Health Communication最新文献

This study investigates how risk behavior detail (RBD) in health messages affects intentions to drive under the influence of cannabis (DUIC). Based on research on cue reactivity and observational learning, we test whether messages with detailed information about risky behaviors related to DUIC may inadvertently teach high-risk audiences these behaviors, thereby increasing their likelihood of engaging in DUIC. An online experiment surveyed 686 adult drivers, ages 18 to 50, who use cannabis. Participants viewed messages with varying levels of detail about behaviors that may reduce the risk of adverse outcomes of DUIC (High vs. Low RBD), or a control video. Exposure to High-RBD messages was associated with increased DUIC intentions and behaviors, mediated by perceptions that the behaviors would be effective at reducing risk (response efficacy), and self-efficacy to perform these behaviors, both immediately and at two-weeks follow-up. Implications for theory, and for effective and responsible message design are discussed.

This study deconstructs the way in which journalists in two lesser-studied contexts framed a major health crisis through the lens of intertextuality. Based on a corpus of English-language newspaper reports from Japan and South Korea from 2020 to 2022, the study explicates the way in which the risks, urgency, and gravity of the COVID-19 crisis are talked into being, amplified, or downplayed through the complex interaction of the quoted and reporter voices. The findings reveal that in both settings, quotations are strategically interwoven to serve four rhetorical functions: reporting facts, distancing, deauthorizing, and providing a personal touch. Despite similar journalistic standards, variation is observed in terms of the types of sources deferred to and the functions the voices opted for. Such differences are attributed to the changing nature of the socio-political factors in the two countries.

This article interrogates COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community: A Tyler Perry Special, a health communication program that addressed vaccine hesitancy in the Black community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using critical race theory (CRT) and amplification rhetoric, we, two Black scholars, analyze how the program leveraged culturally resonant storytelling, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and the influence of Tyler Perry to challenge medical mistrust and race-based structural inequities. While acknowledging that the Black experience is not monolithic, the special reframes vaccine hesitancy in the Black community as "healthy hesitation," and centers collective Black experiences to critique historical and contemporary medical racism. Additionally, anchored in Black epistemologies, the special employs platforms like BET and YouTube to connect with audiences in culturally meaningful ways. In turn, this study demonstrates the power of culturally tailored health communication to build trust and offers insights into health communication strategies for members of the Black community. The study also illuminates implications at the intersections of pop culture, race, culture, and health communication.

Engaging adolescents with health topics on social media is notoriously challenging. A common strategy is message personalization, yet most efforts focus on personalizing what is said rather than how it is expressed. This is a missed opportunity, as youth-relevant health communication requires attention to both style and content. Digital communication environments enable such adaptation by making users' linguistic patterns visible and available for personalization. Yet little is known about how adolescents respond to health messages written in a similar linguistic style, or how such similarity is best operationalized. Addressing these gaps, this preregistered study tests whether adolescents prefer social media health messages that are more similar to their linguistic style and identifies which linguistic categories are most effective in eliciting positive responses. Using WhatsApp conversations donated by 191 Dutch adolescents (aged 13-15), we derived linguistic profiles and created Instagram-style health messages varying in linguistic similarity. Participants then evaluated 22 message pairs, each pair manipulating one linguistic category. Multilevel Bayesian analyses yielded inconclusive evidence for effects of linguistic similarity on message preference or personalization, and moderate evidence against effects on perceived effectiveness. Our findings point to potential trade-offs between experimental transparency and similarity strength, yielding important insights for refining future operationalizations. At the same time, adolescents consistently preferred positive and simple-worded messages, which gives general stylistic guidance for more engaging health communication on social media. Further, we discuss implications for AI-based style matching, including the use of algorithmic approaches and large language models.

Weight stigma in healthcare is pervasive, and its presence in healthcare interactions contributes to breakdowns in communication between patients and providers. This study sought to better understand and explain the disconfirming experiences of individuals with larger bodies during weight-related discussions with healthcare providers. Ten in-depth interviews and two focus groups, consisting of nine and six additional participants, were collected. Two levels of coding were performed. Qualitative descriptive analysis revealed two themes of disconfirming communication: (a) minimizing effort or struggle, and (b) undermining agency. The second level applied an a priori thematic analysis to categorize the disconfirming message types using Sieburg's previously established typology, which were largely classified as (a) impervious and (b) disqualifying. Additionally, the findings suggest several maladaptive health outcomes associated with disconfirming communication during weight-related conversations, including (a) diminished trust in therapeutic relationships, (b) emotional and psychological distress, and (c) disrupted care. Theoretical and practical insights are discussed to address weight stigma and improve patient care and communication with individuals with larger bodies.

