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Editor’s Note:
The Journal is proud that 2006 marks our 10th year of publication. We have prepared a special anniversary issue, to be published in February, examining the past decade in health communication. We called upon up-and-coming scholars in the field to review five major areas of health communication. The issue is guest edited by Tim Edgar and Vicki Freimuth and we expect this to be a much-cited resource for all health communication scholars. Findings were presented in a panel at the recent NCA conference in Boston. To listen to a podcast of the panel click here. Happy New Year to all and thank you for your support of the Journal over the past years.
Scott
C. Ratzan, MD, MPA
Editor,
Journal of Health Communication
Vice
President, Government Affairs, Europe
Johnson
& Johnson
Please REGISTER and feel free to forward this to your colleagues and other health communicators. All previous e-newsletters can be viewed on our website http://www.journalofhealthcommunication.com
. If you would like to receive future issues, you must REGISTER. In addition to submission guidelines and other practical information, our website also has full-text access to all published editorials and abstracts archived from nine years of publication.
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Table
of Contents
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Volume 10 Supplement 1 (November 2005)
Mary Anne Bright guest edited a special issue titled, "The National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service: A New Generation of Service and Research to the Nation." The articles in this issue describe communication studies that test tailoring of materials, pilot projects that attempt to reduce the digital divide, and studies that increase our understanding of information-seeking behaviors and preferences. Click here to read the introduction. The supplement can be purchased at the publisher's website.
Volume 10, Issue 7 (October-November 2005)
Prescriptions
Communication
is intended not just to enlighten and educate but
also to lead to action. These recommendations and
“next steps” are extracted from the articles
in this issue of the Journal of Health Communication.
Click
on the title to read a short summary of the article.
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Portrayal of Childhood Cancer in English Language Magazines in North America: 1970-2001
---Juanne Clarke
Understanding the meanings of disease in media messages is important because there are links between media portrayal and the experiences and self-perceptions of those with various diseases. In magazine stories children with cancer are described in highly positive ways. They are more likely than actual incidence figures indicate, to be white, female and to suffer from rare types of cancer. They are portrayed as heroic and extraordinarily attractive. Possible links between these positive portrayals and the documentation of negative stigma amongst children with cancer are discussed.
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Comprehension of Information in Three Direct-to-Consumer Television Prescription Drug Advertisements Among Adults With Limited Literacy
--- Kimberly A. Kaphingst, Rima E. Rudd, William DeJong, Lawren H. Daltroy.
Researchers examined comprehension of three direct-to-consumer television prescription drug advertisements among a sample of adults with limited literacy. Additional studies are needed to systematically examine comprehension of risk information compared to benefits information, with a focus on the specific features of risk presentations that affect learning. Additional studies are needed that employ a wider range of direct-to-consumer advertisements and that examine comprehension across advertisement types.
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Personal Values, Advertising, and Smoking Motivation in Taiwanese Adolescents
---ChingChing Chang
Smoking prevalence is disproportionately high in East Asia, and therefore represents a significant social problem. This study investigated the role personal values play in motivating Taiwanese high school students to smoke. Findings suggest that cigarette advertising may feature hedonic gratification values in order to attract adolescents who hold these values. Exposure to ads may implant the message that smoking is an effective way to express such values, thus motivating them to smoke.
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Assessing the Validity of Confirmed Ad Recall Measures for Public Health Communication Campaign Evaluation
--Jeff Niederdeppe
This article compares the validity of two approaches to measuring campaign exposure using repeated, cross-sectional surveys of teens in the context of the Florida "truth" tobacco countermarketing campaign. Some findings were that both aided and confirmed ad recall measures appear to be valid measures of public health communication campaign exposure. There is only limited evidence to support the contention that confirmed ad recall measures provide more valid measures of exposure than aided ad recall. Evaluators who have to make measurement decisions related to campaign exposure should carefully weigh the relative tradeoff between the space and time requirements of the confirmed ad recall approach and potentially limited increases in construct validity provided by confirmation.
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Literacy and Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior About Colorectal Cancer Screening
--Carmen E. Guerra, Francisco Dominguez, Judy A. Shea
This cross sectional survey explored the association between functional health literacy and knowledge of, beliefs and attitudes about, and reported usage of colorectal cancer screening tests. Results indicate that functional health literacyis not an independent predictor of colorectal cancer screening knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or behavior. However, Latino ethnicity and education often predicted screening responses suggesting that efforts to improve communication about colorectal cancer screening with Latino patients and patients with low education are clearly needed to reduce the disparities in awareness and utilization of colorectal cancer screening tests.
