible benefit includes making employee wellness programs available to improve employee […]

Abstract: In times of crisis, when information spreads fast and the public need for information is at its highest, misinformation can play a crucial role in the understanding of a crisis and how it develops. This raises questions about the challenge of correcting opinions and beliefs based on misinformation and how these incorrect perceptions can […]

Abstract: With a focus on the nature and dynamic process of social interactions among breast cancer patients, this study argues that the notion of opinion leaders can be another crucial factor in explaining positive psychosocial health outcomes within computer-mediated social support (CMSS) groups. This study investigates the relationship between opinion leaders and their psychosocial health […]

Abstract: How to effectively and ethically engage with publics via both traditional and social media in different types of public health risks and crises with different forms of media has been a critical question for both public health information officers and risk communication scholars.  A particular type of health crisis, infectious disease outbreaks (IDOs), can […]

Overview: Through an online, nationally representative survey of 1,000 participants, this proposed project will examine how publics perceive and cope with the threat of infectious disease outbreaks, in order to information risk and crisis communications strategies for health organizations in times of infectious disease threat (IDT). This study will explore dimensions of threat appraisal, including […]

Abstract: The objectives of this project are to (1) assess the acceptability of the Problem Recognition in Illness Self-Management (PRISM) tool, a family-provider communication intervention, to improve medication adherence, and (2)examine the feasibility of using a novel method, in the form of a smartphone app, to measure medication adherence inadolescents with chronic respiratory illnesses. Our […]