Health Communication最新文献

China has a longstanding tradition of alcohol consumption, yet excessive drinking poses significant health risks, particularly for individuals with cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension. While existing literature indicates that both health information scanning and seeking behaviors can impact health beliefs and actions, their effects on alcohol prevention remain understudied. Utilizing data from a national survey in China, this study investigates the influence of health information scanning and seeking on alcohol risk knowledge and the frequency of excessive drinking among hypertensive drinkers. Results demonstrate that both health information scanning (b = -.018, p < .05) and seeking (b = -.030, p < .001) are negatively associated with excessive alcohol consumption indirectly through heightened awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer. However, health information scanning is positively linked to excessive drinking directly (b = .203, p < .01). Additionally, cancer information overload positively moderates the relationship between awareness of alcohol as a cancer risk factor and excessive drinking (b = .148, p < .001). Hypertensive drinkers who experience lower levels of cancer information overload are more inclined to reduce excessive alcohol consumption. These findings underscore the different roles of health information scanning and seeking on alcohol control. It is important to implement interventions aimed at encouraging active information seeking and mitigating information overload. Educational programs should be promoted to help high-risk groups accurately understand the risk of excessive drinking.

This study aims to audit the potential algorithmic bias in TikTok's health-related video recommendation toward geographically diverse groups in China. We employed 120 cloud phones and conducted two agent-based testing experiments simulating users' geographical locations and online behaviors. The results indicated significant regional inequality in video sources recommended by the TikTok algorithm, t(118) = 3.02, p = .003, with users from developed cities encountering a higher proportion of professional videos than those from underdeveloped cities. However, when users from both regions expressed a similar preference for the same type of information, an equal proportion of professional videos was recommended. Our findings suggest that widely used algorithms may covertly perpetuate social inequities and reinforce preexisting class-based inequalities, particularly affecting vulnerable population from low-income regions. This study also highlights the importance of enhancing eHealth literacy among disadvantaged users to mitigate problematic outcomes in the AI-based communication landscape.

This study examines practitioner-parent-child communication in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consultations. Employing the theoretical framework of positioning theory, this discourse study investigates the interactions among Chinese medicine practitioners, parents, and child patients. The data, recordings of 21 pediatric consultation sessions, were gathered from the Department of Chinese Medicine at a hospital in China. The findings reveal that parents position themselves as representatives of their child patients, who, conversely, play a passive role with limited participation in consultations. This phenomenon is consistent with previous studies on doctor-parent-patient communication in Western medicine settings. As caretakers, parents also position themselves as experts in their child's health, articulating the child's health conditions and demonstrating some familiarity with TCM. Emphasizing the importance of lifestyle changes for the child's health and recovery, practitioners strategically position themselves as both medical professionals and parenting advisors and give direct advice to parents. This study argues that the positioning of parents may diminish child patients' participation. The study enhances our understanding of doctor-parent-child communication in the context of TCM by elucidating the positioning of the participants. It concludes by discussing the significance of child patients' engagement and the implementation of a patient-centered approach in TCM consultations.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical role of coping strategies during global crises and demonstrated how official communications shape public responses. This study evaluates the psychometric validity of a novel pentadic "Coping with Crisis Communication" (COCCO) Scale, which categorizes coping behaviors into five behavioral responses: moving-with, moving-against, moving-outward, moving-away, and moving-inward. A national representative survey of 742 Swiss residents, conducted in February 2022, measured these coping responses to official COVID-19 communications from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and traditional Swiss news media (TNM). Items were developed to assess how participants engaged with, opposed, reached outward for support, distanced from, or internalized the messages. Confirmatory factor analyses tested multiple models (5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-factor structures) based on both the initial pentadic theory and data-driven refinements. While the original 5-factor model showed insufficient fit, a 7-factor model (moving-with, moving-toward, moving-against, moving-outward, moving-away, negative-moving-inward, positive-moving-inward) provided a satisfactory factor solution. This model exhibited measurement invariance across the three language versions of the scale (French, Italian, German) and across the two communication contexts (FOPH, TNM). The COCCO scale offers an effective, movement-based assessment of coping strategies in response to crisis communications, serving as a valuable tool for understanding public behavior during global crises.

The purpose of this study was to examine the content of workout videos on TikTok. A sample of 297 TikTok workout videos was coded for demographic factors and body shape of content creators, as well as the presence of body positivity messaging, appearance-related messaging, and other relevant themes. The results suggest that TikTok workout content is often presented in a time-lapse format with little verbal instruction, which may make it difficult for viewers to perform the exercises. The majority of the videos depicted young women with athletic bodies and other characteristics associated with culturally based beauty ideals, and approximately half of the videos included non-White content creators. Approximately a quarter of the videos in the sample included objectification and a smaller proportion of the sample included messages about inner positivity. Overall, the TikTok platform may provide underrepresented individuals opportunities to seek out workout content from a more diverse group of instructors; however, the fact that many of these videos including objectifying depictions of the content creators is concerning. Further experimental work is needed in order to more fully elucidate the effects of TikTok workout videos on viewers.

