Health Communication最新文献

When exposed to traumatic events through media coverage, how do we emotionally appraise the situation? Although many factors contribute to our reasoning about media vicarious traumatization, in this article we focus on the role of metaphorical frames. This study uses an online survey experiment (N = 280 CHN adults) to investigate how irrational beliefs influence the effects of metaphorical frames on media vicarious traumatization, with a focus on the mediating role of transportation. The findings revealed that journey metaphors increased media vicarious traumatization more than war metaphors in conditions of low irrational beliefs, while no significant difference was observed in conditions of high irrational beliefs. The interaction between metaphorical frames and irrational beliefs indirectly affected media vicarious traumatization through transportation. These results improve our understanding of the framing effects of cancer metaphors and suggest practical strategies for media health coverage.

Current estimates indicate around 6% of US adults have experienced long COVID symptoms. Given the novelty of both COVID and long COVID, those who continue to be ill after an initial SARS-CoV-2 infection have little precedence on which to rely when navigating the medical (e.g. diagnoses, treatment options), social (e.g. others' reactions, isolation), and personal (e.g. roles, identities) sources of uncertainty that accompany the illness. In this study, we explore uncertainty as a process of liminality, a heuristically useful lens for demonstrating how uncertainties intertwine, compound, contradict, and change across time, and how people are continually in a process of "becoming." We interviewed 19 people with long COVID five times during the middle stages of the pandemic (Summer 2021 to Summer 2022; 89 total interviews). Findings illustrate how liminality is a body-self dialectic characterized by physical changes that bear upon valued identities and how this dialectic is shaped by a sociocultural and historical context comprising medical, social, political, and mediated spheres of life. We discuss the contributions of this research for theorizing about uncertainty, conducting longitudinal qualitative research, and living with chronic illness.

This study examines the factors shaping individuals' reactions to health-protective norm violations through the lens of cognitive accessibility, the risk-as-feelings hypothesis, and the tripartite decision-making framework. By surveying 1,426 U.S. college students, we found that frequent exposure to health information in the media is associated with an increased tendency to adopt health-protective measures and support bystander intervention (upstanding) intentions. From a theoretical perspective, the results underscore the significant impact of the conative (behavioral) dimension on bystander intervention intention, alongside contributions from the affective and cognitive dimensions. Health communication practitioners should plan frequency-enhancing media strategies to effectively reach their target audience. Well-targeted and repeated exposure to vaccine information may help address health norm violations by correcting deviant behaviors.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is characterized as an extreme form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in which a combination of severe mood, somatic, and cognitive symptoms present one to two weeks prior to the onset of menstruation. As people increasingly turn to social media, specifically TikTok, to gain information about health-related topics and information, discourse about this taboo chronic condition has increased. Sensitized by concepts from the theory of communicative disenfranchisement (TCD), our two-pronged methodological approach includes a content analysis of TikTok videos (N = 97) that discuss PMDD symptomology, treatment, and a thematic analysis of disenfranchising talk associated with PMDD. We identify TikTok as a meaningful communicative mechanism for health information-exchange, particularly for communication about contested illness. Practical and theoretical implications for applying TCD in mediated contexts, as well as engaging with social media as a means for health communication are discussed.

This study examined the potential role of binge drinking status in moderating the persuasive effects of narrative versus non-narrative pictorial warning labels (PWLs). In an online longitudinal experiment involving moderate and heavy drinkers, we found that the interaction between binge drinking status and PWL type was significant for intentions to reduce and stop drinking upon immediate PWL exposure (N = 649) and at two-week follow-up (N = 598). Among non-binge drinkers, narrative (vs. non-narrative) PWLs led to higher intentions to reduce drinking upon immediate exposure and higher intentions to stop drinking at two-week follow-up. Among binge drinkers, non-narrative (vs. narrative) PWLs resulted in higher intentions to stop drinking upon immediate exposure and at two-week follow-up. In addition, our results revealed that narrative PWLs increased behavioral intentions through heightening cognitive elaboration and retrospective reflection among non-binge drinkers, while non-narrative PWLs improved intentions only through enhancing retrospective reflection among binge drinkers. These results indicate that the effectiveness of narrative versus non-narrative PWLs depends on individuals' drinking habits.

