Alicia Mason

Framing medical tourism: an examination of appeal, risk, convalescence, accreditation, and interactivity in medical tourism web sites.

This exploratory study analyzed the content of medical tourism Web sites in an attempt to examine how they convey information about benefits and risks of medical procedures, how they frame credibility, and the degree to which these Web sites include interactive features for consumers. Drawing upon framing theory, the researchers content analyzed a sample of 66 medical tourism Web sites throughout the world. The results indicated that medical tourism Web sites largely promote the benefits of medical procedures while downplaying the risks, and relatively little information regarding the credibility of these services appears. In addition, the presentation of benefits/risks, credibility, and Web site interactivity were found to differ by region and type of facility. The authors discuss the implications of these findings concerning the framing of medical tourism Web site content, future directions for research, and limitations.

Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation

This study examined the role and impact of affect in resistance. A three-phase experiment was conducted. The results indicated that inoculation treatments conferred resistance and exerted nuanced outcomes involving cognitive and affective responses to counterarguments and affect. The investigation also compared the effectiveness of cognitive, affective-positive, and affective-negative treatments. The results revealed that affective-negative messages were superior in eliciting threat, issue involvement, and cognitive counterarguing output and in enhancing the cognitive content of associative networks.

Role and Impact of Involvement and Enhanced Threat in Resistance

This study examined the relative impact of outcome-relevant (OR), value-relevant (VR), and impression-relevant (IR) involvement on resistance to influence and whether it is possible to enhance elicited threat levels and, if so, to what effect on resistance to counterattitudinal attacks. An experiment was conducted featuring 281 participants. Results indicated that both OR and VR involvement functioned similarly. They both bypassed threat and counterarguing, instead exerting direct impacts on elicited anger, attitude strength, and resistance. There were no statistically significant results for IR involvement. Results concerning standard and enhanced threat revealed that both manipulations functioned similarly: They enhanced elicited threat, boosted the number and strength of cognitive responses to counterarguments, increased elicited anger, enhanced attitude strength, and contributed to resistance. However, the only booster effect for enhanced threat involved greater attitude certainty.

Potentially deceptive health nutrition–related advertising claims: The role of inoculation in conferring resistance

Objective: This study sought to examine the efficacy of inoculation message treatments to facilitate resistance to health nutrition–related (HNR) commercial food advertising claims. Design: Data were collected across three phases extending across a 5-week period conducted over two semesters at a Midwest US university. A 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design was adopted, with multivariate and univariate analyses being used to interpret the results. Setting: Pittsburg, USA. Method: Participants were emerging adult undergraduate students (aged 18–25 years) recruited from introductory communication courses. A total of 167 students participated in Phase 1 of the work, of whom 152 completed Phase 2 and 145 completed Phase 3 (resulting in an 86.8% retention rate). Among these, 45% were men. Results: The results indicated (F(3, 129) = 9.83, p < .001, partial η2 = .18) that compared to control (M = 5.20, standard deviation [SD] = .84), participants who received an inoculation treatment experienced greater Phase 3 attitude strength (M = 5.73, SD = .77) to the position that eating healthy food is necessary to maintaining a healthy life. Inoculated participants reported greater Phase 3 attitude certainty (M = 77.15, SD = 19.21) for the above position than the control group (M = 65.43, SD = 25.48). Inoculated participants held less favourable views towards the source of the HNR claims (M = 4.80, SD = 1.18) relative to controls (M = 5.73, SD = 1.36) and generated greater numbers of counter-arguments (M = 3.90, SD = 1.74) compared to control groups (M = 2.75, SD = 1.69), thus demonstrating resistance to persuasion. Conclusion: Inoculation was demonstrated to be an effective preemptive strategy against potentially deceptive HNR advertising claims. Hence, it may offer an effective strategy for helping to protect the health-conscious attitudes of emerging adults by providing resistance to the ‘pufferised’ appeals used by many commercial food advertisers.

Deflection, disassociation, & acknowledgement: a content analysis of the 2011–2014 media framing of hydraulic fracturing and Oklahoma earthquakes

In June of 2014, geologists reported that, for the first time, more earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.0 occurred in Oklahoma than in California [Terry-Cobo, 2014]. In Oklahoma, the frequency of earthquakes that are strong enough to be felt has increased 44 times in recent years and this has been correlated to a dramatic increase in high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHHF) operations [Hume, 2014]. The aims of this study are: (1) to determine how hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, and Oklahoma earthquakes are framed by print-based media at the local, national, and international levels; (2) to understand how the association between these factors has evolved over time; and (3) to further analyze the differences between experts on the subjects of causality and threat characterization (e.g., severity). A total of 169 print news reports were included for analysis: 48 local/Oklahoma reports (28% of total sample), 72 national reports (42% of total sample) and 49 international news reports (30% of total sample). The findings reveal significant differences in the frame techniques, sources of information, and the foci of subject matter between three different media scales in print based media. Results, discussion and implications are provided. Abstract

Controlling Environmental Crisis Messages in Uncontrollable Media Environments: The 2011 Case of Blue-Green Algae on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, OK

This chapter documents a content analysis of 62 media reports related to the 2011 blue-green algae (BGA) outbreak on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, Oklahoma. A three-stage crisis model is used to understand the media framing and crisis communication related to the event. Media reports were categorized according to modality. The data set included: traditional media reports (n = 21, 33 %), online blogs (n = 7, 11 %), and online press releases (n = 34, 54 %). These units of analysis represent both controlled and uncontrolled media representations of the crisis event. The objectives of this analysis are to understand how risk and crisis communication strategies were utilized before, during, and after the BGA outbreak. Five strategies and techniques for improving crisis communication effectiveness are detailed. Limitations and implications are provided.

Media Frames and Crisis Events Understanding the Impact on Corporate Reputations, Responsibility Attributions, and Negative Affect

This study aims to grow our current understanding of situational crisis communication theory by expanding on the conceptualization of causal responsibility as the primary mechanism contributing to the cognitive formulation of blame by stakeholder groups. By doing so, this research sought to assess the differential impact of common media frames of crisis events in order to inform organizational crisis communication efforts. A total of 186 students participated in an experimental study from a Midwest university. A series of multivariate analyses of variances were computed to assess the hypotheses advanced in the study. Results indicated that crisis frames can negatively affect organizational reputations. Episodic frames were found to amplify the reputational threat levels in both the victim and accidental clusters. Findings also indicated that when stakeholders perceive the source of the media report as being highly credible, more negative perceptions toward the organizations involved in the crisis were generated. The results help inform the corporate communication response process designed to address the “image” of a crisis as an attribute of consideration, in relation to the framing of the crisis event. Limitations and future directions are offered.

The life cycle of a virus: the infectious disease narrative of NDM-1.

This study is a report of a two-part content analysis of domestic and international print news reports (over a 3-year period) that examined how the nature of the New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) virus and the severity of the threat were conveyed to global audiences. In particular, the authors focused on the ongoing crisis narrative of NDM-1 and the potentially negative outcomes of international communication warning and false alarm systems regarding global health threats. The results indicated key differences in media narratives between the initial 2011 outbreak and the 2012 postcrisis state. The authors examine the theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as key limitations and directions for future research.