Sandi W. Smith

Affective and cognitive reactions to narrative versus statistical evidence organ donation messages

Abstract Persuasive health messages have been examined for their effectiveness, but few studies have explored the cognitive and affective reactions to these messages. The goal of the present research was to gain insight into the cognitive and affective reactions to statistical evidence and narrative persuasive messages about organ donation in order to determine why these different types of evidence are persuasive. The influence of prior thought and intent about organ donation on these reactions also was explored. Cognitive reactions examined included total, positive, and negative thoughts about organ donation, message ratings, and assessments of causal relevance, while affective reactions examined included positive and negative emotions about organ donation and anxiety. Results indicated a main effect for evidence type such that statistical evidence messages produced greater results in terms of all the cognitive reactions, while narratives produced greater results for all of the affective reactions. A mai...

Understanding the audiences of a health communication campaign: A discriminant analysis of potential organ donors based on intent to donate

Abstract There is a great need for health communication campaigns that increase the number of individuals who carry signed and witnessed organ donor cards. This article describes one preliminary phase of such a campaign in which three target audiences are identified within the larger population. A discriminant analysis of five relevant variables showed that individuals who have a signed organ donor card have a high level of knowledge about organ donation, are rather altruistic, and do not believe that signing a donor card is a fearful activity. Individuals who are high in intent to sign organ donor cards (but have not done so) have limited knowledge about donation and a positive attitude toward organ donation, but they may find that signing a donor card is a fearful activity. Those who are low in intent to donate tend to have inaccurate knowledge, are not overly altruistic, and feel that signing a donor card would be quite frightening. Effective design of health campaigns depends on an accurate and thorou...

A Comprehensive Analysis of Breast Cancer News Coverage in Leading Media Outlets Focusing on Environmental Risks and Prevention

Breast cancer has a high profile in the news media, which are a major source of information for cancer patients and the general public. To determine the nature of breast cancer news coverage available to audiences, particularly on the topics of environmental risks and prevention, this content analysis measured a broad array of dimensions in 231 stories appearing in nine leading newspapers, newsmagazines, and television networks in 2003 and 2004. One fourth of all stories reported on various risks such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use. Very few items specifically addressed risks related to controllable lifestyle practices such as prepubertal obesity or chemical contaminants in the environment. About one third of the stories included prevention content, primarily focusing narrowly on use of pharmaceutical products. Little information described risk reduction via other individual preventive behaviors (e.g., diet, exercise, and smoking), parental protective measures, or collective actions to combat contamination sites. The more traditional categories of prevalence, detection, and treatment were featured in one third, one quarter, and two fifths of the news items, respectively. There were twice as many stories featuring personal narratives as statistical figures, and two thirds of all the news items cited expert medical professionals, researchers, or organizations. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are addressed.

A Theory of Planned Behavior Study of College Students' Intention to Register as Organ Donors in Japan, Korea, and the United States

This study investigated willingness of Americans, Koreans, and Japanese to register as organ donors using the theory of planned behavior. Although previous research showed that attitude toward donation and communication with family predicted organ donation behaviors for respondents in the United States, these variables were also significant for respondents in Japan and Korea. Perceived behavioral control predicted intention to register for Japanese participants whereas knowledge about organ donation was associated with reluctance to register for Koreans. Spiritual connection and concern were shown to be causal factors underlying attitude in all 3 countries. In spite of positive attitudes toward organ donation and comparable knowledge with Americans and Japanese, most Korean participants declined to take an application to register as a donor. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

Encouraging Family Discussion on the Decision to Donate Organs: The Role of the Willingness to Communicate Scale

Family discussion of organ donation has been found to double rates of family consent regarding organ donation. Therefore, family discussion is an important communication process to study in the effort to get more people to become organ donors. This investigation concerns the willingness to communicate about organ donation and its relationship to other variables and processes related to family discussion of organ donation. Previous research on willingness to communicate examined the antecedent variables of knowledge, attitude toward organ donation, and altruism. This research found that being willing to communicate about organ donation with ones family is related to prior thought and intent to sign an organ donor card, to perceiving organ donation messages as credible, and to feeling relatively low anxiety after reading organ donation messages. One week after being presented with the messages, willingness to communicate was found to be positively associated with worrying about the lack of donors, engaging in family discussion about organ donation, and having an organ donor card witnessed. It was negatively related to feeling personally uneasy about organ donation during the past week.

Using the theory of planned behavior to predict mothers' intentions to vaccinate their daughters against HPV.

