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Editor’s
Note:
Communication
and controversy often go hand in hand. Ideas which are unpopular
or inflammatory spark debate which can lead to real progress.
In this issue I reflect
on the long-term effects of the crisis communication
during the first mad cow "outbreak" in Britain.
The question a decade later is not whether we can prove
science right but instead how we should respond to other
future outbreaks. As few people publicly challenge the veracity
of claims or the quality of evidence with a scientifically
plausible argument, the policy response to potential, theoretical
health threats is at stake. The idea of making progress
by challenging long-held beliefs is also considered in a
Forum about the use of fear appeals in AIDS prevention.
We are also pleased to supplement this issue of the Journal
with a special compilation of original research conducted
using the data generated by the first administration of
the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) telephone
interviews. The articles represent an interdisciplinary
view of cancer communication at the turn of the millennium
and offer insight for the future.
Scott
C. Ratzan, MD, MPA
Editor,
Journal of Health Communication
Vice
President, Government Affairs, Europe
Johnson
& Johnson
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Table
of Contents
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From
the Journal:
Volume 11 Issue
3 (May 2006)
This issue features
an opinion piece about the use of fear arousal in AIDS preventive education
in Africa. The article presents some intriguing viewpoints and is accompanied
by three commentaries from experts in the field. As one of the authors
responding to this article has said, while the article is insightful it
"will be controversial, for it addresses numerous divisive topics."
Click
here to read the full text of  "Can
Fear Arousal in Public Health Campaigns Contribute to the Decline of HIV
Prevalence?" By Edward C. Green and Kim Witte.
Prescriptions
Communication
is intended not just to enlighten and educate but also to
lead to action. These recommendations and "next steps"
are extracted from some of the articles in this issue of
the Journal of Health Communication. Click
on the title to read a short summary of the article.
-
Sensation
Seeking and Alcohol Use by College Students: Examining
Multiple Pathways of Effects
-- Itzhak Yanovitzky
Yanovitzky studied direct and indirect (mediated) effects
of sensation seeking on alcohol use by college students.
Based on the finding that much of the effect of sensation
seeking on alcohol use is mediated by associations of
high sensation seekers with alcohol using peers (overt
peer pressure) and their misperceptions regarding alcohol
use by peers (covert peer pressure) he recommends: Supplementing
efforts to reach high sensation seekers with persuasive
messages with structural interventions that seek to limit
opportunities for high sensation seekers to associate
with peers who engage in high-risk drinking and to facilitate
opportunities for these individuals to interact with peers
whose alcohol use is normative. Trying to correct misperceptions
about alcohol use by peers through well-designed public
health communication campaigns. Consider both direct and
mediated pathways of sensation seeking effects on risk-taking
behavior when designing future interventions.
-
Mediators
and Moderators of Magazine Advertisement Effects on Adolescent
Cigarette Smoking
-- Patricia A. Aloise-Young, Michael D. Slater, Courtney
C. Cruickshank
Authors studied examine the relation between magazine
advertising for cigarettes and adolescent cigarette smoking.
Findings of this and previous studies clearly demonstrate
that adolescents of all ages are frequently exposed to
cigarette advertising in the magazines they typically
read. This study provides new insight into mechanisms
by which such advertising may increase the likelihood
that adolescents will become cigarette smokers. There
is evidence to suggest that attention to cigarette advertising
may increase positive views of cigarette smokers, which
increases the likelihood of cigarette uptake among teens.
Moreover, exposure to cigarette advertising increases
the impact of the belief that many of a teen's peers are
smokers. Thus, the present study suggests that adolescent
exposure to cigarette advertising is an important issue
that should be addressed by policymakers and public health
officials.
-
Impact
of an Entertainment-Education Television Drama on Health
Knowledge and Behavior in Bangladesh: An Application of
Propensity Score Matching
-- Mai P. Do and D. Lawrence Kincaid
Do and Kincaid demonstrate the advantages of the propensity
score matching, in conjunction with structural equation
modeling, in the evaluation of full-coverage programs
that use the mass media. They applied the methods to evaluate
a television drama broadcast in Bangladesh to promote
health knowledge and behavior. Results of this evaluation
show that: The two statistical methods employed in this
study, propensity score matching and structural equation
modeling, provided an alternative approach to the evaluation
of full-coverage programs where the randomized experimental
design is not feasible. Propensity score matching provides
methods to rule out threats to internal validity that
normally characterize the one-group, after-only research
design, while offering high level of external validity
(generalizability) to the population of interest.
