Mapping the Health Communication Infrastructure in Rural Senegal: an Assessment to Support Cervical Cancer Screening

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of women's cancer deaths in Senegal, but few medical personnel are trained to perform cervical cancer screening. In rural areas, the situation is worse. To remedy this, a collaborative of researchers and stakeholders trained local health-care workers in cervical cancer screening through the “training-of-trainers” method. However, lack of cancer screening knowledge, barriers, and a hard-to-reach population may jeopardize the collaborative's efforts. The purpose of this study is to map the health communication infrastructure by applying communication infrastructure theory to assess general health and cancer screening knowledge, as well as attitudes and barriers toward screening. Results from focus groups and interviews show that women have minimal knowledge of cervical cancer. Moreover, health workers report detrimental attitudes in menopausal women. Our findings identified routes for information dissemination and attitude change including community radio and local health talks.     

Practically Perfect in Every Way: Communication Strategies of Ideal Relational Partners

This study utilized social exchange constructs to examine communication strategies used by self-defined ideal relational partners when initiating dating relationships. Two hundred forty-four participants generated 1183 communication strategies they would use to initiate relationships if they believed themselves to be ideal partners. A content analysis revealed 15 categories of communication strategies enacted by ideal relational partners. These categories included initiation, emotional disclosure, direct inquiry, impression management, shared activities, supportive behaviors, information gathering, gift giving, compliments, other-initiated behaviors, assistance from others, self-acceptance, pickup lines, bragging, and use of humor. Implications for interpersonal communication research are discussed.     

The Interplay Between Media Use and Interpersonal Communication in the Context of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: Reinforcing or Substituting?

This study aims to explore how media use for health information and interpersonal health communication interact in the context of healthy lifestyle behaviors. This study hypothesizes that media use for health information and interpersonal health communication will serve as substitutes for one another. To test this hypothesis, this study uses a nationally representative survey of 2,107 civilian, noninstitutionalized adults in the United States. The results show that the associations between television use and Internet use and healthy lifestyle behaviors are enhanced among those who talk about health issues with their family and friends less frequently, which supports the substitution model. The implications that these findings have for future research are discussed.     

Cancer communications research and health outcomes: Review and challenge

This report presents a detailed review of current published research on cancer communications that provide strong positive outcome data on the effectiveness of strategic communications in cancer control. The research literature is examined in three categories based on the communications strategy used and behavior targeted: 1) strategic communications on adoption of prevention behaviors in diverse populations; and on promotion of cancer detection and screening behaviors; 2) tailored communications on promotion of cancer prevention and control; and on promotion of screening and detection behaviors; and 3) interpersonal communications on provision of social support to individuals living with cancer. The review of the literature suggests that communication interventions can influence important health outcomes in cancer prevention and control, and communication is a central process for disseminating cancer information to key populations. For example, the review illustrates the role of the NCI's Cancer Information Service as an important source of communication for providing consumers with relevant cancer information. Implications are drawn from this review for demonstrating the value of the expanded research programs proposed by the National Cancer Institute as part of their Extraordinary Opportunity in Cancer Communications Research initiative.     

Detecting Deceptive Communication Through Computer-Mediated Technology: Applying Interpersonal Deception Theory to Texting Behavior

Interpersonal Deception Theory (IDT) argues that deception is an interpersonal action where people employ communication tactics to achieve various goals. Deception is a global concept; thus, much investigation has been conducted to determine the roots of such deceptive behavior. Through IDT, deception is categorized as a dynamic process where both the sender and receiver need to be engaged for deception to be successful. In extension of IDT, a study was conducted to determine the degree to which undergraduate students engage in deceptive behavior via text messaging. Through a survey design, undergraduate students' deceptive texting behaviors and deceptive detection traits were assessed. Results indicate that among undergraduate students, text messaging is an interpersonal form of communication that circumvents professionalism and power. Further, undergraduate students were much more likely to engage in deceptive texting with family and friends, but did so with significantly less frequency in the organizational setting.     

