ABSTRACTS

Volume 10, Number 7
October-November 2005

Vol. 10, Number 7: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

Portrayal of Childhood Cancer in English Language Magazines in North America: 1970–2001
    Juanne Clarke A1

A1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Wilfred Laurier University, Ontarion, Canada

This article is a content and discourse analysis of the portrayal of childhood cancer in English language magazines in North America. In a unique specification of published research on the media portrayal of disease, magazines were divided into three market or audience groupings called (1) science, (2) news/special interest, and (3) other (women/teen/parenting/health). The predominate frames or discoursesin these three groups were compared and differences were found amongst them and discussed in the article. Considerable evidence suggests that people with cancer are stigmatized. In the analyzed media focused on children, those with cancer are highly idealized and stereotyped. On the one hand, this can be thought of as a very positive portrayal of children in this situation. Children are described as if they possess heroic and idealized character traits, appearances, social characteristics, and personalities. Possible links between this idealized, polarized, and biased portrayal of children with cancer and their documented experiences of stigma are discussed.

Comprehension of Information in Three Direct-to-Consumer Television Prescription Drug Advertisements Among Adults With Limited Literacy
   Kimberly A. Kaphingst A1, Rima E. Rudd A2, William DeJong A3, Lawren H. Daltroy A4

A1 Division of Population Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
A2 Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
A3 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
A4 RBB Arthritis Research Center, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) television advertisements present a number of facts about prescription drug risks and benefits in a brief time. This study assessed comprehension of information in three advertisements among 50 adults with limited literacy. Participants correctly answered an average of 59% of comprehension questions. The percentage of respondents correctly answering individual comprehension questions ranged from 26% to 92%. A multivariate analysis suggested that type of information (risk vs. other) and channel (text vs. audio) predicted comprehension. There was a significant interaction effect for literacy and place of birth. Our results suggest key areas for future research on comprehension of DTC advertising.

Personal Values, Advertising, and Smoking Motivation in Taiwanese Adolescents
     ChingChing Chang A1

A1 Department of Advertising, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

This article explores the role that personal values plays in motivating Taiwanese adolescents to smoke. In a nationwide survey of high school students, smokers attached greater importance to hedonic gratification values and less importance to idealism values than did nonsmokers. Hedonic gratification values were associated with favorable attitudes toward smoking, while idealism values were associated with unfavorable attitudes toward smoking. Attitudes toward smoking predicted adolescent smoking behavior. Evidence suggested that advertising plays an important role in motivating adolescents with hedonic gratification values to smoke. First, in the survey, hedonic gratification values were associated with paying attention to and expressing favorable attitudes toward cigarette advertising. Second, a content analysis of cigarette ads in magazines found hedonic gratification values to be the most commonly portrayed values, occurring in 62.7% of ads.

Assessing the Validity of Confirmed Ad Recall Measures for Public Health Communication Campaign Evaluation
    Jeff Niederdeppe A1

A1 Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Evidence strongly suggests that public health communication campaigns can succeed in changing health-related cognitions and behaviors. For many evaluation studies, however, inferences of campaign effects are only valid to the extent that measures of campaign exposure are themselves valid. This study compares the validity of “aided” and “confirmed” ad recall measures in the context of a statewide tobacco countermarketing campaign using data from the Florida Anti-Tobacco Media Evaluation (FAME) surveys. Both aided and confirmed ad recall measures exhibited positive associations with cumulative gross ratings points (GRPs), a measure of the relative availability of specific countermarketing ads on broadcast television. In addition, both recall measures were significant predictors of campaign-targeted beliefs. Confirmed ad recall, however, was not a significantly better predictor of cumulative GRPs or campaign-targeted beliefs than aided ad recall, and the magnitude of association between both recall measures and targeted beliefs was quite small. These findings raise questions about the marginal utility of confirmed ad recall measures, compared with aided ad recall, in public health communication campaign evaluations. Nevertheless, results do provide evidence that both aided and confirmed ad recall measures are valid measures of campaign exposure.

Literacy and Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior About Colorectal Cancer Screening
     Carmen E. Guerra A1, Francisco Dominguez A2, Judy A. Shea A1, A3, A4

A1 Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
A2 Department of Medicine, Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, GA, USA
A3 Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
A4 Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

This cross-sectional survey explored the association between functional health literacy and knowledge of, beliefs and attitudes about, and reported usage of colorectal cancer screening tests. The results indicate that functional health literacy, as assessed by the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), is not an independent predictor of colorectal cancer screening knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. Latino ethnicity and education, however, often predicted screening responses, suggesting that efforts to improve communication about colorectal cancer screening with Latino patients and patients with low education clearly are needed to reduce the disparities in awareness and utilization of colorectal cancer screening tests. This study also explored influences on intended screening behavior. Physician recommendation was found to be a powerful motivator of intention to undergo colorectal cancer screening regardless of literacy level, indicating that interventions aimed at increasing physician recommendation of colorectal cancer screening may be an effective way of increasing screening rates.

Combating Syphilis and HIV Among Users of Internet Chatrooms
     John P. Anderton A1 and Ronald O. Valdiserri A1

A1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

The recent resurgence of syphilis among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) and concerns about a potential increase in HIV incidence have sparked public health authorities to search for new approaches to address this converging problem. Epidemiologic investigations suggest that the Internet plays an important role in facilitating syphilis outbreaks. The experience of this pilot will help the public health community learn more about how to reach targeted online audiences, and will contribute toward understanding the role of the Internet in risk reduction strategies aimed at persons who use the Internet to meet sex partners.

Book Review

A Review of: “A. Singhal, M. Cody, E. Rogers, & M. Sabido (2003). Entertainment-Education and Social Change”: A review of Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Elaine M. Murphy