ABSTRACTS
Volume 12, Number 1
January 2007
Vol. 12, Number 1: Contents | Editorial
| Abstracts
Age Analysis of Newspaper Coverage
of Mental Illness
Authors: Natalie B. Slopen; Amy C. Watson; Gabriela
Gracia; Patrick W. Corrigan
Affiliation: The University of Chicago Center
for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. Chicago, Illinois. USA
In this study, we examine newspaper coverage of mental illness in children
and adults taken from 6 weeks during a 1-year period. Articles were
coded for (1) type of article; (2) types of disorders named or described;
(3) themes related to crime, attributions of the disorder, treatments,
and critiques of the mental health system; and (4) "elements of
responsible journalism," including inclusion of perspectives from
mental health experts, statistics related to mental illness, referrals
to additional sources of information, and avoidance of slang terminology.
We examine how these variables differ by the age of the group discussed
in the article: children/adolescents and adults/older adults. One thousand
two hundred fifty-two articles were coded for these four clusters as
well as age of group discussed in the article. Inter-rater correlations
of two independent judges were satisfactory for 10% of the stories.
Age group comparisons revealed that the child articles contained a significantly
higher proportion of feature articles; were significantly more likely
to discuss behavior and conduct disorders, and alcohol and drug abuse,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders,
and eating disorders, and to contain themes of causation, treatment,
and critiques of the mental health system. The adult articles contained
a significantly higher proportion of episodic news stories and were
significantly more likely to present themes of dangerousness and crime.
Our analysis found that child articles were significantly more likely
to incorporate elements of responsible journalism, while adult articles
were significantly more likely to use stigmatizing terminology. Our
report encourages journalists to develop contextually comprehensive
and informative presentations of mental illness and issues surrounding
the mental health system for all population groups in order to provide
readers with accurate information within the context of general social
trends and relevant expert opinion.
Exploration of the Construct
of Reliance Among Patients Who Talk with Their Providers About Internet
Information
Authors: Carma L. Bylund a; Christina M.
Sabee b; Rebecca S. Imes c; Amy Aldridge Sanford
a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. New York, New York. USA
b San Jose State University. San Jose, California. USA
c Carroll College. Waukesha, Wisconsin. USA
d Northeastern State University Tahlequah. Oklahoma. USA
Three hundred fifty participants, recruited from Internet health message
boards, completed online surveys about their experiences talking with
health care providers about Internet health information. Two distinct
dimensions of reliance emerged from the data, one regarding the patient's
reliance on the health care provider for decision making and the other
regarding the patient's reliance on the health care provider to stay
healthy. Self-reliant patients tended to be female, have lower incomes,
and report less frequent visits to the health care provider than did
health-care-provider-reliant patients. Age, comfort level, and frequency
of talking about Internet health information were not related to reliance
level.
Pharmaceutical Websites and the
Communication of Risk Information
Authors: Joel J. Davis; Emily Cross; John Crowley
Affiliation: San Diego State University, San
Diego, California, USA
This study examines the pharmaceutical websites of 44 leading direct-to-consumer
(DTC) advertised drugs to determine the extent to which risk information
was completely communicated. Three operational definitions of "completeness"
were used: communication of the single highest incidence side effect,
communication of top three highest incidence side effects, and communication
of side effects with incidence of 10% (all measured in terms of absolute
percentage). Results indicated that regardless of the measures used,
pharmaceutical websites are unlikely to completely communicate risk
information. About two thirds of all sites communicated the single highest
incidence side effect or all top three side effects. For drugs with
side effects at 10% incidence, only about half of their websites fully
reported all effects at this level of incidence. Implications for advertisers
and regulatory agencies are presented.
Public (Mis)understanding of
the UV Index
Authors: Owen B. J. Carter; Robert J. Donovan
Affiliation: Centre for Behavioural Research in
Cancer Control, Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
Western Australia
The ultraviolet index (UVI) has been regularly reported in Australia
for a decade but utilisation remains extremely low (5%). Blunden, Lower,
and Slevin, in a 2004 Journal of Health communication article, suggest
that Australians' understanding of the UVI is "good," and
education to increase awareness of the index is therefore no longer
warranted. To test this position, focus groups were conducted followed
by an intercept survey of 404 residents of Perth, Western Australia,
aged 16-44 years, to explore understanding and familiarity with the
UVI. Results suggested that far from being "good," the familiarity
and understanding of the UVI of at least half of Australians is poor.