突发公共卫生情境下中老年人虚假健康信息应对行为研究

[目的/意义]新冠肺炎期间,虚假健康信息泛滥演变成一场信息危机,而中老年人是疫情虚假健康信息的主要受害者,研究其疫情虚假健康信息的应对行为,有助于精准健康信息服务的开展。[方法/过程]通过半结构化访谈,收集28位中老年应对疫情虚假健康信息的相关行为,结合PADM理论、启发式-系统式模型和应对行为理论,依据指引式路径分析方法,探究突发公共卫生情境下中老年人虚假健康信息应对行为形成的内在机理并构建理论模型。[结果/结论]突发公共卫生情境下,中老年对虚假健康信息的关注、理解受到信息类型、损失程度、信息源、信息渠道、响应的直接影响,并受到当地疫情程度的调节;基于疫情虚假健康信息认知形成危害感知、相关利益者感知和防护性行为感知,进一步通过启发式或系统式信息处理路径制定行为决策,选择采取问题聚焦应对行为和情绪聚焦应对行为。研究结果有助于突发公共卫生情境下针对中老年进行精准辟谣以及健康养老战略的实施。     

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Hispanic Youth: A Study of Communication Patterns,Functional Fitness,and Psychological Health

This study examined the role of communication in the adaptation of Hispanic youth to the dominant cultural values and practices embodied in US American public schools. Seven hypotheses predicted positive interrelationships among four theoretical constructs identified in Y. Y. Kim's integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation: host communication competence, host interpersonal communication, psychological health, and functional fitness. Structured, closed-ended questions were administered in face-to-face interviews with 112 Hispanic adolescents in the upper Midwestern United States. Structural equation modeling results supported all seven hypotheses, indicating Hispanic youth with greater host communication competence were more actively engaged in host interpersonal communication and enjoyed greater psychological health and functional fitness with respect to US public schools and the larger US society.     

Eliciting a thousand words: A case for photo-elicitation in interpersonal communication research

The current paper argues photo-elicitation is a valuable and worthwhile method of analysis that ought to be utilized in interpersonal communication research. First, three approaches to photo-elicitation are detailed and discussed. Next, arguments as to why photo-elicitation is a viable methodological tool for the interpersonal communication discipline, interpersonal communication researchers, and participants is presented. Lastly, how photo-elicitation may be incorporated into interpersonal communication research via photo-elicitation procedures, data analysis, and the presentation of results is articulated.     

Tsunami Warning Dissemination in Mauritius

Post-disaster communication surveys are important in order to improve future disaster warning efficiency. Mauritius, a small island nation in the western Indian Ocean, was in the path of the tsunami of December 2004 but experienced only minimal wave impact. This is fortunate because the results of this survey show very slow warning dissemination through the population. Television and radio were equally effective in disseminating the initial warning information, but television far exceeded radio's reach as regards mass awareness and information seeking in the hours after the danger had passed. The interpersonal communication of warning information was minimal, and the warning messages provided insufficient and, it seems, inaccurate information.     

Tsunami Warning Dissemination in Mauritius

Post-disaster communication surveys are important in order to improve future disaster warning efficiency. Mauritius, a small island nation in the western Indian Ocean, was in the path of the tsunami of December 2004 but experienced only minimal wave impact. This is fortunate because the results of this survey show very slow warning dissemination through the population. Television and radio were equally effective in disseminating the initial warning information, but television far exceeded radio's reach as regards mass awareness and information seeking in the hours after the danger had passed. The interpersonal communication of warning information was minimal, and the warning messages provided insufficient and, it seems, inaccurate information.     

Family communication patterns,sex of subject,and communication competence

Two hundred ninety‐nine subjects completed the Revised Family Communication Patterns instrument (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, ) and the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ; Buhrmester, Furman, Wittenberg, & Reis, ). Results indicate that both family communication patterns and sex of subject influence the ability to enact certain communication skills in both same‐sex friendships and romantic partnerships. Those growing up in a strong conversation‐oriented family are more likely to report the ability to enact a greater number of interpersonal skills in both types of relationships. Women were more likely to report the ability to self‐disclose in a same‐sex friendship; however, a family communication environment that stresses a lower conversation orientation (consensual) diminishes the likelihood of acquiring that skill for women. Women were also more likely to report being able to offer emotional support in both same‐sex friendships and romantic partnerships. Men were more likely to report being able to assert themselves negatively in a same‐sex friendship, and to self‐disclose and manage conflict in a romantic partnership. Additionally, this study found that men and women employ different communication skills depending on the sex of their relational partner. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

人际传播:学科与概念

人际传播在西方已经成为传播学的一个支柱分支学科,其在理论研究、学科建设以及所提供的就业机会方面都功勋卓著。而包括中国在内的亚洲,人际传播始终难以成为一门学科。本文从清理地基——理解人际传播的核心概念开始,探讨了我国在人际传播学科化方面的障碍以及学科化的必要性。     

