Bryan McLaughlin

Predictors of the change in the expression of emotional support within an online breast cancer support group: A longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES To explore how the expression of emotional support in an online breast cancer support group changes over time, and what factors predict this pattern of change. METHODS We conducted growth curve modeling with data collected from 192 participants in an online breast cancer support group within the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) during a 24-week intervention period. RESULTS Individual expression of emotional support tends to increase over time for the first 12 weeks of the intervention, but then decrease slightly with time after that. In addition, we found that age, living situation, comfort level with computer and the Internet, coping strategies were important factors in predicting the changing pattern of expressing emotional support. CONCLUSIONS Expressing emotional support changed in a quadratic trajectory, with a range of factors predicting the changing pattern of expression. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS These results can provide important information for e-health researchers and physicians in determining the benefits individuals can gain from participation in should CMSS groups as the purpose of cancer treatment.

It is out of my hands: how deferring control to God can decrease quality of life for breast cancer patients

This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of how and why religion affects psychosocial health outcomes. We propose a theoretical model predicting that when women with breast cancer defer control to God they will experience fewer breast cancer related concerns. Deferring control to God, however, should also reduce the likelihood that they take a proactive coping approach, which will be exacerbated by lowered breast cancer concerns. We therefore predict that this passive coping style will ultimately result in lower levels of quality of life.

The Effects of Expressing Religious Support Online for Breast Cancer Patients

ABSTRACT The growth of online support groups has led to an expression effects paradigm within the health communication literature. Although religious support expression is characterized as a typical subdimension of emotional support, we argue that in the context of a life-threatening illness, the inclusion of a religious component creates a unique communication process. Using data from an online group for women with breast cancer, we test a theoretical expression effects model. Results demonstrate that for breast cancer patients, religious support expression has distinct effects from general emotional support messages, which highlights the need to further theorize expression effects along these lines.

2015 Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments: Challenges and Opportunities for a Changing and Diversifying Field:

As with previous years, enrollments in journalism and mass communication programs in the United States have continued to decline. In 2015, such decline among undergraduate student enrollments was particularly prevalent in journalism sequences; in contrast, undergraduate enrollments in strategic communication sequences have seen some growth since 2013. Findings also reveal potential for journalism and mass communication programs regarding the growth and emergence of online degree programs and online course offerings, the development of the competencies and skills desired by employers, and other opportunities for the professional development of today’s practically minded students.

Identifying With a Stereotype: The Divergent Effects of Exposure to Homosexual Television Characters

ABSTRACT Scholars examining homosexual television characters have typically come to one of two conclusions: either exposure to homosexual characters can lead to increased acceptance, or homosexual characters serve to reaffirm negative stereotypes. We seek to bridge these two bodies of research by introducing the concept of stereotyped identification—the idea that cognitively and emotionally identifying with fictional characters can increase acceptance of minorities, while reinforcing implicit stereotypes about how they look, act, and talk. Results from our national survey (N = 972) offer support for this hypothesis.

Conditioned by Race: How Race and Religion Intersect to Affect Candidate Evaluations

While it is becoming increasingly clear that religious cues influence voter evaluations in the United States, work examining religious cues has largely overlooked the conditioning role of race. We employed a 2 × 2 (White candidate vs. Black candidate) × (racial cues vs. no racial cues) online experiment with a national sample ( N = 397; 56% white, 46% black) where participants were exposed to a fictitious congressional candidates webpage. Results show that White participants expected the religious candidate to be more conservative, regardless of race, while Black participants did not perceive a difference in ideology between the religious and non-religious Black candidates. Additionally, when it comes to candidate favorability, religious cues matter more to White participants, while racial cues are most important to Black participants. These findings provide evidence that religious and racial cues activate different assumptions among White and Black citizens.

Navigational Structures and Information Selection Goals: A Closer Look at Online Selectivity

Using an experimental design coupled with Web-tracking technology, this study explores 2 factors that influence levels of congruent information gathering online. The first factor compares the navigational structure of 2 distinct Web pages—the more open, user-directed search engine versus the organized, assembled structure of a portal Web page. The second factor tests the role of goals for information seeking—telling subjects they will soon engage in a discussion with another person who either disagrees with their viewpoint, agrees, is undecided, or no discussion treatment. Results indicate both experimental factors independently contribute to selectivity in online information seeking.

In Media We Distrust The Interplay of Message, Context, and Media Trust on Campaign Message Effects

The internet allows politicians to deliver controlled messages via campaign websites, but citizens often turn to other sources (e.g., news websites) for political information. Using the cognitive response model as a framework, this article considers how varying contexts may affect the way citizens process candidate messages. We experimentally test the interaction of media trust, media context, and message content on evaluation of and support for a candidate. A national adult sample viewed a candidate profile on either the candidate’s website or CNN.com, and the profile contained either subtle or vivid religious cues. Those high in media trust who saw the CNN profile rated the candidate highest, but only when it contained subtle religious cues. Our findings suggest that while message source and media trust can condition message effects, these factors have less influence in the presence of strong message cues.

Political Fiction: Political E-Mails During the 2014 U.S. Midterm Election

This study draws attention to a largely overlooked, but crucial, facet of modern politics—the political e-mail. A mixed-method analysis of 1 year’s worth of political e-mails was used to compare and contrast how the Democratic and Republican parties employed e-mails during the 2014 election. Results reveal both parties placed a clear emphasis on fundraising and voter mobilization but also utilized distinct appeals, calls to action, and political narratives. Republican e-mails employed more interactive features and offered rewards that reinforced political hierarchies. The Republican narrative portrayed the ideal America as a relic of the past that must be reclaimed. Republicans asked readers to donate money in order to empower Republican leaders to win the war against President Obama—characterized as an unconstitutional and deceitful imperialist. Democrats were more aggressive in their request for donations, employed more personalized appeals and rewards, and asked readers to get involved with grassroots organizing. The Democratic narrative portrayed the ideal America as an inclusive, utopian society that exists in the future. Democrats encouraged readers to view themselves as central characters in the narrative, where their actions can and will have direct consequences for America’s future.

Leaving the Past (Self) Behind: Non-Reporting Rape Survivors' Narratives of Self and Action

Using a symbolic interactionist framework, this study considers the narratives of non-reporting rape survivors. We use interviews to examine the complex processes that inform a survivor’s decision not to report. Rape is not interpreted as an isolated event; it is something that is seen as caused by, connected to, and affecting the survivor’s sense of self and agency. Rape forces the survivor to reconstruct a sense of agency in the aftermath of the traumatic attack. Rather than report the rape, the survivors constructed narratives that direct blame and accountability toward the “old self”. This less visible, yet still agentic strategy, allows the survivors to regain a sense of agency and control. As a result, a more positive, optimistic self can be constructed, while pursuing legal justice would force them to reenact an “old” self that cannot be disentangled from the rape.