It is widely believed that persuasion is enhanced by including characters in a message whose features correspond with those of the audience. Matching on gender, age, and ethnicity may be especially appealing because these features are immediately perceivable. We examined the persuasive impact of matching on these variables using a large sample of real-world messages (k = 91) drawn from a single topic/context (messages that advocate for reduced consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages). Contrary to prediction, the data (N = 692) showed no significant main effects. Gender-matching, however, was moderated by prior SSB consumption such that it produced higher levels of perceived message effectiveness among heavier drinkers. Neither age- nor ethnicity-matching yielded a similar interaction. A composite similarity (gender + age + ethnicity) effect was observed though it was likely the product of gender-matching alone. The results suggested that the matching principle is intuitively attractive, but empirically suspect. There may be principled reasons to include demographically diverse characters in health campaigns, but anti-SSB message designers should keep their expectations low regarding advantages from demographic matching.

This study aimed to explore the dissemination of HIV/AIDS-related information and risk factors on social media during AIDS Weeks, helping policymakers and public health organizations understand how the public utilizes social media to formulate strategies for AIDS health campaigns better. This study used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and sentiment analysis to investigate the distribution of themes and people's reactions during AIDS Weeks. Additionally, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was employed to further examine the social structures, cultural contexts, and power dynamics underlying the discourse. From 2018 to 2021, 48437 posts were analyzed, revealing 21 topics coded and categorized into six main themes: Response Methods, Specific Topics, Promotion, Virus Status, Specific Groups, and Positive Feedback. Critical discourse analysis uncovered a parallel trend of demonstrating both threat and efficacy in AIDS Week promotion in China. However, the lack of actionable prevention information may reduce behavioral intentions. The top-down implementation approach ensures efficient execution at all levels but also results in formalism during AIDS Week. Text themes vary annually based on slogans and social contexts, requiring localization for effective implementation and overcoming cultural barriers detrimental to health promotion. Cultural context and social structures contribute to issues such as formalism and stigmatization of marginalized groups. We suggest enhancing user engagement and interaction through social platforms during AIDS Week activities. Collaboration between public health organizations and social media companies can further increase public awareness of the disease, mitigate societal biases, and provide accurate and practical prevention guidance.

Guided by communication accommodation theory, we studied 27 physician reports of patient-physician advanced cancer communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advanced cancer communication requires recognizing patients' psychosocial states and collaboratively engaging patients empathetically to develop the shared understanding necessary to guide decision-making. However, physicians found their communication underaccommodated, stemming from personal protection equipment, social distancing, and telemedicine. Based on provider perspectives, our study identified that during advanced cancer communication, emotional expression was critical for reflecting care and concern to patients, and discourse management was central to showing interest and engagement to patients by their providers. The failure to convey emotional expression to patients meant rapport-building cues were missing, impeding discourse management when navigating difficult conversations about prognosis and end-of-life care. Despite efforts to adjust emotional expression and discourse management during the pandemic to address the needs of their patients, providers were dissatisfied with their communication outcomes. Physicians struggled to relay verbal and nonverbal emotional expressions effectively, supportively, and compassionately to patients when breaking bad news during advanced cancer communication, resulting in a profound source of moral and emotional distress.

Given the influence of emotional management on social media in public health communication, examining the discursive strategies employed in health-crisis communication is crucial. Using the Weibo posts of the People's Daily as a data source, this study analyzes the discursive strategies and resources employed by the mainstream media to address uncertainties pertaining to a 2022 shift in COVID-19 policy. The findings reveal that the mainstream media use both informational and emotional strategies, expressing various epistemic stances and promoting positivity while countering negativity. This study recommends that, in health-crisis contexts, mainstream media actively manage uncertainty by expressing their epistemic stance while also employing emotional governance techniques to provide reliable information and emotional support on social media. The present research broadens the understanding of uncertainty management in the context of the mainstream media's public health communication on social media and provides innovative crisis communication recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of health communication and risk management.

One approach to addressing observed health disparities that is frequently discussed in the literature is adapting health messages to the cultural identities of groups who experience an undue burden of disease. The extant research on the cultural tailoring and targeting (CTT) of health messages generally indicates that such adaptations are effective. However, the empirical basis for this conclusion does not provide definitive evidence that CTT is always necessary nor demonstrate that culturally adapted messages are always more effective than more general message appeals. Despite extensive literature on CTT, important questions remain about the necessary components, methodology, and evaluation of CTT research. In this essay, we present a set of criteria for assessing the existing research base for CTT and ensuring that future CTT research is valid, replicable, rigorous, and robust. Key considerations include identifying when CTT is necessary, conducting rigorous formative research, using appropriate experimental designs, designing message interventions in a way that enables generalization, and evaluating mediators in order to build explanatory theories of CTT.