Health Communication

Despite clinical recommendations, only 24.9% of infants in the United States are exclusively breastfed at 6 months of age, and women who use formula report facing stigma and feeling like a failure. Individual experiences are often influenced by master narratives such as "breast is best," and stories can reveal how the discourse may manifest unintended effects, potentially eliciting guilt and shame, which are known to result in negative maternal mental outcomes, including depression and anxiety. The purpose of this research was to use a narrative framework to analyze the stories of women who used formula and determine how they interpreted the master narrative of "breast is best...

Exercise and weight management is crucial in preventing postpartum depression and long-term obesity that carries the risk of chronic illness among postpartum women. Although communication devices, such as a smart wrist-worn wearable (SWW), can help users be more physically active, the extent to which postpartum women might benefit from this technology is unknown. We examined how SWWs promoted exercise and helped postpartum women return to pre-pregnancy weight. We tested a model based on the premise that a motivational device that prompts users to engage with it can establish healthy daily routines...

In this issue, we outline the central tenets of the culture-centered approach to health communication. What does the culture-centered approach address when suggesting the co-creation of voice infrastructures? What is the theory's methodological emphasis for mobilizing and transforming structures that shape health inequalities for communities at the margins? Drawing on examples of culture-centered interventions in over fifty communities spread across 17 countries and three continents, a large number of them housed under the umbrella of the Center for Culture-centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) at Massey University in Aotearoa, New Zealand, we articulate the communicative processes (referring to actionable sources and targets of communicative action) that shape the building of voice infrastructures mobilizing toward structural transformation...

Abortion is a politicized and stigmatized health procedure that has received considerable attention in popular discourse in the past year. The present study investigated how often people ( N  = 235) talk about abortion throughout their lifespan and within the past 12 months, with whom they have these conversations, and which conversations were most memorable. Key findings from the present study, framed through the Theory of Memorable Messages and the Social Ecological Model, include that most participants had at least one conversation about abortion in the past 12 months...

The impact of celebrities on public awareness in health communication has been proved to be significant, making it a possible approach for risk communication during public health emergencies. In the early stages of COVID-19, some Chinese medical experts engaged with the public and became "celebrity scientists." It provides representative cases for studying celebrity-based risk communication approaches. With Dr. Wenhong Zhang as the primary case, this research investigates the construction process of celebrity scientists...

Health infographics are often used to improve knowledge or change behaviors. However, a systematic understanding of the current landscape and evidence of health infographics is lacking. The objective of this study was to explore trends in health-related infographics research and health infographic effectiveness. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed publications describing health-related infographic development, using health and computer science databases. We extracted information from included articles to understand current trends in health-related infographics research and design elements that support infographic effectiveness...

Human behavior is largely influenced by social norms. While the social norm approach is frequently used in public health campaigns, their effectiveness is inconsistent. This study investigated the role of normative reactance - the amplification of subjective norms as a means of restoring threatened freedom - across two health behaviors: college drinking and STD testing. A 2 (message threat: low vs. high) × 2 (health topic: college drinking vs. STD testing) between-subjects experiment was conducted with 765 participants...

Traditional chopstick culture is widely recognized as a vital factor associated with health behavior. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, the Gongkuai campaign aims to change long-held traditions of communal eating habits. Little is known about the effect of individuals' perception of traditional chopstick culture and other factors on Gongkuai campaign-targeted goal. This study investigates how social-environmental and cognitive factors motivate individuals to use serving chopsticks (the Chinese Gongkuai campaign-targeted goal) and how such effects are moderated by traditional chopstick culture...

This study employed the model of stigma communication (MSC) to analyze how exposure to COVID-19-related information affected stigma-related information sharing about people who contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic and examined the cognitive process of the MSC in a collectivist culture. Based on a survey of 526 social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the study found that exposure to contact tracing information and pandemic control information had different impact on stigma-related information sharing through a series of cognitive variables...

When celebrities, political figures, influencers, or anyone with a large following publicly disclose an illness or die, the news becomes a de facto public health campaign. Until health communicators began studying such disclosures and the effects of the following waves of media coverage, however, it was not known to what extent these events impacted the public. A growing body of research has empirically documented these events and examined the factors that predict which types of audiences are most affected and why...

