International journal of communication and health最新文献

Behavioral, attitudinal, and emotional reactions to terrorism can be minimized by communication that promotes successful response through preparedness. However, a challenge to adequate preparedness is the substantial proportion of adults with "below basic" or "basic" literacy skills and how this affects development of health messages. This research explored whether a non-verbal emotional measurement and modeling technique (AdSAM®) can be used with a limited literacy population to support the development of message strategies for disaster situations such as a "dirty bomb" terror event. Adults with limited literacy were randomly assigned to review either a standard CDC decision aid written at a 9^th grade level (n=22) or an adapted aid written at a 6^rd grade level (n=28). Using the AdSAM® emotional response instrument, participants answered questions regarding their feelings about a 'dirty bomb'. The group shown the adaptive aid had more positive emotional responses, including less arousal and greater empowerment. The AdSAM® approach can provide researchers with insights into the design of tailored messages for a limited literacy population in high risk, high-emotion situations.

The purpose of this case-study is to evaluate the effectiveness of messaging, using Twitter, to reach and engage audiences on topics related to obesity. Messages (tweets) from the Twitter account, @CDCObesity, were collected during the period of May 6 - May 15, 2012. We used federally recommended metric categories (breadth, depth and direct engagement) to organize data in the assessment of user engagement. Breadth was measured by community size (number of followers), and community growth (increase in followers). Depth was measured by a click-through rate (percentage of followers who click on a hyper link). Direct engagement was measured by the number of mentions (including @CDCObesity in tweet body), retweet rate (retweets to tweets sent) and a conversation ratio (total number of mentions divided by total number of tweets sent). In total, 189 tweets were analyzed. @CDCObesity sent 96 tweets (50.8%). For breadth, the community size increased from 869 to 1101 (27% community growth). For depth, the click-through rate was 1%. For direct engagement, @CDCObesity was mentioned in 93 tweets (93/189 = 49.2%); retweet rate was 46.9% (45 retweets of @CDCObesity tweets/96 @CDCObesity tweets sent); conversation ratio was 0.97:1. Based on an increase in followers, the number of @CDCObesity mentions, and robust retweet and click-through rates and conversation ratio, @CDCObesity appeared to effectively reach and engage Twitter users. Our findings suggest Twitter is an effective platform to reach and engage audiences in a public health setting. Public health organizations may use these findings to evaluate their efforts using social media.

Patient-centered communication during clinic visits is critical for a patient and provider to establish a relationship that explores the patient's needs and desires and tailors health care accordingly. However, there are currently limitations to measuring patient-centered communication within the clinic visit. This study will examine the inter-rater reliability of a modified version of the Measure of Patient-Centered Communication (MPCC) for use with youth in health promotion clinic visits. Transcripts from actual patient-provider interactions (n=11) with 17-23 year old participants and providers (n=6; NPs and MDs) were analyzed for inter-rater reliability of a modified version of the MPCC. The MPCC demonstrated satisfactory inter-rater reliability among the five components of patient-centered communication (kappa=0.78) and good mean inter-rater reliability among the five provider responses (percent agreement=87.5%). Measuring patient-centered communication presents challenges. This study demonstrated that the MPCC could be a potential tool in this endeavor; however, adjustments are needed for it to be a reliable measure of patient-centered communication during clinic visits with youth. In order to provide patient-centered communication and care we must be able to accurately measure the communication and techniques being implemented in all patient visits.