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Stay on top of the latest research and get practical information from our quarterly newsletter, make sure to register today Editor’s Note:       Recently we published a supplemental issue of the Journal of Health Communication: co-edited by Jane Bertrand of Johns Hopkins University and Paul Hutchinson of Tulane University, providing the latest evidence and expert analysis on cost-effectiveness of communication programs. Dr. Hutchinson suggests that an alternate title for this issue is ''Determining the Bang for the Buck.'' There is a considerable body of evidence supporting the effectiveness of communication programs in augmenting health, but only a very small subset of studies that have also examined whether these programs are cost-effective. Click here to read Jane Bertrand's introduction to the special issue. This issue should be of great interest to health communication specialists interested in designing the most effective programs on limited budgets, and researchers-evaluators interested in applying state-of-the-art methods for conducting cost-effectiveness analysis of communication programs for behavior change. Make sure to add a copy to your library. Scott C. Ratzan, MD, MPA Editor, Journal of Health Communication Vice President, Government Affairs, Europe Johnson & Johnson If you would like to receive future issues, you must REGISTER. Please 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. In addition to submission guidelines and other practical information, our website also has full-text access to all published editorials and abstracts archived from ten years of publication.  Table of Contents  Recent Articles in JHC Volume 11, Issue 7 Volume 11, Issue 8 Featured Book Review Call for Papers Acknowledgement

Recent Article in JHC:

Volume 11 Issue 7 (November 2006)
Click on the title to read a short summary of the article

• Pictures Worth a Thousand Words: Noncommercial Tobacco Content in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Press
  -- Elizabeth A. Smith, Naphtali Offen, and Ruth E. Malone
  Smith, Offen and Malone examined non-commercial imagery and text relating to tobacco and smoking in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual magazines and newspapers to explore whether normalization of tobacco use in the media might be a factor in the prevalence of tobacco use in the LGB community.
• Language, Literacy, and Communication Regarding Medication in an Anticoagulation Clinic: A Comparison of Verbal vs. Visual Assessment
  -- Dean Schillinger, Edward L. Machtinger, Frances Wang, et al.
  Schillinger, Machtinger, Wang, Palacios, Rodriguez and Bindman studied patients in an anticoagulation clinic to assess concordance between patient and clinician reports of warfarin regimens. The results of this study suggest that clinician-patient discordance regarding patients' warfarin regimen is common, but occurs less frequently when patients use a visual aid. Visual aids may improve the accuracy of medication assessment, especially for patients with communication barriers.
• Does MTV Reach an Appropriate Audience for HIV Prevention Messages? Evidence from MTV Viewership Data in Nepal and Brazil
  -- Cynthia Waszak Geary, Holly McClain Burke, Shailes Neupane, et al.
  Gearu, Burke, Neupane, Castelnau and Brown analyzed viewership data from baseline surveys conducted as part of an evaluation of the 2002 HIV prevention campaign to address questions about who MTV reaches. The pattern of results of this study suggests that MTV's audiences are indeed an appropriate audience for HIV-prevention messages. A large proportion are watching for social norm information and MTV's audiences talk to other people about what they see and hear, thus expanding its reach through social diffusion. Influencing MTV viewers could create a ripple effect throughout their age cohort.
• Promoting Organ Donation to Hispanics: The Role of the Media and Medicine
  -- Janice Frates, Gloria Garcia Bohrer, and David Thomas
  Frates, Bohrer and Thomas report the results of a media campaign to promote organ donation in the Hispanic community. Hispanics were generally familiar with and favorable to the concept of organ donation; however, they were reluctant to make a personal decision to become an organ donor, to sign an organ donor card and to communicate that decision to their families. These findings indicate a need for continuing public education and more patient education by health professionals for Hispanics.
• Operation Storefront Hawaii: Tobacco Advertising and Promotion in Hawaii Stores
  -- Karen Glanz, Nicole M. Sutton, and Kimberly R. Jacob Arriola
  Glanz, Sutton, and Arriola explored characteristics of retail promotions for tobacco products across the state of Hawaii. The authors observe that the most heavily advertised brand is also the most heavily smoked brand among youth in Hawaii. This study underscores the high visibility of retail store advertising and promotions (both indoor and outdoor) in places that attract the attention of youth, even in an era of increased tobacco advertising restrictions.
  

