Doryn D. Chervin, Dr.Ph.:
Coalition models: lessons learned from the CDC's Community
Coalition Partnership Programs for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy.
Journal of Adolescent Health, September 2005 Vol.37 No.3
Abstract:
PURPOSE: To describe the models created by the 13 communities in the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's Community Coalition Partnership Program
(CCPP), and the relationship between key organizational features of the
coalitions and the perception by coalition members of interim and community-wide
outcomes. METHODS: This study relied on three sources of data: interviews
conducted on site with a sample of coalition staff, evaluators, and members
(n = 364); a written survey administered after the site visit to those
interviewed (n = 216) asking about perceived outcomes and changes between
the beginning and end of the project; and a coalition member survey mailed
to all coalition members at all sites (n = 341) focusing on perceptions
of coalition functioning, outcomes, and satisfaction. RESULTS: A variety
of coalition models were developed. Respondents were positive in their
assessments of how their coalitions operated even though few were sustained.
The coalitions for which members perceived more positive outcomes were
better established at the outset of the grant, led by paid staff, and had
an area-wide focus, a steering committee, and a hub that was not a community-based
organization. Coalitions composed primarily of neighborhood members were
difficult to maintain. CONCLUSIONS: Despite members' high ratings, by the
end of the funding period most coalitions were no longer functioning. It
may be that coalitions are useful but not as permanent structures in communities.
Grassroots and individual members not affiliated with an agency may require
meaningful incentives to sustain participation. Because maturity of the
coalition at the start of the project was a good predictor of sustainability,
time should be spent verifying the stage of coalition development before
funding.
Community capacity building in CDC's Community Coalition Partnership
Programs for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy.
Journal of Adolescent Health, September 2005 Vol.37 No.3
Abstract:
PURPOSE: To describe lessons learned from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's Community Coalition Partnership Program (CCPP) about
building a community's capacity to prevent teen pregnancy through strengthening
of partnerships, mobilization of community resources, and changes in
the number and quality of community programs. METHODS: A multi-component
post-test-only evaluation. In-person interviews (n = 364) were conducted
with a sample of CCPP project staff, evaluators, and community and agency
members from each of the 13 CCPP communities. RESULTS: All partnerships
reported that new groups worked together to address teen pregnancy prevention;
however, more time, effort, and resources than anticipated were spent
engaging these groups and strengthening their partnerships. Respondents
reported increases in community awareness of the problem of teen pregnancy
and the willingness to discuss the issue. As a result of partnerships'
activities, knowledge and skills related to addressing teen pregnancy
improved among partnership members, but respondents were concerned that
the broader community did not share these gains. To a lesser extent,
respondents reported that partners worked together to reduce duplication
and fill gaps in services either through increased collaboration and/or
differentiation of activities. Respondents from most of the partnerships
also reported new programs were developed as a result of the project;
however, in several partnerships, only a few programs were developed
in their community. Many respondents doubted whether the limited mobilization
of resources during the program would translate into increased agency
and community capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, increased partner skills,
program improvements, and new programs did not appear to be sufficient
to affect community capacity. Research is needed to identify the pathways
between changes in community capacity and in individual-level behavior
that might result in the avoidance or reduction of teen pregnancy.
Celeste M. Condit, PhD:
How lay people respond to messages about genetics, health,
and race.