-
Quality
of Life: Questionnaires and Questions
-- Annabelle Mooney
Quality of life is a phrase often used in healthcare settings
at policy and administration levels, in clinical assessments
of therapies and in clinical management of individual
cases. While quality of life is a broad concept that covers
such areas as social, environmental, economic and health
satisfaction, health related quality of life (HRQL) is
less wide ranging, including mental and physical health
and their consequences. The communications limitations
of utility based measures, designed as cost-effectiveness
measures but often used as though they were HRQL instruments,
is discussed. For assessing the HRQL of individuals in
a health setting, such questionnaires can only provide
a starting point which should be supplemented with good
interaction and communication.
-
The
Health Buck Stops Where? Thematic Framing of Health
Discourse to Understand the Context for CVD Prevention
--Joan Wharf Higgins, P. J. Naylor, Tanya Berry,
Brian O'Connor, David McLean
Wharf Higgins et al. analyzed the content and thematic
frame of health issues in the media over a five year
period. From their research they concluded that: Health
promotion and disease prevention messages are the least
reported on, despite heart disease being the leading
cause of mortality, morbidity and health care costs.
Health care system issues that dominate media reporting
make it difficult for public health authorities to respond
to heart disease problems of their constituents. Media
frame health messages in thematic rather than episodic
ways revealing a societal responsibility for health
consistent with the universality of the Canadian health
care system. Because media do frame health stories thematically,
they may be responsive to media advocacy strategies
which highlight a social change perspective. With the
use of media advocacy strategies, public health staff
may be able to increase the coverage of promotion and
prevention messages.
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Related
Articles
Book
Review
A Review of: "Communicating
Public Health Information Effectively: A Guide for Practitioners.":
Nelson, D., Brownson, R., Remington, P. and Parvanta, C. (Editors). (2002).
Washington, DC: American Public Health Association. ISBN: 0-87553-027-3
(Paperback, $33.95), 240 pages.
Reviewed by Renée
A. Botta, University of Denver, USA
At a time when many
public health campaigns fail to achieve their objectives, a guide that
bridges health communication and public health in an effort to help practitioners
learn why, how, and with whom to communicate is not only welcome but also
necessary. Communicating Public Health Information Effectively: A Guide
for Practitioners promises practical information to help practitioners
better understand nonscientific audiences and how to communicate with
them. According to the editors, ''The book is designed to be used primarily
as a primer to help those who need background information or guidance
when faced with specific communication situations'' (p. xvii).
Click
here to read the entire review
Supplement
Issue: The Health Information National Trends Survey: Research From the
Baseline
The decades surrounding the turn of the millennium will be remembered
as a time of extraordinary opportunity in cancer communication. In 1990,
the number of age-adjusted deaths due to cancer in the U.S. population
began a slow steady decline after a century of disparaging increase. Reasons
for this decline have been attributed to long-awaited successes in primary
prevention, especially related to tobacco, and early detection for cervical,
breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers, as well as advances in treatment.
This was also a time of unparalleled change in the cancer communication
environment. Scientific health discoveries escalated with the completion
of the Human Genome project in 2003, and penetration of the Internet made
health information available directly to consumers. To seize the opportunity
afforded by these changes, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) launched
the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Fielded for the
first time in 2003, the HINTS is a nationally representative, general
population survey of noninstitutionalized adults in the United States
18 years and older. This supplement contains a compilation of original
research conducted using the data generated by the first administration
of the HINTS telephone interviews. Covering topics in cancer knowledge,
cancer cognition, risk perception, and information seeking, the articles
represent an interdisciplinary view of cancer communication at the turn
of the millennium and offer insight into the road ahead.
Click
here to read the introductory article
(The Health Information National Trends Survey: Research From the Baseline,
Supplement 1 2006)
To order Volume
11, Supplement 1: The Health Information National Trends Survey: Research
From the Baseline at the special price of US$25/£16 click
here.
Coming
Soon to JHC
November 2006:
Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs highlights methodologies
for measuring the cost-effectiveness of health communication programs
and activities and to contribute to a growing evidence base by presenting
case studies in which cost-effectiveness analysis has been applied to
health communication activities.
Feedback and ideas for
content for this newsletter should be sent to Wendy Meltzer (iphwxm@gwumc.edu)
Visit
the brand new Routledge Communication Arena at
http://www.communicationarena.com/,
an online
resource for Communication academics, students and practitioners.
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