ABSTRACTS

Volume 12, Number 2
March 2007

Vol. 12, Number 2: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

Media Usage as Health Segmentation Variables
    Authors: Shelly Rodgers a; Qimei Chen b; Margaret Duffy c; Kenneth Fleming d

a School of Journalism, University of Missouri Strategic Communication. Columbia, Missouri. USA
b Shidler School of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Manoa, Hawaii. USA
c Strategic Communication, School of Journalism, University of Missouri. Columbia, Missouri. USA
d School of Journalism, University of Missouri. Columbia, Missouri. USA

The purpose of this research is to contrast a traditional audience segmentation model that uses demographics and health evaluations against a model that uses these same variables plus media usage variables. The goal was to determine whether media usage variables - typically not used in health segmentation studies - add predictive power in determining health behaviors and attitudes. The results of the analysis showed an increase in the ability to predict health behaviors such as aspirin use, vitamin use, diet, and exercise, and suggest that there is predictive value for including media variables as part of the segmentation process. Implications for public health education and campaign planning are discussed.

Fighting AIDS Among Adolescent Women: Effects of a Public Communication Campaign in Brazil
   Author: Mauro P. Porto a

a Department of Communication, Tulane University. New Orleans, Louisiana. USA

In 2003, Brazil's Ministry of Health launched a national campaign aimed at promoting the use of condoms by adolescent women. The Carnival Campaign was broadcast on television and radio between February 16 and March 3 and targeted young women, between 13 and 19 years of age, a social group that previously had registered a growth in the number of cases of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The Ministry hired Kelly Key, a Brazilian pop singer, to deliver the campaign messages. One of the objectives was to empower the girls and encourage them not to be ashamed to buy condoms and to demand that their partners use them. The article presents the results of a national survey conducted with 1,006 adolescent women, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Health. The results show that campaign materials reached the main target public and that they were very positively received. Moreover, the survey data show that the Carnival Campaign had important effects, generating discussions in the adolescents' social environments and reinforcing a social norm that favors the participation of women in the purchase and use of condoms.

The "Choose With Care System" - Development of Education Materials to Support Informed Medicare Health Plan Choices
    Authors: Lauren D. Harris-Kojetin a; Jennifer D. Uhrig b; Peyton Williams b; Carla Bann b;
    Elizabeth M. Frentzel c; Lauren McCormack b; Nancy Mitchell b; Nathan West b

a Institute for the Future of Aging Services. Washington, District of Columbia. USA
b RTI International. Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. USA
c American Institutes for Research. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. USA

People aging into Medicare need to choose a health plan. Several challenges exist for consumers in choosing a Medicare health plan, including limited knowledge of Medicare, limited experience in using comparative health plan quality information, and limited experience and ability to pull together and use plan information from different sources like employers and the Medicare program. The Choose with Care System was developed to help consumers aging into Medicare make informed Medicare health plan choices. Choose with Care is an innovative decision support tool for employers to use to assist people approaching age 65 to learn about their Medicare health plan options and how to incorporate information on the quality of care and services offered by health plans into their choices. Employers are the targeted channel for distributing the Choose with Care materials because they are one of the most recognized and accessible formal intermediaries for information about health insurance. We used multiple methods to test the Choose with Care products. Product testing showed that the Choose with Care materials increase older consumers' knowledge of Medicare and how it relates to retiree health insurance and improves their comprehension and use of comparative quality information when choosing a health plan.

The Effectiveness in Utilizing Chinese Media to Promote Breast Health Among Chinese Women
    Authors: Angela Sun a; Jian Zhang b; Janice Tsoh c; Evaon Wong-Kim d; Edward Chow e

a Chinese Community Health Resource Center. San Francisco, California. USA
b Chinese Hospital. San Francisco, California. USA
c University of California. San Francisco, California. USA
d California State University. East Bay, Hayward, California. USA
e Chinese Community Health Plan. San Francisco, California. USA

To increase the awareness and practice of breast health guidelines, a media-based education campaign on breast health was launched among immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco. The media campaign included airing two public service announcements (PSAs) on Chinese television and radio stations and publishing the same message in Chinese newspapers during 2000. Seven-hundred-ten face-to-face interviews were conducted with women who were recruited from various settings in the city of San Francisco to evaluate the impact of the campaign. Survey participants were asked to describe the content of the PSAs. Having viewed the PSA was significantly associated with the ability to identify all four guidelines (OR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.35-2.85), knowing how to perform breast self-exam (BSE; OR = 2.25; 95% CI: 1.53-3.29), having performed BSE within the past month (OR = 3.12; 95% CI: 2.05-4.74), and having a clinical breast exam (CBE; OR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.82-4.90) and mammogram (MAM; OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.16-3.36) in the past year. The study findings support that a media campaign utilizing PSAs is effective in improving knowledge of breast health guidelines, teaching Chinese women how to (BSEs), and increasing breast health practices.

Healthy or Unhealthy Slogans: That's the Question
     Authors: Leen Adams a; Maggie Geuens b

a Department of Marketing, Ghent University. Belgium
b Ghent University and Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School. Belgium

An experiment was conducted to examine the effect on adolescents of different health appeals (healthy versus unhealthy) in ads for healthy and unhealthy perceived foods. The results did not reveal a main effect of product or slogan, but indicated a significant interaction effect between slogan and product. The healthy slogan only led to significantly more positive attitudes and purchase intentions when it promoted a healthy food product. An unhealthy food product received better results in combination with an unhealthy slogan than with a healthy one. This indicates that adolescents react better to ads in which the health appeal is congruent with the health perception of the product. Moreover, we took into account gender and health concern as potential moderators in the relationship between slogan and ad responses. Gender did not lead to different responses to healthy or unhealthy food ads, whereas health concern did interact significantly with the slogan type. Highly concerned adolescents responded more favorably to a healthy slogan in terms of attitudes. A necessary first step seems to be making adolescents more health conscious. A following step is to reinforce their positive attitudes toward healthy foods and turn these into real behavior.

Social Support and Social Undermining as Correlates for Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Disorders in American Indian Women Presenting for Primary Care at an Indian Health Service Hospital
     Authors: John Oetzel a; Bonnie Duran b; Yizhou Jiang a; Julie Lucero a

a University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, New Mexico. USA
b University of Washington. Seattle, Washington. USA

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of two types of social support (emotional and instrumental) and two types of social undermining (critical appraisal and isolation) with five categories of alcohol, drug, or mental disorders (ADM; any mood, any anxiety, any substance abuse, any disorder, and two or more disorders) in 169 American Indian women presenting for primary care at an Indian Health Service facility. Social support and social undermining are often treated as opposite poles, but in fact they are distinct factors with independent effects. The findings illustrate that social support and undermining variables have a significant relationship with ADM outcomes even when controlling for confounding demographic variables. Any substance abuse was associated with all four social variables, while two or more disorders were associated with instrumental support and isolation. Any anxiety (isolation), any mood (critical appraisal), and any disorder (isolation) were each associated with one social variable. Overall, social undermining appears to have a stronger relationship with mental health than with social support.

Book Reviews

Emmers-Sommer, T. & Allen, M. (2005). Safer Sex in Personal Relationships: The Role of Sexual Scripts in HIV Infection and Prevention.
A Review of: "Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Author: Sandra L. Faulkner

Scott, J. Blake (2003). Risky Rhetoric: AIDS and the Cultural Practices of HIV Testing
A Review of: "Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Author: Vickie Harvey