This study assessed mothers’ intentions to vaccinate their daughters against human papillomavirus (HPV) using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Experience with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), beliefs about the vaccine encouraging sexual activity, and perception of daughters’ risk for HPV were also examined for a relationship with intention. A random sample of mothers in a rural, Midwestern state were mailed a survey with questions pertaining to the intention to vaccinate. Attitudes were the strongest predictor of mothers’ intentions to vaccinate, but intentions were not high. Subjective norms also influence intention. Mothers’ risk perceptions, experience with STIs, and beliefs about the vaccine encouraging sexual activity were not related to intention. Mothers’ perceptions of the daughters’ risks for HPV were surprisingly low. This research provides a foundation for designing interventions to increase HPV vaccination rates. Further research should explore ways to influence mothers’ attitudes and to uncover the referent groups mothers refer to for vaccination behavior.

Topics and Sources of Memorable Breast Cancer Messages and Their Impact on Prevention and Detection Behaviors

Often, people are able to recall a message on a particular topic for a long period of time. These memorable messages have the ability to influence behavior when they are recalled from memory long after initial exposure. Knowing the topics and sources of the messages that are remembered about breast cancer can improve the efficacy of future breast cancer outreach. To this end, 359 women completed an online survey about memorable breast cancer messages. Most women (60%) recalled a memorable message, described it, identified its source, and noted whether it had resulted in prevention or detection behaviors. Four categories of message topics emerged: early detection (37.3%), awareness (30.9%), treatment (25.8%), and prevention (6%). Furthermore, five categories of sources of these memorable messages were found: media (35.5%), friends (22.2%), family (21.6%), medical professionals (15.2%), and others (5.5%). The media were a major source of all four topics of messages, although family members, friends, and the medical community were major sources for particular message topics as well. Memorable messages originating from medical professionals were substantially more likely to motivate detection behaviors than prevention behaviors. This research demonstrates that message topic and source both play roles in determining message recall as well as in determining how memorable messages impacted behavior.

Memorable messages as guides to self-assessment of behavior: an initial investigation

An investigation of memorable messages as guides to behavior from a Control Theory perspective was conducted. Respondents were asked to recall behaviors that either exceeded or violated their personal expectations for themselves, then to recall the memorable messages that came to mind when self-assessing these behaviors. This method uses the self-assessment of prior behavior as the entry point to a feedback loop. Control Theory predicts that within the feedback loop behaviors should be compared with internal principles that come from memorable messages. This comparison should result in either a positively or negatively valenced evaluation of the behavior if it either exceeds or violates personal standards represented as internal principles. The findings include the categories of behaviors that exceeded or violated personal expectations, the co-participants and the site of the behaviors, the memorable messages, and the sources and the timing of the memorable messages that were recalled during the comparison process. In addition, significant relationships of association were found between the behaviors, their valence, and the memorable messages associated with the self-assessment of behaviors. Thus, it was possible to examine the comparison process of any of the seven classes of behaviors that were found in terms of the memorable messages that respondents recalled when self-assessing these behaviors.

Using the EPPM to Create and Evaluate the Effectiveness of Brochures to Increase the Use of Hearing Protection in Farmers and Landscape Workers

The extended parallel process model was employed to increase intentions to use on-the-job hearing protection among agricultural workers. Brochures were designed to increase perceptions of the threat of hearing loss and the efficacy of hearing protection to avert hearing loss. Brochures were presented to one half of the sample in each population (farmers and landscapers), and a questionnaire was administered assessing perceptions of threat, efficacy, and intentions. The other half of each sample completed the questionnaire, and then received brochures. Results indicated that farmers were initially high in threat and efficacy perceptions, but brochure exposure resulted in higher intentions to use hearing protection. Landscapers perceived higher threat, efficacy, and intentions after being presented with the brochure. Results are discussed in terms of future research and practical application.

Correlates of verbally aggressive communication in adolescents

This investigation identifies demographic, media, and social correlates of verbally aggressive communication in adolescence. Mail surveys were completed and returned by 2,300 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15. These adolescents were asked about the prevalence of verbal and physical aggression, the context in which it occurred, demographics, and the interpersonal and media influences in their lives. The results indicate that verbal aggression is widespread, that committing and experiencing verbal aggression is largely reciprocal, that there is a strong relationship between committing verbal and physical aggression, and that peer social influence and listening to violently oriented music are mildly related to verbal aggression in adolescents. These findings suggest more resources should be allocated to teaching adolescents to understand and control verbal aggression. Further, they provide important answers to many prevention and intervention programmatic questions, including context, content, and targeting concerns. Since the negative consequences of verbal aggression are severe and long lasting, decreasing this destructive communication behavior should significantly improve the lives of many adolescents. These and other practical implications are expanded upon and discussed.