Clinical Genetics, August 2005, Vol.68 No.2
Abstract:
There is a growing movement in medical genetics to develop, implement,
and promote a model of race-based medicine. Although race-based medicine
may become a widely disseminated standard of care, messages that advocate
race-based selection for diagnosing, screening and prescribing drugs
may exacerbate health disparities. These messages are present in clinical
genetic counseling sessions, mass media, and everyday talk. Messages
promoting linkages among genes, race, and health and messages emphasizing
genetic causation may promote both general racism and genetically based
racism. This mini-review examines research in three areas: studies that
address the effects of these messages about genetics on levels of genetic
determinism and genetic discrimination; studies that address the effects
of these messages on attitudes about race; and, studies of the impacts
of race-specific genetic messages on recipients. Following an integration
of this research, this mini-review suggests that the current literature
appears fragmented because of methodological and measurement issues and
offers strategies for future research. Finally, the authors offer a path
model to help organize future research examining the effects of messages
about genetics on socioculturally based racism, genetically based racism,
and unaccounted for racism. Research in this area is needed to understand
and mitigate the negative attitudinal effects of messages that link genes,
race, and health and/or emphasize genetic causation.
Risk Comprehension and Judgments of Statistical Evidentiary
Appeals When a Picture is Not Worth a Thousand Words.
Human Communication Research, July 2005 Vol.31 No.3
Abstract:
Too little theory and research has considered the effects of communicating
statistics in various forms on comprehension, perceptions of evidence
quality, or evaluations of message persuasiveness. In a considered extension
of Subjective Message Construct Theory (Morley, 1987), we advance a rationale
relating evidence form to the formation of impressions of evidence. We
compare visual versus verbal representations of statistical evidence
associated with multivariate relationships in a community-based field
experiment (N = 206). Verbal forms were found to be better comprehended
than visual forms and contributed to enhanced understanding when compared
to an attention control condition. Comprehension was found to mediate
the effect of statistical evidence form on perceptions of evidence quality,
while comprehension and perceptions of evidence quality moderated judgments
of message persuasiveness. In addition to the effects of evidence form
on subjective impressions of statistical evidence, we advance perceiver
characteristics as another realm in which persuaders may identify persistent
patterns associated with comprehension and judgments of statistical evidence.
Numeracy skills, race, and gender emerge as characteristics with merit
in this regard. Nonsignificant findings associated with perceiver characteristics
were found. Finally, we consider the results for evidence form and perceiver
characteristics on comprehension and judgments of statistical evidence
for their theoretic and pragmatic importance.
The meaning and effects of discourse about genetics: methodological
variations in studies of discourse and social change.
Discourse and Society, July 2004, Vol. 5
Abstract:
Studies seeking to explore the implications of the discourse of medical
genetics using four different methodologies are overviewed. Research
on genetics discourse using critical methods, audience studies, persuasion
studies and institutional studies suggest results that are at odds with
one another. Rather than selecting one approach based on a preference
for the methodology itself or the results it provides, a clearer picture
of how genetic discourse may function is provided by integrating the
findings of the various methods.
The role of "genetics" in popular understandings of
race in the United States.
Public Understanding of Science, 2004, Vol. 13
Abstract:
The increase in public representation of the science-based concept "genetics" in
the mass media might be expected to have a major impact on public understanding
of the concept of "race." A model of lay understandings of
the role of genetics in the contemporary United States is offered based
on focus group research, random digit dial surveys, and community based
surveys. That model indicates that lay people identify primarily by physical
features, but these identifications are categorized into a variety of
groupings that may be regional, national, or linguistic. Although they
believe that physical appearance is caused largely by genetics, and therefore
that race has a genetic basis, they do not uniformly conclude, however,
that all perceived racial characteristics are genetically based. Instead,
they vary in the extent to which they attribute differences to cultural,
personal, and genetic factors.
Genetic Research and Health Disparities
Journal of the American Medical Association, June 23/30 2004
Vol.291 No.24
Abstract:
Alleviating health disparities in the United States is a goal with broad
support. Medical research undertaken to achieve this goal typically adopts
the well-established perspective that racial discrimination and poverty
are the major contributors to unequal health status. However, the suggestion
is increasingly made that genetic research also has a significant role
to play in alleviating this problem, which likely overstates the importance
of genetics as a factor in health disparities. Overemphasis on genetics
as a major explanatory factor in health disparities could lead researchers
to miss factors that contribute to disparities more substantially and
may also reinforce racial stereotyping, which may contribute to disparities
in the first place. Arguments that promote genetics research as a way
to help alleviate health disparities are augmented by several factors,
including research funding initiatives and the distinct demographic patterns
of health disparities in the United States.
