Vol. 2, Num 1: Contents | Editorial | Up Front | Abstracts

This article examines the immediate and delayed effects of media literacy training on third-grade children's perceptions of alcohol advertising, alcohol norms, expectancies for drinking, and behaviors toward alcohol. A Solomon four-group style experiment (N=225) with two levels of the treatment factor assessed the effectiveness of in-school media literacy training for alcohol. The experiment compared a treatment that included the viewing of a videotape about television advertising along with the viewing of video clips of alcohol ads and discussion pertaining to alcohol advertising specifically versus one that included the viewing of the same general purpose media literacy videotape along with video clips of non-alcohol advertising and then discussion of advertising in general. The treatment had both immediate and delayed effects. Immediate effects included the children's increased understanding of persuasive intent, viewing of characters as less similar to people they knew in real life and less desirable, decreased desire to be like the characters, decreased likelihood to choose an alcohol-related product. Indirect effects also were found on their perceptions of television's realism and their views of social norms related to alcohol. Delayed effects were examined and confirmed on expectancies and behavior. The treatment was more effective when alcohol-specific, and it also was more effective among girls than boys.

Toward a Symmetrical and an Integrated Framework of Normsfor Nutrition Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa
     C.B. Pratt, I. Silva-Barbeau, & C.A. Pratt

Nutrition is crucial to national development; an undernourished or a malnourished population is at risk for infectious disease that may reduce its working and productive capacities. Sub-Saharan Africa leads in world in the proportion of its population that is chronically malnourished. This article presents a symmetrical and an integrated framework of norms for nutrition communication. It used three nutrition communication projects in Africa to illustrate the application of those norms. Based on that review, it concludes that a community-based framework should emphasize at the outset -- and throughout program implementation and evaluation -- the importance of folk media (e.g., Africa's "oramedia") as both formative and summative norms for planning, implementing, and evaluating nutrition communication programs in Africa.

FORUM

Response to The Public Dissemination of Medical Research:Problems and Solutions
     S. Lenier and M.L.J. Apuzzo

The Tooth Extractor
    R.M. Hodes

What Did You Say You Do?Health Communicators and Where We Fit In
    E. Clift

Mad Cows and Englishment
    I. Wylie

This article examines the unfolding crisis in the beef industry during the first few days of the story becoming public, and examines the response of the British government to the crisis. It looks at the reasons why, despite prompt action by government ministers, the issue became one of massive loss of public confidence, and it draws general lessons from the beef crisis for modern health communication practice. The article argues that governments will fail to keep public confidence in public health issues unless they allow the public to judge issues on all available facts, and act in response to public judgements.

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