Focus: Health Communication

Abstract: Scholars have adopted Street’s (2003) ecological model of communication in medical encounters to investigate the factors promoting patient participation in health care. However, factors demonstrated in the ecological model were bounded in the context of medical care primarily focusing on health care providers and patients. Social factors, such as patients’ relationships and supportive communication […]

Abstract: This study investigated if and how exposure to Facebook comments about vaccines influences one’s attitude toward the vaccines. In this investigation, comments were examined in light of their effect on attitude toward vaccines through perceived distribution of public opinion on vaccines, and perceived vaccine efficacy was tested as a factor moderating relative effects of […]

Abstract: We examined how age and exposure to different types of COVID-19 (mis)information affect misinformation beliefs, perceived credibility of the message and intention-to-share it on WhatsApp. Through two mixed-design online experiments in the UK and Brazil (total N = 1,454) we first randomly exposed adult WhatsApp users to full misinformation, partial misinformation, or full truth […]

Abstract: An improvement in HPV vaccination rates is one of the primary goals of public health organizations. Toward this end, fear appeal communication is commonly used in health interventions, warning individuals of threats of HPV infection and promoting vaccination. However, little is known about how threat-related emotions, such as fear and anxiety, influence the cognitive […]

Abstract: This study examined if and how Facebook user-generated comments about the flu vaccine influenced psychological reactance in conjunction with pre-existing flu vaccine attitude. Psychological reactance was further tested as a mediating factor influencing behavioral intention to receive the vaccine. An experimental study was conducted with 264 college students. The results showed that pre-existing attitude […]

Abstract: Higher education institutions and their students face a wide range of infectious disease threats (IDTs). However, there is a lack of theory-driven research on how to provide communication for multiple IDTs to motivate protective action taking. To close this gap, this study focuses on college students and two IDT types: respiratory and sexually transmitted […]

Taylor Voges (Grady Ph.D. Student) and Matthew Binford (Grady Ph.D. Student). SO ORDERED: A Textual Analysis of United States’ Governors’ Press Release Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. San Fransisco, August 6-9, 2020 Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique environment from which each individual state, in the […]

Abstract: Annual influenza vaccination has been recommended for all adults in the United States since 2010, but coverage estimates indicate that less than half of American adults complied during the 2018-19 flu season. A number of studies have assessed the correlates of adult influenza vaccination attitudes and behaviors, but stagnating flu vaccination rates suggest new […]

Accepted for presentation at the International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, Health Communication Division, May 21-25, 2020, Gold Coast, Australia. Abstract: This study investigated the effect of different framing, visual, and cultural appeal strategies, embedded in a depression-campaign post on Facebook, on Chinese immigrants’ cognitive and affective responses to the post and their intention to provide […]

Abstract: This study investigated if and how exposure to Facebook comments about vaccines influences one’s attitude toward the vaccines. In this investigation, comments were examined in light of their effect on attitude toward vaccines through perceived distribution of public opinion on vaccines, and perceived vaccine efficacy was tested as a factor moderating relative effects of […]