Childhood immunization can effectively control and prevent infectious diseases; however, not all parents choose to vaccinate their children against vaccines, including COVID-19. This study aimed to determine potential factors influencing people's willingness to vaccinate their children. An online survey was conducted with 509 adult parents/guardians of children to test our hypotheses. Based on the TPB model with the RISP model as the antecedent, results indicated that people's systematic risk information processing, trust in science, and concerns about the disease positively influenced their cognitive structure, further impacting their attitude toward vaccinating their children...

Despite overall positive perceptions, many customers distrust direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies in regard to privacy and aftercare. Prior research suggests companies can assuage mistrust by personalizing communication when discussing sensitive health information. This content analysis of customer e-mails ( N  = 338) investigates the purpose, personalization, and use of the human voice strategy by direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies to gain trust. Results reveal that companies rarely use human voice when communicating with customers, most of the information provided is promotional, and they invite dialogue less over time...

The health literacy of immigrants has been often viewed in a deficit model. By using structuration theory as a theoretical lens, this study aimed to uncover the health literacy development of Korean immigrants in the U.S. as an agentic behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Korean immigrants in the U.S. Findings reveal how the participants' experience was shaped by structural forces such as conflicting but co-existing public health systems between the U...

A timely response to patient-initiated telephone calls can affect many aspects of patient health, including quality of care and health equity. Historically, at a family medicine residency clinic, at least 1 out of 4 patient calls remained unresolved three days after the call was placed. We sought to explore whether there were differential delays in resolution of patient concerns for certain groups and how these were affected by quality improvement interventions to increase responsiveness to patient calls. A multidisciplinary team at a primary care residency clinic applied Lean education and tools to improve the timeliness of addressing telephone encounters...

A nursing shortage is anticipated within the next decade. Knowing what factors draw individuals to the field of nursing and help them finish their degree is important for recruitment to nursing school, but what is equally important is knowing how individuals connect and see themselves in the field of nursing. One of the contributions of health communication is examining the processes of identity formation in nursing school to determine how they construct their years of nursing school. Using Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) and the model of communication and identity, the research presented in this article examines the experiences of nursing students ( n  = 32) at one university...

In the United States, the messages Black women receive about vaginal hygiene are often rooted in misogynoir. As a result, Black women across multiple generations may engage in extensive vaginal hygiene practices that are harmful to their health as a means of decreasing the potential for dehumanization or confirming racist stereotypes. The purpose of the current qualitative study is to explore the messages four generations of Black women ( n  = 12) received about genital hygiene and grooming and the sociocultural factors that influence these messages...

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are present at birth and require ongoing management of personal, family, and medical aspects of care, including communication between family and medical staff. Effective communication is considered one of the main objectives of patient-centered care. Communication in pediatric medicine is especially challenging because it includes children and their parent(s), and children's cognitive and communication skills are still developing. Based on the model of behavior in pediatric communication , this study focused on pediatric cardiologists' views of the roles of children, parents, and physicians in the triadic encounter and their experiences in communicating information on pediatric CHDs in medical encounters...

Healthy People 2030 highlights the importance of both personal and organizational health literacy (HL) to improving population health. Yet, most research focuses on personal-level HL or fails to study the effect of both types of HL on health behavior. This study explored the relationships between organizational HL (Healthy People 2030 objective: decrease the proportion of adults who report poor communication with their health care provider), personal-level HL, and cancer prevention and screening behaviors. Data were collected using Qualtrics Panel...

Health communication scholars are becoming increasingly cognizant of the potential health implications of youths' pornography consumption. However, while research on pornography viewing and adolescent health and development has become increasingly common, the possible importance of distinguishing between mainstream and paraphilic consumption and within-and-between person dynamics has been underemphasized. Accordingly, the present study explored relations between adolescents' preferences for mainstream and paraphilic pornography and their sexual satisfaction and sexual arousability in three-wave panel data using random intercept cross-lagged panel models...

Literature on how to address misinformation has rapidly expanded in recent years. The aim of this scoping review was to synthesize the growing published literature on health and science misinformation mitigation interventions. English-language articles published from January 2017 to July 2022 were included. After title/abstract screening, 115 publications (148 empirical studies) met inclusion criteria and were coded for sample characteristics, topics, mitigation strategies, research methods, outcomes, and intervention efficacy...