ABSTRACTS

Volume 10, Number 2
March 2005

Vol. 10, Number 2: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

“If We Didn't Use Humor, We'd Cry”: Humorous Coping Communication in Health Care Settings
    MELISSA WANZER A1, MELANIE BOOTH-BUTTERFIELD A2, STEVE BOOTH-BUTTERFIELD A3

A1 Communication Studies Department, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, USA
A2 Department of Communication Studies, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
A3 West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

Folkman and Lazarus's transactional theory of emotion and coping was used to explain how humor influences job satisfaction among health care providers. One hundred forty-two nurses completed measures of humor orientation (HO), coping efficacy, job satisfaction, and open-ended questions about their use of humor to relieve job tensions. This produced 9 categories of strategies of producing humor and 8 types of work situations identified in which humor was used to cope. Nurses (21.4%) reported using humor the most often during “patient care” situations (e.g., providing medicines, moving patients, physical therapy, and so on). More than one third (38.66%) of the nurses reported using “word-play/language” as a humorous coping strategy.

Higher HO was associated with higher ratings of humor effectiveness, greater self-perceived coping efficacy, and higher emotional expressivity. Path analysis demonstrated that, as the transactional theory would predict, trait HO influences job satisfaction through its effect on heightened coping efficacy.

Study limitations include the use of self-report methods and the limited number of responses to the open-ended items. Subsequent research in this area should attempt to validate the categories identified in this study and determine the most effective means of coping. Researchers also should explore differences in health care providers’ coping communication based on gender, years of experience, and profession.

The Effect of Antismoking Advertisement Executional Characteristics on Youth Comprehension, Appraisal, Recall, and Engagement
     YVONNE TERRY-MCELRATH A1, MELANIE WAKEFIELD A2, ERIN RUEL A3, GEORGE I. BALCH A3, SHERRY EMERY A3, GLEN SZCZYPKA A3, KATHERINE CLEGG-SMITH A3, BRIAN FLAY A3

A1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
A2 The Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
A3 University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

This article examines how two executional characteristics of antismoking advertising may interact with other relevant advertising features to affect youth comprehension, appraisal, recall of, and engagement with antismoking ads. Fifty antismoking ads made by tobacco control agencies, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical companies were appraised by 268 youth using an audience response methodology with a follow-up component. Analyses show that thematic and executional characteristics varied both across and within ad sponsor, and that executional characteristics of “personal testimonial” and “visceral negative” clearly had the strongest and most consistent effect on appraisal, recall, and level of engagement. Antismoking advertisements are not alike in their ability to engage youth. Advocates attempting to develop increasingly successful antismoking campaigns should consider the executional characteristics of proposed ads.

HIV/AIDS Risk Factors as Portrayed in Mass Media Targeting First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples of Canada
     LAURIE HOFFMAN-GOETZ A1, DANIELA B. FRIEDMAN A1, JUANNE N. CLARKE A2

A1 Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A2 Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the coverage and portrayal of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) risk factors as framed in newspapers targeting Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) peoples in Canada.

Methods: From a sample of 31 Aboriginal newspapers published in English from 1996 to 2000, 14 newspapers were randomly selected. Of the 167 articles published on HIV/AIDS during this time period, all anecdotal (n = 34) and an approximate 25% random sample of scientific (n = 32) articles were analyzed using both quantitative (coding reliability and frequencies) and qualitative (in-depth content analysis) analyses.

Results: Individual risk factors for HIV/AIDS were described in 74% (49/66) of the articles and included unprotected sexual intercourse (20/49 or 41%), sharing of needles for injection drug use (IDU; 16/49 or 33%), infected blood transfusions (3/49 or 6%), and vertical transmission from mother to baby (10/49 or 20%). Additional risk factors of alcohol use and poverty were mentioned in 29% and 25% of the articles. In addition to the well-recognized HIV/AIDS risk groups of prostitutes and homosexual men, sexual abuse victims, prisoners, and women were identified in Aboriginal newspapers as being at risk. Although Aboriginal women were identified as being at high risk, the newspaper coverage also emphasized their lack of knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS. Heterosexual men were not mentioned as being at risk for HIV/AIDS in the newspaper articles.

Background: The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is higher among Canadian Aboriginals than in the general population. Local and community newspapers are an important channel for the dissemination of health information for isolated, rural, and Aboriginal communities.

Interpretation: The findings show that Aboriginal media identify high-risk groups and individualistic risk factors for HIV/AIDS, within a public health perspective. The articles also emphasize, however, Aboriginal people's lack of knowledge about disease transmission and the full spectrum of who is at risk.

Using Research to Inform Health Policy: Barriers and Strategies in Developing Countries
    MONIQUE HENNINK A1 and ROB STEPHENSON A2

A1 Opportunities and Choices Reproductive Health Research Program, Division of Social Statistics, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
A2 Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

This article examines the dissemination and uptake of health research into policy and program delivery in four developing countries. In-depth interviews were conducted with health researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at both the local and national level.

The study highlights the similarities across the study countries in the barriers to effective dissemination and uptake of research results. A fundamental barrier to the uptake of research by decisionmakers is the lack of appreciation of the important contribution that research can make to policy and program development. A further barrier is researchers' lack of appropriate “packaging” of research findings that consider the needs of different policy audiences. Dissemination within academic circles also restricts access by decisionmakers and practitioners. Overcoming the barriers requires effort on behalf of researchers, decisionmakers, and donor agencies. The strong presence of donor agencies in developing countries places them in a position both to enable and to encourage dissemination activities and communication between researchers and policymakers or practitioners. Increased collaboration between all three parties is one of the key strategies toward increasing the uptake of research into health policy and program development.

Evaluating the truth® Brand
     W. DOUGLAS EVANS A1, SIMANI PRICE A2, STEVEN BLAHUT A2

A1 RTI International, Washington, DC, USA
A2 American Institutes for Research, Silver Spring, MD, USA

The American Legacy Foundation developed the truth® campaign, an aspirational antismoking brand for adolescents. This study tested whether a multidimensional scale, brand equity in truth®, mediates the relationship between campaign exposure and youth smoking. We collected brand equity responses from 2,306 youth on a nationally representative telephone survey. Factor analysis indicates that the scale has excellent psychometric properties and effectively measures brand equity. We developed a structural equation model to test the mediation hypothesis. Results show that brand equity mediates the relationship between truth® and smoking. Analyses of potential confounders show this relationship is robust. Behavioral branding (brands about a behavior or a lifestyle) is an important public health strategy.

Book Review

Violence Against Women:The Health Sector Responds. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization.
M. Velzeboer, M. Ellsberg, C.C. Arcas, and C. Garcia-Moreno (2003).
Reviewed by Lisa Murray-Johnson, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA