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Editor’s Note:

     Many Americans believe their health system is the best in the world, but the World Health Organization rankings in 2000 placed the United States at thirty-seventh. The health issue is becoming higher profile. However, without a comprehensive review and reform, the system as we know it will not deliver the quality health care we endeavor. One such process that can offer opportunity is the renewed effort to set goals and national health objectives for American's health that can provide the basis for coordinated public health action on the national, state, and local levels. ''Healthy People 2010,'' has involved partners from many different backgrounds. Some of the current health communication work is recognized as a chapter dedicated to the applied aspects of the field. Communication should not be relegated to certain areas, however, but should be integrated in all of our health activities. In the future, health communicators can develop a central role in health. If we are able to improve communication, adding an evidence-informed approach for our policymakers, and an evidence-and ethically-based approach for each of us to make health decisions as health competent consumers, we all will be one step closer to improving health care at all levels in the plight for the goal of a healthier tomorrow.

Read more in my recent editorial.

Scott C. Ratzan, MD, MPA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Health Communication

Vice President, Government Affairs, Europe

Johnson & Johnson

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Table of Contents 

• Recent Articles in JHC
  • Volume 12, Issue 3
  • Volume 12, Issue 4
• Featured Book Review
• Meetings and Other Announcements

Recent Article in JHC:

Volume 12 Issue 3 (April-May 2007)
Click on the title to read a short summary of the article

• Trust Influences Response to Public Health Messages During a Bioterrorist Event
  --Lisa S. Meredith; David P. Eisenman; Hilary Rhodes; Gery Ryan; and Anna Long
  Meredith, Eisenman, Rhodes, Ryan, and Long investigated the influence of specific aspects of trust on African Americans' responses to public health messages during a bioterrorist event. For building trust in risk communications with the African American community they recommend that social marketing approaches, such as audience segmentation, may be useful for tailoring information to specific populations to promote community health and safety. Consistent with the risk communication literature, honesty and consistency of information across multiple sources are essential to guarantee compliance with recommended response procedures. Public health messages should use "credible" sources in all written and oral communications. Local officials should demonstrate sincerity either through eye contact, providing evidence that they may be putting themselves at risk to help the public, and fully disclosing all information that would enable the public to make informed decisions. It is important to involve the public early on in the communication process as a legitimate partner using active forms of communication.
• Media Depictions of Health Topics: Challenge and Stigma Formats
  --Rachel Smith
  Smith and Miller investigated how media messages about stigmatized health issues differ systematically from messages about challenging (but not stigmatized) health issues. They recommend that public health campaign planners and researchers should identify through content analysis of the stigma and/or challenge cues used in descriptions of health issues. Contradictory depictions of health topics may appear. For example, a magazine may cover lung cancer, due to smoking, in a stigma format, and present a lung cancer advertisement appearing in a challenge format. The two messages may provide conflicting feedback on how readers may think about lung cancer and associate it with either cancer challenges or smoking stigmas. Investigation of the effects of health issues depicted as in stigma or challenge format on health knowledge, attitudes, information seeking, and dissemination is needed."
• Protecting Children from Myopia: A PMT Perspective for Improving Health Marketing Communications
  --May O. Lwin and Seang-Mei Saw
  This research examined the predictive utility of the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) model for myopia prevention amongst children. Empirical data 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). 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. Results supported the PMT model's ability to predict protection motivation among parents. Social marketing campaigns and health intervention programs to promote myopia prevention can be designed or evaluated based on the proposed model. The results indicate that the PMT framework can be used to help understand protection motivation of parents against myopia, as well as aid in the development of effective communication themes.
• Local Media Monitoring in Process Evaluation. Experiences From the Stockholm Diabetes Prevention Programme
  --Camilla Maria Andersson; Gunilla Bjärås; Per Tillgren; and Claes-Göran Östenson
  The authors analyzed media coverage related to physical activity in five local newspapers. The aim was to determine general patterns in the reporting of physical activity and potential influences and dissemination of public health information due to the presence and collaborative efforts of a prevention program. The authors found that the media have a central position among interest groups as an information channel but also due to their ability to create, shape and reflect issues of public concerns. Monitoring local newspapers is highly relevant since they are close to the local context and may serve as a forum for the public and community leaders. Media monitoring may be a valuable method to strengthen process evaluations in describing local processes, program exposure and dissemination. Content analysis is a valuable method to identify characteristics of the media coverage and predominant frames in the content.
• Understanding Health Inequalities for Uninsured Americans: A Population-wide Survey
  --Pauline Hope Cheong; Thomas Hugh Feeley; and Timothy Servoss
  Employing an ecological perspective of health behavior, this research examines factors associated with medical health insurance status and, in turn, how health insurance status is associated with access to health care and health information. Data from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) was used to analyze the relationship between 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, more distressed and hold a greater risk perception for cancer, compared with their insured counterparts. Health insurance explained a statistically significant but small amount of variance in both online health seeking and attention to health messages in various other media.
  

• Communicating in Times of Uncertainty: The Need for Trust. David A. Shore, Vol. 8, No. 3, Supplement 1; June 2003; pages 13 - 14. FULL TEXT
• Defining Moments in Risk Communication Research: 1996-2005. Katherine A. McComas; January 2006; Vol. 11, No. 1; pages 75 - 91.
• The "Choose With Care System" - Development of Education Materials to Support Informed Medicare Health Plan Choices. Lauren D. Harris-Kojetin; Jennifer D. Uhrig; Peyton Williams; Carla Bann; Elizabeth M. Frentzel; Lauren McCormack; Nancy Mitchell; Nathan West; March 2007; Vol. 12, No. 2; pages 133 - 156.
  