Can deliberate self-affirmation and self-threat inductions be effectively employed in health persuasion targeting bystanders or individuals not directly responsible for health risks? Drawing on the self-affirmation theory, this study examines the effectiveness of message-integrated self-affirmation and self-threats in secondhand smoke (SHS) health risk messages among Chinese nonsmokers. An online experiment was conducted, using a 3 (self-integrity strategies: self-affirming vs. self-threatening vs. control group) × 2 (reference points: self-referencing vs. other-referencing) between-subjects factorial design, with self-esteem treated as a continuous moderator. Results showed that both strategies, compared to a control group, elicited greater negative self-appraisal, which in turn increased psychological reactance. Notably, self-affirmation led to stronger anti-SHS behavioral intentions than the control group. While reference points did not moderate the effects, self-esteem emerged as a key moderator: high self-esteem enhanced the persuasive impacts of both strategies, whereas low self-esteem heightened defensive coping and its undesirable influences on behavioral intention. Theoretically, the findings extend self-affirmation theory in health persuasion by identifying self-esteem as a key moderator in self-integrity appeals. Practically, although both self-integrity strategies can enhance message persuasion, self-affirmation appears particularly impactful, and tailoring interventions to recipients' self-esteem may further optimize persuasive outcomes.

This study used an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to investigate the dual-pathway mechanisms influencing cancer screening decisions among family caregivers of cancer patients. A dual-pathway model was developed through qualitative interviews (N = 20) and subsequently validated with quantitative surveys (N = 705). Key findings revealed two distinct pathways. The cognitive pathway showed that caregiving experience promoted screening intentions by enhancing information literacy self-efficacy via health information acquisition. In contrast, the affective pathway indicated that fear of cancer progression predicted greater emotional exhaustion, which in turn suppressed screening decisions. Furthermore, interaction between the two pathways was identified: information literacy self-efficacy buffered the negative impact of emotional exhaustion on screening decisions (β = -.18, p < .01), while emotional exhaustion attenuated the positive effect of information literacy self-efficacy (β = -.15, p < .05). These results reveal the interplay between cognitive and affective units, providing a theoretical foundation for designing dual-pathway ("cognitive empowerment-affective regulation") intervention.

Misleading marketing practices and ethically ambiguous persuasion techniques have shaped consumer perceptions of breast-milk substitutes (BMS), despite the well-documented health benefits of breastfeeding. A recent evaluation of BMS producers' marketing activities in the Czech Republic and their compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes by World Health Organization revealed widespread use of "grey-zone" tactics on social media and in product reviews. Our findings suggest that influencer and nano-influencer marketing and word-of-mouth product testing should be included in monitoring and regulation due to their growing role in peer-to-peer recommendations. Unlike traditional advertising, where commercial intent is clear, digital marketing relies on embedded persuasion, blurring the line between organic consumer recommendations and paid promotions. These tactics contribute to declining breastfeeding rates and raise concerns about transparency, consumer protection, and regulatory oversight. Existing policies, including WHO guidelines, have yet to adapt to the evolving digital marketing landscape, enabling companies to bypass traditional restrictions. To address these challenges, policymakers should establish clear disclosure requirements, stricter penalties for noncompliance, and AI-driven monitoring systems to track undisclosed promotional activities. Strengthening regulatory frameworks is essential to combat misinformation and uphold breastfeeding as the optimal infant feeding method.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in Hispanic or Latino (H/L) women in the United States. However, researchers often fail to use recruitment messaging targeted toward increasing Latina participation in medical research. Although the barriers preventing Latinas' participation in research are well-established, there are few studies focused on comprehending the motivations of Latinas who previously volunteered for clinical trial participation. The current study aims to identify constructs for creating a theoretical framework exploring H/L women's motivations to provide healthy breast tissue for a breast cancer clinical trial. Guided by constructivist grounded theory, 19 women (n = 19) who self-identified as Hispanic or Latina and had previously donated healthy breast tissue to a biobank were interviewed regarding their medical research participation decision. The findings center on two primary themes: a) participants demonstrate confidence and self-efficacy in deciding to participate; possible negative feedback from family members was not a part of their decision-making process; and b) the importance of H/L women's awareness of low representation in medical research and the presence and influence of the legacy norm as a decision driver. The implications centered on a) understanding that H/L women have a strong sense of self-efficacy and should be viewed as important family healthcare decision-makers when creating clinical trial recruitment materials and b) a need for researchers to communicate to potentially unaware H/L women that they are being sought out because of their historical underrepresentation in research, and c) targeting constructs of the legacy norm and applying H/L cultural values (such as collectivism) as motivators to participate in medical research when creating recruitment messaging for H/L women.

Humor in public service announcements (PSAs) can reassure the audience, influencing the public's adoption of directives when managing crises of public health significance. However, the relevance of different humor types in public health emergencies, which are marked by uncertainty and change, remains largely uncharted. Through the lens of three humor theories, this study explored how humor was applied to advertise public health crisis directives on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of high-engagement humor-containing COVID-19 PSAs from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Australian health departments' Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube accounts was extracted. Through content analysis, we identified seven humor types employed by the organizations to promote 12 crisis directives. WHO's PSAs were based mainly on multiple humor mechanisms (76.5%), while Australian health departments' PSAs were more contingent on single humor mechanisms (60.2%). A high level of media richness accounted for social media user engagement, which persisted after repeated exposure to the same PSA. Prosocial content was more instrumental in generating high user engagement than self-focused posts. Through temporal analysis, we found that the PSAs were more frequent during periods of minimal direct public health impact of the crisis and when multiple humor types were employed. Our study demonstrates that a range of humor types could be applicable in generating public engagement across multiple phases of a public health crisis. The findings offer theoretical and practical insights to health authorities and practitioners seeking to promote crisis directives and influence health behaviors.