Vicki S. Freimuth, PhD:
African Americans' views on research and the Tuskegee Syphilis
Study.
Social Science and Medicine, March 2001 Vol.52 No.5
Abstract:
The participation of African Americans in clinical and public health
research is essential. However, for a multitude of reasons, participation
is low in many research studies. This article reviews the literature
that substantiates barriers to participation and the legacy of past abuses
of human subjects through research. The article then reports the results
of seven focus groups with 60 African Americans in Los Angeles, Chicago,
Washington, DC, and Atlanta during the winter of 1997. In order to improve
recruitment and retention in research, the focus group study examined
knowledge of and attitudes toward medical research, knowledge of the
Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and reactions to the Home Box Office production,
Miss Evers' Boys, a fictionalized version of the Tuskegee Study, that
premiered in February, 1997. The study found that accurate knowledge
about research was limited; lack of understanding and trust of informed
consent procedures was problematic; and distrust of researchers posed
a substantial barrier to recruitment. Additionally, the study found that,
in general, participants believed that research was important, but they
clearly distinguished between types of research they would be willing
to consider participating in and their motivations for doing so.
Communicating the Threat of Emerging Infections to the Public
Emerging Infectious Disease, July/August 2000 Vol.6 No.4
Abstract:
Communication theory and techniques, aided by the electronic revolution,
provide new opportunities and challenges for the effective transfer of
laboratory, epidemiologic, surveillance, and other public health data
to the public who funds them. We review the applicability of communication
theory, particularly the audience-source-message-channel meta-model,
to emerging infectious disease issues. Emergence of new infectious organisms,
microbial resistance to therapeutic drugs, and increased emphasis on
prevention have expanded the role of communication as a vital component
of public health practice. In the absence of cure, as in AIDS and many
other public health problems, an effectively crafted and disseminated
prevention message is the key control measure. Applying communication
theory to disease prevention messages can increase the effectiveness
of the messages and improve public health.
Is There a Hard-To-Reach Audience?
1990 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Public Health
Reports, May/June 1990; Vol. 105
Abstract:
The “hard-to-reach” label has been applied to many different
audiences. Persons who have a low socioeconomic status (SES), members
of ethnic minorities, and persons who have a low level of literacy often
tagged as “hard-to-reach.” The authors identify reasons
why these groups have been labeled “hard-to-reach,” discuss
preconceptions associated with the “hard-to-reach” label,
propose alternative conceptualizations of these audience, and present
implications of such conceptualizations for health communication campaigns.
Pejorative labels and preconceptions about various groups may lead to
depicting these audiences as powerless, apathetic, and isolated. The
authors discuss alternative conceptualizations, which highlight the strengths
of different audience segments and encourage innovative approaches to
the communication process. These alternative
conceptualizations emphasize interactive communication, a view of society in
which individuals are seen as members of equivalent—albeit different—cultures,
and a shift of responsibility for health problems from individuals to social
systems. Recommendations for incorporating these alternative concepts into
health campaigns include formative research techniques that create a dialogue
among participants, more sophisticated segmentation techniques to capture audience
diversity, and new roles for mass media that are more interactive and responsive
to individual needs.
Lisa M. Goodin, MBA:
HIV/AIDS KNOWLEDGE SCALE IN RELATION TO HIV RISKS AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN
WOMEN.
