Focus: Health Communication

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 […]

Jeong-Yeob Han has won the 2019 Enzaim Best Article Award from Korea Health Communication Association (KHCA), in recognition of the article published in the journal Health Communication Research:  “Co-presence in Gamified Geosocial Mobile Fitness Applications: Its Determinants and Effects on Perceived Support, Exercise Self-Efficacy, and Exercise Adherence”. This article is authored by a Grady alumnus Soela […]

Abstract: This content analysis evaluated tweets about the opioid epidemic published in 2018 by U.S. federal and state health organizations to find out what components of both textual and visual of tweets can achieve the most effective communication for opioid epidemic including text characteristics, perceived discrete emotion and visual components of images. This study found […]

Abstract: Depression is one of the most severe health threats to the college student population. Depression communication plays an essential role in reducing stigma and discrimination against sufferers. However, the effectiveness of such communication remains understudied, especially when it comes to the psychological process connecting depression message and communication outcomes. To tackle this challenge, this […]

Abstract: Individuals increasingly rely on the Internet, and social media in particular, for health-related information. A recent survey reports that 80% of Internet users search for health information online. In the present study, we employ Twitter data to understand content characteristics and the patterns of content flow of the conversations about the HPV vaccine debate. […]