• Health Communication in Multilingual Contexts: A Study of Reading Preferences, Practices, and Proficiencies Among Literate Adults in Zambia
  --Carol Underwood; Elizabeth Serlemitsos; Mubiana Macwangi
  Underwood, Serlemitsos, and Macwangi compared Zambian-language and English-language reading comprehension of literate adults in Zambia. Based on their findings they recommend that all written health materials should be produced in English given that the majority of literate Zambians are able to comprehend English-language materials. Results suggest that reading comprehension would be enhanced if print materials were written at or near a grade-4 readability level, whether in English or in a Zambian language. Local-language radio programming, community gatherings, and social networks mobilized for health should be tapped to reinforce and amplify health information and guidelines disseminated via the printed word. Future research should examine how language-specific affective factors influence what readers remember, whether the content resonates with their experiences, and how it is related to health-promoting actions.
• Consent and Counter-Mobilization: The Case of The National Smokers Alliance
  --Michael Givel
  Givel reviews the tobacco industry and public relations-created national front group known as the National Smokers Alliance, which operated from 1994 to 1999. He concludes that tobacco industry created front groups established with the intent of significantly shaping public opinion and influencing public officials to adopt pro-tobacco policies can be effectively countered in future campaigns. Past effective traditional political advocacy and education mobilization practices by health advocates with effective campaign messages have included a combination of astute insider lobbying with effective outsider strategies, such as community forums or public rallies. Mobilizations by health advocates with effective campaign messages must occur not only during election campaigns, but in an appropriate ongoing basis between elections in order to apply increased pressure, when needed, on decision makers.

• Talking about Obesity: News Framing of Who Is Responsible for Causing and Fixing the Problem
  --Sei-Hill Kim and L. Anne Willis
  The authors analyzed newspaper articles and television news to explore how American news media have framed the issue of obesity. They analyzed the way the media present the question of who is responsible for causing and fixing the problem. Our data reveal that over the last ten years, mentions of personal causes and solutions have significantly outnumbered societal attributions of responsibility. Recently, however, a balance was established between individualistic and societal attributions of responsibility. Mentions of societal causes and solutions have increased considerably, whereas decreasing numbers of personal solutions have appeared in the media. Future research needs to examine whether news framing affects the way the audience perceives who causes obesity and how to solve the problem.

• Thinking About "Think Again" in Canada: Assessing a Social Marketing HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaign
  --Anthony P. Lombardo and Yves A. Léger
  Lombardo and Léger assessed a Canadian HIV/AIDS prevention campaign as a social marketing initiative to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, as a learning tool for similar future campaigns. Some lessons learned were that formative research continues to be of utmost importance, especially when existing campaigns are adopted and adapted for new audiences. Campaign messages must be unambiguous and support must be provided for all of the behaviors being promoted. Theoretical influence is particularly important for campaign message design, but also to direct formative research and evaluation. The Internet is a powerful tool for health communication, especially for targeting and tailoring messages. It should not be overlooked when designing health campaigns, especially where the target audience comprises Internet users.

• A Classroom-Administered Simulation of a Television Campaign on Adolescent Smoking: Testing an Activation Model of Information Exposure
  --Donald W. Helme; Robert Lewis Donohew; Monika Baier; and Linda Zittleman
  This article reports research from a study applying an Activation Model of Information Exposure (AIME) and a Sensation-seeking Targeting Approach (or SENTAR) coming out of the model to the design of a simulated television smoking prevention campaign targeting adolescents. The authors found that AIME and SENTAR approaches can be used to aid in the reduction of adolescent attitudes and intentions to use tobacco through development and targeting of anti-tobacco PSAs that can attract and hold the attention of high sensation-seekers. AIME and SENTAR are not theories of persuasion - they are designed to aid in attracting and holding the attention of high sensation-seekers so that a persuasive message can successfully be delivered. Researchers wishing to conduct media-based studies on adolescents' attitudes & intentions to use tobacco should be mindful that students are already receiving many anti-tobacco messages from the school and community and these competing messages may impact the effects of their intervention. FULL TEXT

Related Articles

• Learning from Truth: Youth Participation in Field Marketing Techniques to Counter Tobacco Advertising. Merrill Eisenberg; Chris Ringwalt; David Driscoll; Manuel Vallee; Gregory Gullette; January 2004; Vol. 9, No. 3; pages 223 - 231.
• Talk is Cheap: The Tobacco Companies' Violations of Their Own Cigarette Advertising Code. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett; July 2005; Vol. 10, No. 5; pages 419 - 431.
• Advertising and Obesity: A Behavioral Perspective. Janet Hoek, Philip Gendall; June 2006; Vol. 11, No. 4; pages 409 - 423.
  

Featured Book Review

A Review of: L. C. Lederman & L. P. Stewart (Eds.). (2005). Changing the Culture of College Drinking: A Socially Situated Health Communication Campaign by Shelly Campo
Click here to read the entire review

Meetings and Announcements

National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media, August 29-30, 2007
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pleased to announce the first National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media. This conference will provide a scientific and professional forum for researchers and practitioners to share insights, research findings and best practices to advance the fields of health communication, marketing and media. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet with colleagues and shape the future of health communication and marketing practice.
Space is limited and advance registration is required. If you are interested in attending the conference, please send an email with your institutional affiliation to NCHMconference@cdc.gov.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthmarketing/conference2007.htm.

Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing (www.casesjournal.org) is now live!
Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing is an open access, online, peer-reviewed journal containing case studies that dissect contemporary work in the fields of public health communication and social marketing. Each case identifies the lessons learned from a recent public health program - whether successful or not - for the purpose of improving the practice of public health communication and marketing. All peer-reviewed case studies in the journal were developed through a collaborative process that required graduate students and their faculty advisors to partner with the practitioners who implemented the public health program. Go to www.casesjournal.org to access the journal online.

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