Psychological Reports, June 2003; Part 1, Vol.92 No.2
Abstract:
This study assessed psychometrics of an HIV/AIDS knowledge scale and
the relation of scores to HIV risk behaviors among African-American women
17 to 44 years of age (N=405). Data were collected from five communities
located in Atlanta, Georgia. The HIV/AIDS risk-behavior knowledge scale
and the HIV risk-behavior factors were collected. Analysis indicated
reliability coefficients of the HIV/ AIDS knowledge scale were virtually
identical for high- and low-risk groups. The high-risk group scored statistically
significantly better (76% correct answers) than the low-risk group (67%
correct answers). The KR-20 coefficients were identical for both risk
groups (.73), suggesting that the AIDS knowledge scale has suitable reliability.
Dean M. Krugman, PhD:
Cigarette Advertising in Popular Youth and Adult Magazines:
A Ten-Year Perspective
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Fall 2006 Vol. 25 No.2
Abstract:
Cigarette advertising for youth brands delivered sufficient impressions
to reach youths at high reach and frequency levels during the 1993–2002
period. However, a precipitous drop in such advertising is also found
at the end of the period. The authors reconcile the findings with those
of previous studies and examine the efficacy of guidelines that have
been used to evaluate cigarette advertising in publications with high
youth readership. Click
for full article
Understanding the Role of Cigarette Promotion and Youth Smoking
in a Changing Marketing Environment.
Journal of Health Communication, April/May 2005 Vol.10 No.3
Abstract:
In 2001, $11.21 billion was spent on domestic cigarette advertising and
promotion, an increase of 16.9% over 2000. This article explains how
cigarette industry efforts stimulate demand and encourage smoking within
the context of recent changes, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement
(MSA) and resulting litigation, and variations in tobacco marketing policies.
Communication concepts are combined with adolescent development concepts
to explain how youth are impacted. Industry documents and current syndicated
research data are used to reveal and explain key concepts.
Teenage Exposure to Cigarette Advertising in Popular Consumer
Magazines.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Fall 2000 Vol.19
No.2
Abstract:
The tobacco industry indicates that it does not advertise in magazines
that reach a high percentage of young people. To avoid reaching teens,
current tobacco industry practice is to use circulation data to assess
the number of young people who receive a magazine. Results from the reported
study demonstrate that using circulation data is not an accurate method
for estimating the size of the teenage audience. The authors analyze
readership data from 1998 and construct specific media schedules to examine
the extent to which teenagers are reached by popular consumer magazines
that contain cigarette advertising. Results reveal that tobacco marketers
routinely reach a high percentage of teenagers 12-17 years of age when
placing advertisements in popular consumer magazines. Click
for full article
Do cigarette warnings warn? Understanding what it will take
to develop more effective warnings.
Journal of Health Communications, June 1999 Vol.4 No.2
Abstract:
Warnings in cigarette advertisements have been the principal method mandated
by the federal government to educate consumers about the risks of smoking.
Warnings have been required in all cigarette ads for 30 years and have
remained largely unchanged during this time. The current warning program
was neither developed nor implemented with specific communication goals
in mind. Instead, it was negotiated by the government and tobacco industry
representatives. The warning program has served the tobacco industry
well by providing it with a key argument in tobacco litigation: "We
warned you." It has, however, failed as a public health strategy,
since much research has shown that the current warnings are ineffective
communication devices. If Congress is to be effective in its efforts
to educate consumers about the risks of smoking, it needs to rethink
the warning strategy while making use of knowledge regarding how warnings
work. The paper draws from current studies in order to develop realistic
cigarette warning objectives and points out the considerations necessary
to create such warnings. To be effective, warnings must be developed,
targeted, tested, and revised over time.
DO ADOLESCENTS ATTEND TO WARNINGS IN CIGARETTE ADVERTISING?
AN EYE-TRACKING APPROACH.
