ABSTRACTS

Volume 11, Number 1
January-February 2006

Vol. 11, Number 1: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

Introduction: 10 Years of Health Communication Research
    Timothy Edgar A1 and Vicki S. Freimuth A2

A1 Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
A2 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

This article does not have an abstract.

A Descriptive Analysis of 10 Years of Research Published in the Journal of Health Communication
   Vicki S. Freimuth A1, Holly A. Massett A2, Wendy Meltzer A3

A1 Department of Speech Communication, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
A2 National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
A3 Center for Global Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

This article describes the contents of the articles from the first decade of The Journal of Health Communication (JOHC). Three hundred and twenty-one published articles were reviewed and coded to determine the characteristics of the researchers, the types of research presented, the common health topics covered, and the research designs used. The results led to the following profile of a typical article. Its primary author is a U.S. academic. It probably focuses on smoking, HIV/AIDS, or cancer. It is an empirical research study, more likely to use quantitative, specifically survey methods, rather than qualitative methods. It probably is not driven by theory. It is much more likely to examine mass media communication than interpersonal communication. Its purpose is just as likely to be audience analysis as message design, as evaluation of a planned communication intervention. If its purpose is to evaluate a planned communication intervention however, that intervention is almost certainly a successful one.

A 10-Year Retrospective of Research in Health Mass Media Campaigns: Where Do We Go From Here?
     Seth M. Noar A1

A1 Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Mass media campaigns have long been a tool for promoting public health. How effective are such campaigns in changing health-related attitudes and behaviors, however, and how has the literature in this area progressed over the past decade? The purpose of the current article is threefold. First, I discuss the importance of health mass media campaigns and raise the question of whether they are capable of effectively impacting public health. Second, I review the literature and discuss what we have learned about the effectiveness of campaigns over the past 10 years. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of possible avenues for the health campaign literature over the next 10 years. The overriding conclusion is the following: The literature is beginning to amass evidence that targeted, well-executed health mass media campaigns can have small-to-moderate effects not only on health knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, but on behaviors as well, which can translate into major public health impact given the wide reach of mass media. Such impact can only be achieved, however, if principles of effective campaign design are carefully followed.

A Decade of Research on Health Content in the Media: The Focus on Health Challenges and Sociocultural Context and Attendant Informational and Ideological Problems
    Kimberly N. Kline A1

A1 Department of Speech Communication, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA

There is a burgeoning interest in the health and illness content of popular media in the domains of advertising, journalism, and entertainment. This article reviews the past 10 years of this research, describing the relationship between the health topics addressed in the research, the shifting focus of concerns about the media, and, ultimately, the variation in problems for health promotion. I suggest that research attending to topics related to bodily health challenges focused on whether popular media accurately or appropriately represented health challenges. The implication was that there is some consensus about more right or wrong, complete or incomplete ways of representing an issue; the problem was that the media are generally wrong. Alternatively, research addressing topics related to sociocultural context issues focused on how certain interests are privileged in the media. The implication was that competing groups are making claims on the system, but the problem was that popular media marginalizes certain interests. In short, popular media is not likely to facilitate understandings helpful to individuals coping with health challenges and is likely to perpetuate social and political power differentials with regard to health-related issues. I conclude by offering some possibilities for future health media content research.

A 10-Year Retrospective of Research in New Technologies for Health Communication
     L. Suzanne Suggs A1

A1 Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The use of new technologies is growing in virtually all areas of health communication, including consumer, patient, and provider education; decision and social support; health promotion; knowledge transfer; and the delivery of services. Many applications have the potential to make major contributions in meeting the needs of an unhealthy and aging population.

Key questions confronting health communication research reflect long-standing concerns about effects of new technology on health knowledge, health behavior, health delivery, and health outcomes. A review of the literature provides useful insights about how technology has been used to communicate health messages and their associated outcomes. Focus is placed on effective health communication, lessons learned, and implications for the future.

During the next 10 years, the application of new technologies in health communication will be enriched by a tradition that has evolved to reflect a more dynamic connection between health users and providers. Future applications have the potential to provide cost-effective communications tailored to large numbers of individuals and achieve positive health outcomes. Consequently, we should strive to answer research questions about tailoring communication content, the channel used to deliver the message, and evaluation models that are best suited for examining outcomes of multicomponent tailored, technology-based communication

Defining Moments in Risk Communication Research: 1996–2005
     Katherine A. McComas A1

A1 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

Ten years ago, scholars suggested that risk communication was embarking on a new phase that would give increased attention to the social contexts that surround and encroach on public responses to risk information. A decade later, many researchers have answered the call, with several defining studies examining the social and psychological influences on risk communication. This article reviews risk communication research appearing in the published literature since 1996. Among studies, social trust, the social amplification of risk framework, and the affect heuristic figured prominently. Also common were studies examining the influence of risk in the mass media. Among these were content analyses of media coverage of risk, as well as investigations of possible effects resulting from coverage. The use of mental models was a dominant method for developing risk message content. Other studies examined the use of risk comparisons, narratives, and visuals in the production of risk messages. Research also examined how providing information about a risk's severity, social norms, and efficacy influenced communication behaviors and intentions to follow risk reduction measures. Methods for conducting public outreach in health risk communication rounded out the literature.

Understanding Interpersonal Communication Processes Across Health Contexts: Advances in the Last Decade and Challenges for the Next Decade
    Ashley Duggan A1

A1 Communication Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

Interpersonal communication processes are central to the provider–patient interaction and in relationships with someone who is ill or needs care. The last decade of research has documented the ways communication processes predict better outcomes in the provider–patient interaction and key constructs for consideration in close relationships in which a health issue in some way defines the relationship. The current article highlights findings from the previous decade and the ways previous findings serve as a theoretical and methodological foundation for more sophisticated analysis of interpersonal communication processes in health contexts. A relational perspective serves as a link between the provider–patient relationship and close relationships with someone with a health issue. Implications for provider–patient contexts, medical education, and close relationships highlight future directions for theory building, health literacy, health outcomes, family communication, developmental issues, and a life span perspective.

Book Review

A Review of: “Thompson, T. L., Dorsey, A. M., Miller, K. I., & Parrott, R. (Editors). (2003). Handbook of Health Communication”: Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Jim L. Query, Ellen W. Bonaguro, Toni Siriko, Brittney Maslowski, Jill Yamasaki