Development and refinement of a communication guide to help young adults in Texas reconnect and reduce loneliness.

Objective: Loneliness among young people is a contemporary public health crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research examined the development of a modest yet meaningful health communication intervention resource that would become an asset in a larger health campaign: a communication guide aimed at helping young people reach out and reconnect with others.

Methods: Study One established the need for a loneliness intervention in Texas with survey data ( = 795).

A Reasoned Action Approach to Social Connection and Mental Health: Racial Group Differences and Similarities in Attitudes, Norms, and Intentions.

This study employed a Reasoned Action Approach to investigate two communication behaviors that were being built into a statewide behavioral health campaign: initiating a conversation about one's own mental health struggles, and starting a conversation to discuss someone else's mental health difficulties. We examined whether the extent of attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding intent to perform these behaviors varied by racial identity. Using original survey data from Texans ( = 2,033), we conducted regression analyses for the two communication behaviors and found that intention to seek help was primarily explained by instrumental attitude, injunctive norm, descriptive norm, and perceived capacity; and intention to start a conversation to help someone else was primarily explained by instrumental attitude, injunctive norm, and perceived capacity.

First Chinese public hospital wins Joint Commission International accreditation: the Health Information Department played a key role in the process.

Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, China spent five years preparing for a Joint Commission International accreditation survey. In March 2007 it became the first public hospital on the Chinese mainland to attain international accreditation. The Health Information Department, managed according to Western standards, played an integral role in preparing the hospital for the survey.