Journal of Advertising Research, November/December 1994
Abstract:
Currently mandated and new health warnings in the context of magazine
ads for two cigarettes were studied among adolescents. Focus groups were
used to garner a basic understanding of how adolescents react to cigarette
advertising and currently mandated Surgeon General Warnings, and to develop
new warnings. Two currently mandated warnings and two new warnings were
then imbedded in magazine ads for two cigarette brands and presented
to 326 adolescents. Subjects viewed each ad as long as desired while
state-of-the-art eye-tracking equipment recorded point of gaze, fixation,
and saccades. Following presentation of the ads and eye-tracking measurement,
subjects completed a masked recall task. Analyses addressed the number
of subjects who noticed the warning, their time to first fixation within
the warning, and the time spent fixating on the warning. The masked recall
measure permitted examination of the possible link of eye-tracking measures
with cognitive processing of a warning. Results indicated that within
the competitive reading environment of a cigarette ad, new warnings attract
greater readership, with quicker attention to warnings than mandated
warnings. New warnings were noticed in 1 to 2½ seconds less time.
Total attention devoted to all warnings ranged from 2 to 3 seconds. Eye-tracking
measures were significantly related to masked recall of warning content. Click
for full article
Jennifer L. Monahan, PhD:
Priming Welfare Queens and Other Stereotypes: The Transference
of Media Images into Interpersonal Contexts.
Communication Research Reports, August 2005 Vol.22 No.3
Abstract:
Specific stereotype portrayals of African American women were hypothesized
to produce stereotype-consistent judgments made of a different African
American woman. Participants (N = 76) observed a mammy, jezebel or welfare
queen video-segment. Then they observed an African American woman in
a mock job interview and rated the interviewee. Participants who observed
a specific stereotype associated the interviewee more quickly with stereotype-consistent
adjectives than with stereotype-inconsistent adjectives for all three
stereotypes. For measures of how suitable the woman was for jobs that
were related to the stereotypes, only the welfare queen prime produced
significant effects. Click
for full article
Priming Mammies, Jezebels, and Other Controlling Images: An
Examination of the Influence of Mediated Stereotypes on Perceptions
of an African American Woman.
Media Psychology, 2005 Vol.7 No.1
Abstract:
This study examines how mediated portrayals of African American women
influence judgments of African American women in social situations. Participants
(N = 182) observed a mammy, jezebel, or nonstereotypic image on video.
Participants then observed a mock employment interview involving either
an African American or White woman. Participants completed measures of
implicit and explicit racial prejudice. As hypothesized, participants
associated the African American interviewee more quickly with negative
terms (e.g., aggressive) than with positive terms (e.g., sincere). Also
as hypothesized, when evaluating the job interviewee, participants who
observed the jezebel stereotype video and the African American female
interviewee responded more quickly to jezebel-related terms (e.g., sexual)
than positive, negative, and mammy (e.g., maternal) terms. These results
call for an expansion of the boundaries used in stereotype research and
closer investigation of how mediated imagery might influence person perception.
Alcohol as Social Lubricant.
Human Communication Research, April 2000 Vol.26 No.2
Abstract:
This study examines how consuming alcohol differentially affects the
communicative behavior and perceptions of high and low social self-esteem
(SSE) women as they engage in a brief interaction with a flirtatious
male. Alcohol myopia theory proposes that alcohol affects behavior when
it blocks a person's normal inhibitions about enacting a behavior. It
was predicted that low SSE women would be more inhibited when talking
to a flirtatious male than would high SSE women and, therefore, that
alcohol would have a stronger effect on the low SSE women's behavior.
Following administration of a social self-esteem measure and random assignment
to an alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverage condition, participants (N =
50) talked with an attractive, flirtatious male confederate. Low SSE
women were less anxious and self-disclosed more when drinking than when
sober, whereas high SSE women were not significantly affected by alcohol
consumption. The discussion highlights the complex and often contradictory
effects of alcohol consumption on social interaction. Click
for full article
Click for full article The
Stem of Misunderstanding
Donald L. Rubin, PhD:
Elaboration in Processing Adolescent Health Messages: The Impact
of Egocentrism and Sensation Seeking on Message Processing.