This was exemplified by the following: mean estimations of average UVI
values in summer and winter being highly exaggerated (19.8 and 11.8,
respectively); 61.2% not appreciating that the UVI is independent of
temperature; at least 55.0% not appreciating that UV conditions peak
at solar noon; and 23.3% of 22-44 year olds confusing the UVI with a
"burn-time" measure. People who do not understand the UVI
are unlikely to utilise it effectively. It therefore remains possible
that utilisation of the UVI remains low because understanding is poor.
Future efforts to improve utilisation of the UVI, particularly among
those looking at new display formats, may therefore be ineffective,
unless they also incorporate strategies to facilitate understanding
of the measure.
A Computer-based Approach to Preventing Pregnancy,
STD, and HIV in Rural Adolescents
Authors: Anthony J. Roberto a; Rick
S. Zimmerman b; Kellie E. Carlyle a; Erin L. Abner
b
Affiliations:
a School of Communication, The Ohio State University. Columbus,
Ohio. USA
b Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky,
USA
A computer- and Internet-based intervention was designed to influence
several variables related to the prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in rural adolescents.
The intervention was guided by the extended parallel process model and
was evaluated using a pretest-post-test control group design with random
assignment at the school level. Three hundred and twenty-six tenth-grade
males and females enrolled in two rural Appalachian public high schools
completed the survey at both points in time. Results indicate the vast
majority (88.5%) of students in the experimental school completed at
least one activity (M = 3.46 for those doing at least one activity).
Further, both the overall program and all but one of the activities
were rated positively by participants. Regarding the effects of the
intervention, results indicate that students in the experimental school
were less likely to initiate sexual activity and had greater general
knowledge, greater condom negotiation self-efficacy, more favorable
attitudes toward waiting to have sex, and greater situational self-efficacy
than in the control school. In tandem, the results suggest that the
computer-based programs may be a cost-effective and easily replicable
means of providing teens with basic information and skills necessary
to prevent pregnancy, STDs, and HIV.
Acceptability of a Bilingual Interactive Computerized
Educational Module in a Poor, Medically Underserved Patient Population
Authors: Bonnie A. Leeman-Castillo ab;
Kitty K. Corbett bc; Eva M. Aagaard d; Judith H.
Maselli d; Ralph
Gonzales d; Thomas D. MacKenzie ae
Affiliations:
a Colorado Prevention Center.
b University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. Denver,
Colorado. USA
c Simon Fraser University. Burnaby, British Columbia. Canada
d University of California, San Francisco. San Francisco, California.
USA
e Denver Health and Hospital Authority. Denver, Colorado. USA
We evaluated the acceptability and impact of an audiovisual, bilingual,
interactive computer module relating to appropriate antibiotic use.
In winter 2001, adults seeking urgent care for acute respiratory infections
at an inner-city urgent care clinic were invited to complete the computer
module and survey (N = 296). After responding to questions about their
symptoms, patients were provided information about their illness and
appropriate antibiotic use, and then asked several questions about the
acceptability of the module. The main outcomes, reflecting qualities
known to enhance diffusion of innovations, were "learning something
new about colds and flu" and trusting the computer information.
Spanish-language respondents (16%) were much less likely to report prior
computer experience, more likely to need help, and strongly preferred
answering to a person compared with English-language respondents. In
multivariable analysis, Spanish-language respondents were more likely
to report learning something new (OR = 5.0; 95% CI: 2.0, 12.4) and trusting
the information (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.0, 6.0). We conclude that an interactive
computer module was well received among a medically underserved urgent
care clinic population. Benefits appear greatest among populations having
the least experience with this medium.
Book Review
A Review of: "Bogner, M. S. (Ed.). (2004). Misadventures in
Health care: Inside Stories"
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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