Interpersonal communication motives and nonverbal immediacy behaviors

The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether an individual's general use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors, as well as the use of specific nonverbal immediacy behaviors, would be correlated with interpersonal communication motives. Participants (N = 211) completed the Interpersonal Communication Motives scale (Rubin, Perse, & Barbato, 1988) and the Modified Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors instrument (Myers & Avtgis, 1997). Results indicated that an individual's general use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors was positively correlated with the pleasure and affection motives and negatively correlated with the escape and control motives, but was not significantly correlated with either the inclusion or relaxation motives. Moreover, a series of significant correlations emerged between each of the 10 specific nonverbal immediacy behaviors and the six interpersonal communication motives.     

Examining the Potential Gender Gap in Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors Among Digital Natives

This investigation focused on gender differences in young adults related to health consciousness and online health information seeking. Contrary to prior research, gender was not a significant predictor of either health consciousness or health information-seeking behavior. Furthermore, health consciousness was found to be a more influential predictor of online health information-seeking behaviors than gender.     

Interpersonal Communication Motives as a Predictor of Early and Middle Adulthood Siblings' Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine whether early and middle adulthood siblings' use of relational maintenance behaviors (i.e., positivity, openness, assurances, networks, tasks) is predicted, after controlling for relational closeness, by their interpersonal communication motives (i.e., affection, inclusion, control, pleasure, relaxation, escape). Participants were 122 individuals who reported on their relationship with a sibling. Results indicated that for the positivity relational maintenance behavior, psychological closeness, the affection motive, and the control motive were significant contributors; for the openness, assurances, and tasks relational maintenance behaviors, psychological closeness and the affection motive were significant contributors; and for the networks relational maintenance behavior, psychological closeness was a significant contributor.     

Narrative Sensemaking and Time Lapse: Interviews with Low-income Women about Sex Education

Secondary-school students in the United States score notoriously low on tests of their reproductive and sexual knowledge despite attempts by educators and legislators to provide them with informative sex-education courses. In this paper, we build from narrative theory to explore how low-income women perceived their formal sex-education experiences and how they connected those experiences to their sexual-health knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors. Drawing from interviews with 30 low-income women, we identify and develop a typology of sex-education narratives: narratives of regret, narratives of satisfaction, and narratives of uncertainty. We also investigate existing theoretical claims that lapses in time between lived events and the narration of those events connect to sensemaking efforts. We find that younger women in the sample were more likely to tell narratives of uncertainty than were older women. These results have implications for the study of narrative theory, sexual-health communication, and the discourse of public sex education.     

Communicating About Chronic Caregiving in the Workplace: Employees’ Disclosure Preferences,Intentions, and Behaviors

A growing number of Americans are living with chronic health conditions that require informal, ongoing care from family members who are also in the paid labor force. In this exploratory study, communication privacy management is used to make sense of chronic caregiving (N = 48–64) and noncaregiving (N = 174–178) employees’ disclosure preferences, intentions, and behaviors in the workplace. We find that workers in general anticipate that they would disclose to many individuals at work about their caregiving, but employees actually disclose much less information to far fewer people at work when they occupy the chronic caregiver role. For chronic caregivers, positive perceptions about coworker supportiveness predict increased disclosure behaviors. Finally, future research directions as employers, workers, and policy makers prepare for the complex challenges associated with negotiating paid work and unpaid chronic caregiving are provided.     

WARNING—The Existing Media System May Be Toxic to Your Health: Health Communication and the Politics of Media Reform

Our physical health depends, at least in part, upon the health of our media environment. Unfortunately, the commercial media system produces countless messages that not only misinform Americans about their health but also actively promote unhealthy behaviors. Rather than taking the existing media system as a given, this commentary argues that health communication scholars should work with media reformers to transform the media system in ways that advance public health goals. In particular, the ongoing regulatory struggle over low-power radio provides an important opportunity for health communication scholars and media reformers to join forces.     

WARNING—The Existing Media System May Be Toxic to Your Health: Health Communication and the Politics of Media Reform

Our physical health depends, at least in part, upon the health of our media environment. Unfortunately, the commercial media system produces countless messages that not only misinform Americans about their health but also actively promote unhealthy behaviors. Rather than taking the existing media system as a given, this commentary argues that health communication scholars should work with media reformers to transform the media system in ways that advance public health goals. In particular, the ongoing regulatory struggle over low-power radio provides an important opportunity for health communication scholars and media reformers to join forces.