Lindsay Neuberger

Translating and Testing Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Messages for Mothers of Adolescent Girls

Emerging scientific findings regarding breast cancer science are typically presented only in discipline specific journals in which the general public and those at risk have limited access, creating a development-to-delivery gap between the state of the science and public knowledge. A lack of collaboration between scientists, communication experts, and community partners further compounds this lack of information available to the public. The present study translates recent scientific findings about environmental breast cancer risks into palatable magazine-style messages for mothers of young daughters as a strategy to meet the call for greater translation and dissemination of scientific results to the lay public. Results from focus groups indicate that mothers actually want more science in messages and greater explication of findings that indicate causality. Mothers also expect polished, professional messages that are representative of their daughters and provide a source for further information seeking purposes. Recommendations for future translation and message design endeavors are discussed.

Anatomy and humanity: Examining the effects of a short documentary film and first anatomy laboratory experience on medical students.

Medical students begin their education inside a laboratory dissecting cadavers to learn human gross anatomy. Many schools use the course experience as a way to instill empathy and some have begun integrating video and recorded interviews with body donors to humanize the experience, but their impact has yet to be measured. This study examines the effects of a brief documentary film and the initial cadaver encounter on student perceptions and attitudes towards the laboratory experience. A pre‐test, exposure, post‐test design was used with 77 first‐year medical students at the University of Central Florida. A previously validated questionnaire was adapted to measure attitudes, emotions, initial reaction to cadaver, perception of the donor as a person, and impressions of the film. An online questionnaire was completed before the first day of laboratory, in which students watched the film Anatomy and Humanity and handled their respective cadavers (no dissection was performed). The post‐test was administered immediately following the activities of the first laboratory day. Results indicate an increase in negative attitudes towards dissection, but a more positive initial reaction to the cadaver than originally anticipated. Students also experienced a decrease in emotions like sadness and guilt regarding anatomy laboratory and were less likely to view the cadaver as a once‐living person. Findings suggest a higher comfort level, but also greater detachment toward the cadavers from day one despite the video intervention. These results provide novel insight that may aid other interventions aimed at promoting humanism in the anatomy laboratory experience. Anat Sci Educ.

Investigating the Impact of Message Format, Involvement, Scientific Literacy, and Education on Attitude Toward Reducing Cancer Risk Through Regulation

Recent research links perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to increased breast cancer risk. Efforts to inform the lay public about potential risks associated with PFOA need to be accessible in their content as many individuals, including highly educated ones, have low scientific literacy. This study investigates the role of message format, as well as personal involvement, scientific literacy, and education in influencing attitudes about PFOA regulation. Participants (N = 2,078) were exposed to one of three message formats about PFOA and then responded to survey questions related to their attitude about the need for new regulation. Results revealed that issue involvement was positively related to favorable attitude regarding new regulation, while education and advocacy status were negatively related; cancer experience, scientific literacy, and message format did not influence attitude about new regulation. Implications of the results are discussed as they relate to communicating uncertain risk information to inform and influence lay individuals.

Shark bytes: message sensation value and emotional appeals in shark diving websites

Websites designed to promote risky activities provide a novel context for studying the role of emotional appeals and message sensation value (MSV) in risk messages in order to ultimately understand the type of messages that motivate people to engage in risk behaviors. Framed in theories of message design and emotion, this study investigates representations of threat, efficacy, and the extent to which risk messages appeal to a range of positive and negative emotions through the examination of 53 shark diving websites using content analysis and computer generated linguistic analysis. Results indicate that few websites provide explicit threat information (i.e. severity and susceptibility) but many do present implicit threats. Efficacy-related messages were present on all websites. Positive emotion was more common than negative emotion and there is little representation of the traditional components of MSV. Implications for theory development and communication about risk-seeking are addressed.

A Systematic Review of Literature on Effectiveness of Training in Emergency Risk Communication

Although disaster preparedness training is regularly conducted for a range of health-related professions, little evidence-based guidance is available about how best to actually develop capacity in staff for conducting emergency risk communication. This article presents results of a systematic review undertaken to inform the development of World Health Organization guidelines for risk communication during public health and humanitarian emergencies. A total of 6,720 articles were screened, with 24 articles identified for final analysis. The majority of research studies identified were conducted in the United States, were either disaster general or focused on infectious disease outbreak, involved in-service training, and used uncontrolled quantitative or mixed method research designs. Synthesized findings suggest that risk communication training should include a focus on collaboration across agencies, training in working with media, and emphasis on designing messages for specific audience needs. However, certainty of findings was at best moderate due to lack of methodological rigor in most studies.

Self-reports of information seeking: Is social desirability in play?

ABSTRACT Social desirability, the likelihood of individuals to overreport behaviors they perceive to be approved by others, is often cited as a limitation in research but rarely controlled in a systematic manner. Social desirability can influence self-reported behaviors (e.g., voting behavior) and communication variables (e.g., argumentativeness). Information seeking may be susceptible to the effects of social desirability as knowledge and information are generally desired, and thus may be prone to overreporting. This article presents results from two online, information-seeking tracking studies investigating the influence of social desirability on self-reported information seeking. Participants indicated how much time they actually spent seeking information on a website. Unbeknownst to participants, their website use was being tracked using Google Analytics. This article compares actual time spent seeking information to reported information-seeking time. Results suggest that participants overreport information seeking in these two studies; social desirability may explain this result.

Teaching health campaigns by doing health campaigns

Courses: Health Campaigns, Health Communication, Communication Campaigns, Public Relations Campaigns, Persuasion. Objectives: Students will demonstrate their ability to work effectively both individually and in teams to apply health communication theory to emerging, practical, on-campus health issues via formative research, multimodal message development, community engagement, and effective presentation of findings.

Uncertainty and information-seeking patterns: A test of competing hypotheses in the context of health care reform

ABSTRACT This article integrates three uncertainty frameworks (i.e., uncertainty reduction, motivation to reduce uncertainty, predicted outcome value) to examine the relationship between uncertainty and information seeking in the context of health care reform. The study consisted of a pretest to assess model variables, tracking of online information seeking (by monitoring website use), and a posttest. Results indicate predicted outcome value theory is the best predictor of information seeking, which is subsequently associated with greater certainty and information recall. The data suggest uncertainty alone is not enough to motivate information seeking; individuals must perceive information to have appreciable value in order to spend time seeking it. Theoretical and practical applications, as well as avenues for future research, are presented.

Exploring Boaters' Environmental Views for a Marine Conservation Campaign.

This article reports on formative research as part of a broader interdisciplinary campaign to increase voluntary environmentally responsible boating in a local lagoon. A telephone survey was conducted with a sample (N = 404) of targeted boaters to explore their views on the environmental issue and motivations to perform the desired behavior. Results reveal over half of respondents were unaware of the environmental damage caused by recreational boating but were somewhat concerned. Importantly, many believe they are able to engage in environmentally responsible boating and that it would help to protect this marine ecosystem. The article concludes by discussing scholarly and practical contributions and future research considerations.