ABSTRACTS

Volume 12, Number 3
April 2007

Vol. 12, Number 3: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

Trust Influences Response to Public Health Messages During a Bioterrorist Event
    Authors: Lisa S. Meredith a; David P. Eisenman ab; Hilary Rhodes c; Gery Ryan a; Anna Long d

a RAND Corporation. Santa Monica, California. USA
b UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine. Los Angeles, California. USA
c University of Pennsylvania, Center for High Impact Philanthropy. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. USA
d Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Los Angeles, California. USA

This study builds on recent work describing African Americans' low trust in public health regarding terrorism preparedness by identifying the specific components of trust (fiduciary responsibility, honesty, competency, consistency, faith) that may influence community response to a bioterrorist attack. We used qualitative analysis of data from 75 African American adults living in Los Angeles County who participated in focus group discussions. Groups were stratified by socioeconomic status (SES; up to vs. above 200% of federal poverty guidelines) and age (18-39 years old vs. 40-65 years old). Discussions elicited reactions to information presented in escalating stages of a bioterrorism scenario. The scenario mimicked the events and public health decisions that might occur under such a scenario. Honesty and consistency of information from public health officials were the components most frequently identified as determining trust or distrust. Patterns of trust varied according to the scenario stage; honesty was most important upon initially hearing of a public health crisis, whereas fiduciary responsibility and consistency were important upon confirmation of a smallpox outbreak and the ensuing public health response. Findings can help public health officials design communications that address distrust and enhance trust during a bioterrorist event.

Media Depictions of Health Topics: Challenge and Stigma Formats
   Author: Rachel Smith a

a Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas. Austin, Texas. USA

This article explored the notion that media depictions of health concerns come in one of two formats: challenge and stigma. After explicating the five features that should appear in challenge format and the seven features of stigma formats, we analyzed the content of health messages in magazines, brochures, and posters (n = 75) in a metropolitan area. The results of a two-factor confirmatory factor model showed that the five suggested features for challenge formats did, indeed, appear together (alpha = .76), and the seven features for stigma formats, also, appeared together (alpha = .90), and showed no residual relationship. In other words, the results suggest that media depictions of health topics appear in either challenge or stigma formats (r = - .87). Health issues appearing in magazine advertisements and articles presented messages in challenge formats, while brochures and posters from largely nonprofit and government groups depicted health issues in stigma formats. Some health topics appeared most often in challenge formats (including cancer, heart disease, and scoliosis), while others appeared in stigma formats (including tuberculosis, hepatitis, smoking, and sexually transmitted diseases [STDs]). Findings suggest that media depictions of health differ, and the implications of stigma and challenge formats are discussed.

Protecting Children from Myopia: A PMT Perspective for Improving Health Marketing Communications
    Authors: May O. Lwin a; Seang-Mei Saw b

a Division of Public and Promotional Communication, School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. Singapore
b Occupational and Family Medicine, National University of Singapore.

This research examined the predictive utility of the protection motivation theory (PMT) model for myopia prevention amongst children. An integrative model for myopia prevention behavior of parents was first developed in the context of theory and survey instruments then refined using information gathered from two focus groups. Empirical data then was collected from parents of primary school children in Singapore, a country with one of the highest rates of myopia in the world, and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our findings revealed that coping appraisal variables were more significantly associated with protection motivation, relative to threat appraisal variables. In particular, perceived self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of parental intention to enforce good visual health behaviors, while perceived severity was relatively weak. Health marketing communications and public policy implications are discussed.

Local Media Monitoring in Process Evaluation. Experiences From the Stockholm Diabetes Prevention Programme
    Authors: Camilla Maria Andersson ab; Gunilla Bjärås b; Per Tillgren bc; Claes-Göran Östenson ad

a Diabetes Prevention Unit, Karolinska University Hospital. Stockholm. Sweden
b Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. Stockholm. Sweden
c Department of Care and Public Health, Mälardalen University. Västerås. Sweden
d Department of Molecular Medicine, Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Karolinska Institutet. Stockholm. Sweden

We present a rationale and approach for longitudinal analyses of media coverage and content, and illustrate how media monitoring can be used in process evaluations. Within a community-based diabetes prevention project, the Stockholm Diabetes Prevention Program, we analyzed the frequency, prominence, and framing of physical activity in local newspapers of three intervention and two control municipalities. In total, 2,128 stories and advertisements related to physical activity were identified between the years 1997 and 2002. Although stories about physical activity were relatively few (n = 224), they were prominently located in all five local newspapers. Physical activity was framed rather similarly in the municipalities. Health aspects, however, were expressed to a greater extent in stories in two of the intervention municipalities. A limited portion (14%) of the articles could be linked directly to the program. It is not possible to assess to what extent the program has had a disseminating effect on the newspapers' health-related content in general, due to weaknesses of the process tracking system and limitations of the study design. Implications for the design is that an evaluative framework should be preplanned and include data collection about media relationships, media's interest in public health, media coverage prior to the program and coverage in other media for comparisons of general trends in the reporting. The material and the current database, however, provide a good basis for quantitative content analysis and qualitative discourse analysis to yield information on the type, frequency, and content of health reporting in local newspapers.

Understanding Health Inequalities for Uninsured Americans: A Population-wide Survey
     Authors: Pauline Hope Cheong a; Thomas Hugh Feeley a; Timothy Servoss a

a University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Buffalo, New York. USA

Numbers of the uninsured in America have risen in the past few years to more than 40 million people, yet relatively little is known about their health communication behaviors. Data from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) were used to analyze the relationship among demographics, health status, health insurance status, online health seeking, and amount of attention paid to various media for health. A random sample of 6,369 Americans indicated several statistically significant differences between the insured and uninsured: the uninsured were more likely younger, less educated, and Hispanic. Findings also indicated that those without health insurance reported being less healthy and more distressed and hold a greater risk perception for cancer, compared with their insured counterparts. Health insurance, when controlling for demographics and health status, explained a statistically significant but small amount of variance in both online health seeking and attention to health messages in various other media.

Book Reviews

Campbell, Catherine. (2003). Letting Them Die: Why HIV/AIDS Prevention Programmes Fail - (African Issues)
A Review of: "Oxford: The International African Institute/James Curry.
Ian Lubek

Verma, Ravi K., Pelto, Pretti J., Schensul, Stephen L., Joshi, Archana. (Eds.). (2004). Sexuality in the time of AIDS: Contemporary perspectives from communities in India
A Review of: "New Delhi, India: Sage.
Claudia Ladeira McCalman