Patient-centered communication is widely acknowledged as an essential element of high-quality healthcare. Our study attempted to explore the weaknesses in the actual doctor-patient communication process and the most critical elements in patient-centered communication to improve the service quality of e-consult. We recruited ten standardized patients presenting fixed cases (urticaria and childhood diarrhea) for 321 valid interactions to measure patient-centered communication and e-consult service quality. The scores of patient-centered communication included exploring the patient's disease experience, understanding the patient's social situation, and reaching a consensus between doctors and patients. We measured the quality of e-consult services by the total words of doctor's responses, accurate diagnosis, appropriate prescription, lifestyle modification advice, patient satisfaction, continuance intention, and cost. Ordinary least-squares and logistic regression were performed to investigate the association between patient-centered communication and e-consult service quality. The total mean score of patient-centered communication was 17.67. The mean words of responses and cost were 178.55 words and 39.46 yuan, respectively. 82.87% of doctors diagnosed accurately, with 21.81% prescribing appropriate prescriptions and 81.93% providing lifestyle modification advice. 254 interactions obtained high satisfaction, and 218 had continuance intention after the interactions. Doctors with higher patient-centered communication levels would provide more words of responses. They were more likely to provide accurate diagnoses, appropriate prescriptions, and lifestyle modification advice, resulting in better patient satisfaction, continuance intention, and higher costs. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize and improve the doctor-patient communication process of e-consult and develop training for different doctors.

Digital storytelling is a participatory media creation process. To illustrate how digital storytelling may be used as a method within the culture-centered approach to health communication, this paper presents a case study analysis of two 2-day digital storytelling workshops in collaboration with a local harm reduction organization that supports people who use drugs. Storytellers used the communicative space of digital storytelling to confront stigmatizing cultural and institutional narratives related to substance use. Storytellers also demonstrated how harm reduction work engendered a sense of purpose and an alternative to punitive drug policies. However, storytellers felt that stories produced for the harm reduction community could be misunderstood by outsiders, limiting the potential of the stories for advocacy communication. Overall, we find that digital storytelling as a method within the culture-centered approach has potential to elevate the experiences, understanding, expertise, and goals of communities that have been excluded from health communication. The digital storytelling method will have the most value as a critical narrative intervention if the principles and reflexivity of the culture-centered approach are foundational to the process.

Adolescents and young adults continue to use e-cigarettes, and communication campaigns are needed to decrease use among these populations. We developed and tested a point-of-sale communication campaign focused on e-cigarette chemical exposure. We developed messages based on formative research and tested them (versus text-only messages) in a nationally-representative online survey among adolescents and young adults (16-25) (Phase 1). Based on survey findings, we selected a message focused on nicotine and brain development for the point-of-sale trial (Phase 2). We then conducted a cluster-randomized trial at six gas stations with convenience stores, randomly assigned to the intervention (messages displayed) or no message control condition. We conducted intercept surveys with repeated cross-sectional samples of 50 participants (ages 16-25) per store, at baseline and a four-week follow-up. Phase 1 included 1,636 participants in the online study. Intervention messages were rated as more attention grabbing than plain text messages (p < .05), though were rated similarly on other outcomes. Exposure to intervention messages resulted in larger changes from pre- to posttest for beliefs about addiction and relative harms versus cigarettes (p < .05). Phase 2 included 586 participants in the point-of-sale study. Real-world campaign exposure was low (31.8%), and no differences were found between conditions. E-cigarette prevention messages focused on nicotine's impact on brain development show promise. However, garnering attention for communication campaigns in saturated point-of-sale environments, often dominated by tobacco advertising, is challenging. Future efforts should utilize additional communication channels to directly target adolescents and young adults.

People who experience symptoms of autoimmune diseases often have to struggle for illness recognition. Women experiencing such symptoms face additional challenges as their accounts of pain are frequently treated with skepticism. This study examines experiences of people living with Sjögren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease which is primarily diagnosed in women, by conducting an analysis of individual vlogs posted on YouTube using the themes of gender, chronic illness and neoliberal governmentality. Sjögren's Syndrome is the second most common rheumatic disease after rheumatoid arthritis and affects nearly 4 million people in the United States alone. An analysis of 70 vlogs posted by people living with the disease revealed the challenges faced by them including diagnostic delays and perceived attitudinal biases amongst medical professionals, especially in the context of the gender of the patients. Apart from highlighting the impact of the disease on their gendered roles, the vloggers urged viewers to conduct their own research on the disease and advocate for themselves during interactions with physicians. The study illuminates how dissatisfaction with healthcare services reinforces neoliberal rationalities such as individual advocacy, resilience and self-labor. The findings of the study delineate the role of neoliberal governmentality in making self-management of chronic illnesses such as Sjögren's Syndrome an internalized ideal for women living with the disease. Additionally, the study provides empirical evidence of the need for addressing the medical and socio-cultural factors that contribute to delays in the diagnosis and management of Sjögren's Syndrome.