Journal of Communication, December 2002 Vol.52 No.4
Abstract:
The present studies explored how adolescents process information in making
decisions about risk behavior. We studied two developmental aspects of
adolescent egocentrism: personal fable (a sense of invulnerability) and
imaginary audience (focus on others), along with individual difference
variables (sensation seeking, self-esteem, and peer pressure). The studies
investigated the effects of a message variable, elaboration demand, which
is driven by a developmental view of adolescents' cognitive processing.
Results of 3 studies indicated the deep elaboration message was partially
effective in changing message perceptions and adolescents' intentions
to behave in ways to reduce risks. The message type interacted with developmental
indicators (age and cognitive development), gender, and topic to explain
behavioral intentions, message perceptions and retention.
Jeffrey K. Springston, PhD:
Effects of Mass and Interpersonal Communication on Breast Cancer
Screening: Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory in Health Contexts.
Journal of Applied Communication Research, February 2006 Vol.34
No.1
Abstract:
Drawing on components of agenda-setting theory and the two-step flow
of information from mass media to news audiences, this study examines
the effects of mass and interpersonal communication on breast cancer
screening practices among college- and middle-aged women (n = 284). We
theorized that screening behaviors among younger women would be influenced
more by interpersonal sources of information while screening among middle-aged
women would be more influenced by exposure to mass-mediated information.
Findings supported anticipated patterns, revealing important and varying
roles for both mass and interpersonal communication in the health behaviors
of women. Implications for health practitioners and campaign planners,
as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.
Public relations effectiveness in public health institutions.
Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, Fall 2005
Vol.28 No.2
Abstract:
This article explores public relations effectiveness in public health
institutions. First, the two major elements that comprise public relations
effectiveness are discussed: reputation management and stakeholder relations.
The factors that define effective reputation management are examined,
as are the roles of issues and crisis management in building and maintaining
reputation. The article also examines the major facets of stakeholder
relations, including an inventory of stakeholder linkages and key audiences,
such as the media. Finally, methods of evaluating public relations effectiveness
at both the program level and the institutional level are explored.
Public relations and cultural aesthetics: designing health brochures.
Public Relations Review, November 2004 Vol.30 No.4
Abstract:
Brochures continue to be one of the most common tools available to health
public relations practitioners. However, few studies have focused on
the best ways to design health brochures for minority publics. Yet statistics
show that African Americans and members of other minority publics suffer
higher incidences of mortality from many diseases than do Caucasians.
This two-part study examines ways to better design brochures to appeal
to African American women. The study reveals that African American women
prefer designs that reflect the cultural aesthetics. Part one of this
study identifies a number of preferred design characteristics. Part two
of this study tests the effectiveness of a culturally tailored brochure
that advocates mammography screening. Results indicate that the brochures
promoted significant gains in knowledge about breast cancer and mammography
screening, a positive shift in perceived benefits of mammography, and
a reduction in perceived barriers to getting mammograms. The brochure
was preferred over standard "off the shelf" brochures that
are not culturally tailored.
Mammography adherence and beliefs in a sample of low-income
African American women.
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1999 Vol.6 No.3
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to describe the relation of perceptions
of perceived breast cancer risks and perceived benefits and barriers
to mammography and stage of mammography adherence in a convenience sample
of low-income African American women. The theoretical framework of the
Health Belief Model and the Transtheoretical Model were used to identify
concepts and stage of mammography adherence. Data were obtained in waiting
rooms of multipurpose centers. Scores for susceptibility and benefits
were lowest for those who were in (a) precontemplation (had not thought
about having a mammogram); as compared to (b) contemplation (had thought
about having a mammogram, but not yet acted); (c) action (had a mammogram
as recommended by the American Cancer Society); and (d) relapse (had
a mammogram in the past, but overdue). Barriers scores were highest for
those who had not had a mammogram (precontemplators and contemplators).
In addition, individual barriers were significantly lower for women in
action. Results have implications for interventions to increase screening
in low-income African American women. |