ABSTRACTS

Volume 7, Number 3
May-June 2003

Vol. 7, Num. 3: Contents | Editorial | Up Front | Abstracts

Enhancing Health Knowledge, Health Beliefs, and Health Behavior in Poland through a Health Promoting Television Program Series
    Fiona Chew , Sushma Palmer , Zofia Slonska , Kalyani Subbiah

This study examined the impact of a health promoting television program series on health knowledge and the key factors of the health belief model (HBM) that have led people to engage in healthy behavior (exercising, losing weight, changing eating habits, and not smoking/quitting smoking). Using data from a posttest comparison field study with 151 viewers and 146 nonviewers in Poland, we found that hierarchical regression analysis showed stronger support for the HBM factors of efficacy, susceptibility, seriousness, and salience in their contribution toward health behavior among television viewers compared with nonviewers. Cues to action variables (including television viewing) and health knowledge boosted efficacy among viewers. Without the advantage of receiving health information from the television series, nonviewers relied on their basic disease fears on one hand, and interest in good health on the other to take steps toward becoming healthier. A health promoting television series can increase health knowledge and enhance health beliefs, which in turn contribute to healthy behaviors.

An Examination of Adolescents Who Were and Were Not Exposed to "Teens Stopping AIDS": Reaching the Hard-to-Reach
    Yuko Mizuno , May Kennedy , Kristen Weeks-Norton , Jaana Myllyluoma

Teens Stopping AIDS (TSA) was an HIV prevention project in Sacramento, California, that involved coalitions of volunteers in designing and launching a social marketing intervention. Mounted in 15 zip codes where teen sexually transmitted disease (STD) and pregnancy rates were high, TSA delivered HIV prevention messages for one year through various communication channels (e.g., radio spots, posters, skills-building workshops). Sixty-seven percent of 521 sexually active adolescents surveyed in a random sample phone interview reported exposure to TSA. To inform future refinements in the intervention, logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with exposure to the program. Eighteen-year-olds were less likely than their younger counterparts to report exposure to TSA (OR [odds ratio] = .54, p < .05). Adolescents living in zip codes where a concentrated effort had been made to hold workshops, display posters, and organize peer outreach were more likely than adolescents living outside of these zip codes to report any program exposure (OR = 2.57, p < .01). Adolescents traditionally viewed as "hard to reach" (i.e., males, minorities, and those with a history of high-risk behavior) were no less likely than other adolescents to report exposure to TSA. Characterizing the members of the unexposed segment of the target audience made it possible to offer practical suggestions for expanding the reach of the program.

Factors Influencing Medical Information Seeking Among African American Cancer Patients
     Alicia K. Matthews , Sarah A. Sellergren , Clara Manfredi , Maryann Williams

Qualitative research methods were used to explore factors that may affect medical information seeking, treatment engagement, and emotional adjustment among African American cancer patients. Focus group findings suggest that an array of cultural and socioeconomic factors plays important roles in the behavior of African American cancer patients. Participants described a number of important barriers and facilitators of medical information seeking and treatment participation. Factors linked to the health care-related behaviors and adjustment of African American cancer patients included limited knowledge and misinformation about cancer, mistrust of the medical community, concerns about privacy, lack of insurance, religious beliefs, and emotional issues such as fear and stigma associated with seeking emotional support. Recommendations are made that may assist mental and physical health providers in improving patient information and mental and physical health outcomes of African American cancer patients.

Accounts from the Field: A Public Relations Perspective on Global AIDS/HIV
     Nilanjana R. Bardhan

This study is a theoretical as well as empirical exploration of the power and cultural differentials that mark and construct various intersecting discourses, specifically media discourse, on global AIDS/HIV. It applies the language and concepts of public relations to understand how the press coverage of the pandemic is associated with the variables that impact the newsmaking process as well as the public and policy implications of macro news frames generated over time. Theoretical work in the areas of agenda setting and news framing also instruct the conceptual framework of this analysis. Narrative analysis is used as a methodology to qualitatively analyze three pools of accounts--from people either living with AIDS/HIV, involved in AIDS/HIV work, or discursively engaged in the media construction of the pandemic; from transnational wire service journalists who cover the issue at global and regional levels; and policy shapers and communicators who are active at the global level. These three communities of respondents represent important stakeholders in the AIDS/HIV issue. The findings are analyzed from a public relations standpoint. Perhaps the most important finding of this study is that the public relations approaches used to address AIDS/HIV related issues need to be grounded in context-specific research and communicative practices that bring out the lived realities of AIDS/HIV at grassroots levels. The findings also posit that those situated at critical junctions between various stakeholders need to cultivate a finely balanced understanding of the etic and emic intersections and subjectivities of global/local AIDS/HIV.

FORUM

New Insights into How Mass Media Works For and Against Tobacco
Lawrence W. Green , Rebecca L. Murphy , Jeffrey W. McKenna

This article does not have an abstract.

VIDEO REVIEWS

Beyond Consumption: Retail at the Edge
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Reviewed by Nichole Egbert