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Combating Syphilis and HIV Among Users of Internet Chatrooms
--John P. Anderton and Ronald O. Valdiserri
"
Anderton and Valdiserri review lessons learned from starting an online banner advertising effort between an Internet Service Provider and a federal agency. They recommend that frequent communications between the two parties are necessary to resolve the many issues around online advertising metrics, evaluation, display of information and public health needs. Understanding how online advertising differs from radio and TV is key to getting the desired exposure to messages, and in generating referrals to other websites in Internet social marketing. More research is needed in this form of public health intervention. Evaluation of reach, frequency, consumer interest, content, and behavioral intent, will further demonstrate the benefits of online advertising in achieving public health goals.
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Related Articles
- Colon Cancer: Risk Perceptions and Risk Communication. Neil D. Weinstein, Kathy Atwood, Elaine Puleo, Robert Fletcher, Graham Colditz, Karen M. Emmons (Volume 9, Issue 1 pp. 53 - 65)
- Receptivity to Protobacco Media and Its Impact on Cigarette Smoking Among Ethnic Minority Youth in California. Xinguang Chen, Tess Boley Cruz, Darleen V. Schuster, Jennifer B. Unger, Carl Anderson Johnson (Volume 7, Number 2 pp. 95 - 111) Full
text available
Volume
10 Issue 8 (December 2005)
The Application of Youth Substance Use Media Campaigns to Problem Gambling: A Critical Evaluation
---Andrea M. Byrne, Laurie Dickson, Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Rina Gupta, Isabelle Lussier
The authors review the literature on substance use prevention media campaigns and conclude that messages emphasizing the negative health effects of substance use as well as denormalization messages may be two promising avenues for youth problem gambling prevention. Other media campaigns targeting drug, alcohol, and tobacco use among youth have successfully employed messages emphasizing the negative health effects of substance use as well as denormalization messages, both of which may be promising avenues for the prevention of youth problem gambling. Future media campaigns targeting youth problem gambling must be informed by empirical data in order to ascertain which messages are most salient to youth. From a public health policy perspective, there is an urgent need to develop effective social marketing campaigns to help minimize youth gambling problems
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Parent Ads in the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign
---Michael T. Stephenson and Brian L. Quick Full text available
Stephenson and Quick studied the print ads targeting parents of adolescents in the National Anti-Drug Youth Media Campaign. They offer the following recommendations: Print ads for parents largely addressed marijuana use by their adolescent children, however, ads addressing inhalant use were far less common yet deserve attention. Health communication research should develop and test the effectiveness of ads encouraging parents to engage in family activities or limit setting practices with their adolescent children. These types of ads should feature marijuana or inhalant use by younger and older adolescents. Ads for parents addressing marijuana use by their adolescent children were largely associated with a risk theme or else encouraged parents to talk with their children. However, the question remains whether these types of ads can be effective, or whether similar ads encouraging parents to monitor, set limits, or engage in family activities would be more likely to influence parents of adolescents.
- Factors Affecting Trust in On-line Prescription Drug Information and Impact of Trust on Behavior Following Exposure to DTC Advertising
--Jisu Huh, Denise E. DeLorme, Leonard N. Reid
Huh, DeLorme, and Reid examined consumers' perceptions of the trustworthiness of online prescription drug information, and the impact of trust in online drug information on ad-promoted behavior. Consumers generally accept online drug information to some extent, although the level of trust is not high. This finding suggests that pharmaceutical companies continue using the Internet to communicate with various target audiences. Prescription drug marketers who are looking to enhance consumer receptiveness to their online efforts may be well advised to place more emphasis on information-oriented traditional media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, direct mail) than entertainment-oriented traditional media (e.g., television) in their integrated communication campaigns. Along with Internet-based efforts, prescription drug campaigns should consider using direct mail, magazine advertising, and radio advertising for messages aimed at older audiences and direct mail, magazine advertising, and newspaper advertising for messages directed to younger audiences.
- Designing and Implementing E-health Applications in the UK's National Health Service
--D. Jane Bower, Nessa Barry, Margaret Reid, John Norrie
Bower, Barry, Reid and Norrie studied the process of designing and implementing the introduction of four Telemedicine applications into routine service in the UK's National Health Service in Scotland. The identified the following key needs: A project manager with time dedicated to the implementation project, who understood the hierarchical position of staff involved and could communicate well with them; at least one strong clinical champion, preferably at the lead site for the application; a good relationship between the project team and internal and external IT providers. An understanding of the systemic impact of the innovation on the healthcare processes into which it was to be embedded - where disruption occurred, staff directly affected had to have a clear perception of the advantages of the innovation. The longer term impacts could not be predicted - users were already beginning to develop the applications further and to find additional ways of using their capabilities.