• Talk is Cheap: The Tobacco Companies' Violations of Their Own Cigarette Advertising Code.
  Jeffrey Jensen Arnett (Volume 10, Number 5/July-August 2005)
• Advancing the Role of Participatory Communication in the Diffusion of Cancer Screening among Hispanics.
  Amelie G. Ramirez, Roberto Villarreal, Alfred Mcalister, et al. (Volume 4, Number 1/March 1, 1999)
• Association of Point-of-Purchase Tobacco Advertising and Promotions with Choice of Usual Brand among Teenage Smokers.
  Melanie A. Wakefield, Erin E. Ruel, Frank J. Chaloupka, et al. (Volume 7, Number 2/March 01, 2002)

• Understanding Consumers' Health Information Preferences: Development and Validation of a Brief Screening Instrument
  -- Edward W. Maibach, Deanne Weber, Holly Massett, Gregory R. Hancock, and Simani Price
  Maibach, Weber, Massett, et al. studied health information seeking and use, decision-making, and behaviors among a cross-section of the American adult population. In a segmentation analysis of the U.S adult population they identified four segments of the adult population that vary significantly with regard to health information preferences based on their degree of engagement in health enhancement, and their degree of independence in health decision making. The purpose of this article is to describe the segments, the screening instrument, and to present initial tests of its validity. FULL TEXT FREE!
• Explaining the Increase in Condom Use Among South African Young Females
  -- Itamar Katz
  Katz explored the influence of various information sources about AIDS upon the use of condoms among rural and urban South African young females, using the South Africa Demographic Health Survey of 1998 (1998 SADHS), while controlling for various socioeconomic and cultural parameters. The results from the article indicate that three elements influenced the increase in condom use among females: the threat of AIDS, mass media and receptiveness to condom use.
• "Live and Let Live": An Analysis of HIV-AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination in International Campaign Posters
  -- Leanne Johnny and Claudia Mitchell
  Using a visual studies approach to textual analysis, Johnny and Mitchell explore the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions that exist within the World AIDS Campaign posters and provide a method for evaluating such materials.
• Changing Smoking Attitudes by Strengthening Weak Antismoking Beliefs-Taiwan as an Example
  -- Chingching Chang
  Chang conducted a survey and two experiments to explore the effectiveness of different anti-smoking messages.

• Going Beyond Exposure to Local News Media: An Information-Processing Examination of Public Perceptions of Food Safety
  -- Kenneth Fleming, Esther Thorson, and Yuyan Zhang
  Fleming, Thorson, and Zhang tested a cognitive mediation model to better understand the relationship between local news media and public concerns about food safety. The results show that information-processing strategies substantially mediated the relationship between local news media and public perceptions of food safety, with elaborative processing being more influential than active reflection in people's learning from the news media. Attention to local television had an independent effect. Other important predictors included: gender, education, ethnicity, and perceived safety of local food supply.
  

Related Articles

• Impact of Emotional Stability and Attitude on Consumption Decisions Under Risk: The Coca-Cola Crisis in Belgium.
  Wim Verbeke and Patrick Van Kenhove (Volume 7, Number 5 / October 01, 2002)
• Receptivity to Protobacco Media and Its Impact on Cigarette Smoking Among Ethnic Minority Youth in California.
  Xinguang Chen, Tess Boley Cruz, Darleen V. Schuster, et al. (Volume 7, Number 2/March 01, 2002)

Reviewed By Ashley Duggan, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
Click here to read the entire review

Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing is a student-edited publication. All submissions will be first-authored by a graduate student of advanced standing, and will include one or more of the practitioners who planned or implemented the program being described, and one of the lead author's faculty members. The most highly scored case in each volume will be awarded a medal of distinction and a $1,000 cash prize. An additional award will be offered for the best case focused on advancing the well-being of older adults. We are currently seeking submissions for our first edition; the deadline for submission is February 1, 2007. Please see http://www.casesjournal.org for more information.

Acknowledgement

The Journal of Health Communication would like to thank our reviewers for their contributions to the quality of the Journal. The reviewers' expertise has helped to advance the impact of our publications to the field of health communication. Click here for a list of 2006 reviewers.

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