- Gene Cuisine or Frankenfood? The Theory of Reasoned Action as an Audience Segmentation Strategy for Messages About Genetically Modified Foods
---Kami J. Silk, Judith Weiner, Roxanne L. Parrott
Silk, Parrott, and Dillow used a cluster analytic technique to segment audiences based on their attitudes and subjective norms about GM foods. From their research the following conclusions can be drawn: Theoretically-driven cluster analytic techniques can be useful for audience segmentation purposes. Message designers should consider that decisions about GM foods are not based completely on scientific evidence, but also on risk assessments based within an individual's field of experience and subjective perceptions. Simply supplying information about GM foods in a generic fashion is not an effective strategy for communicating about perceived benefits and perceived risks. Message designers should not necessarily dismiss small audience segments like the anti-biotech group because smaller segments as they might be a critical audience to impact.
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Targeting Adolescents? The Content and Frequency of Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Beverage Ads in Magazine and Video Formats November 1999-April 2000
--Erica Weintraub Austin and Stacey J.T. Hust
Austin and Hust make these recommendations from their research: Content analyses should include both manifest and latent content to provide the depth of analysis necessary to discover subtleties and nuances in meaning that have the potential for effects. Policies requiring moderation messages may need strengthening, because messages currently are easy to miss or ignore. Pressure for social responsibility in advertising needs to address subtle but potentially powerful strategies, such as product placement in venues emphasizing sports or sex. This, in combination with the consistent portrayals of sexual stereotyping, sexual innuendos and the infrequent portrayals of drinking in its most safe environment suggests that many risky juxtapositions exist in alcohol advertising. It is necessary to determine the extent to which young people assess the content of magazine and video advertisements in ways consistent with or different from trained coders. Effects on young people are determined by what they perceive.
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Related Articles
Book
Review
A review of: "Handbook of Communication and Aging Research" (2nd ed.) Jon Nussbaum and Justine Coupland (Editors). (2004). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Reviewed by Nichole Egbert.
In the second edition of Handbook of Communication and Aging Research, Jon Nussbaum and Justine Coupland have compiled expert summaries of some of the foremost research areas in communication and aging. Throughout 22 chapters, an international and interdisciplinary slate of contributing authors provides readers with an expansive portrait of communication issues in later life. This volume follows the first Handbook of Communication and Aging Research, published in 1995, with new and updated chapters reflecting the changing communication environment of the last decade. From the theoretical to the pragmatic, the handbook presents a lifespan approach to communication issues, thereby providing a missing developmental perspective that is relevant to the study of human communication in every context.
Click
here to read the entire review
Coming Soon to JHC
- Web Chatter Before and After the Women's Health Initiative Results: A Content Analysis of Online Menopause Message Boards (March 2006)
- Formats for Improving Risk Communication in Medical Trade-off Decisions (March 2006)
- Supplement Issue: Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Health Communication Programs (August 2006)
News and Notes From Other Sources
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The Department of Health and Human Services is celebrating the 20th year of the establishment of the Office of Minority Health. In celebration of this milestone, the National Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, will be held from Monday, January 9, through Wednesday, January 11, 2006, and will include sessions which highlight progress, challenges, and opportunities for improving minority health and addressing health disparities since the release of the 1985 "Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health." A commemorative event will be held as part of the Summit on Tuesday, January 10, 2006. Registration is available online at http://www.omhsummit2006.org/register.htm
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Join the listserv for The National Cancer Institute's four Centers of Excellence in Cancer Communications Research (CECCR). The $40 million CECCR initiative is the centerpiece of NCI's Extraordinary Opportunity in Cancer Communications (EOCC), an initiative that supports research and outreach aimed at increasing the knowledge about, tools for, access to, and use of cancer communications by the public, patients, survivors, and health professionals. To sign up for the listserv visit http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/hcirb/ceccr/
Apply for the Health Policy Fellowship, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and AcademyHealth. This opportunity brings visiting scholars in health services research-related disciplines to NCHS to collaborate on studies of interest to policymakers and the health services research community using NCHS data systems. Applications are welcomed from doctoral students through senior researchers/faculty. Doctoral students must have completed course work and be at the dissertation phase of their programs. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Applications are accepted until January 9, 2006. More information at http://www.academyhealth.org/fellowships/
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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