Cultural and Practical Barriers to Seeking Help for Intimate Partner Violence Among Korean Immigrants: Exploring Gender and Age Differences.

Immigrants in the United States, including Korean immigrants, are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence (IPV), yet they are less likely to seek help than non-immigrants. This qualitative study sought to understand barriers to seeking help for IPV among Korean immigrants and to explore age and gender differences in Korean immigrants' understanding of these barriers. We conducted four focus groups with 38 adults grouped by age and gender.

Promoting Survivor Safety in Immigrant Communities: Online Simulation Training for Korean American Faith Leaders.

This study examined the efficacy of a short virtual case simulation for Korean American (KA) faith leaders, "Religious Leaders for Healthy Families." The goal of the program is to increase knowledge about intimate partner violence (IPV) and healthy intimate partner relationships, enhance self-efficacy in IPV prevention and intervention, strengthen attitudes that support their roles on IPV prevention and intervention, increase positive outcome expectations of their actions, and increase behavioral intentions and behaviors on IPV prevention and intervention. KA faith leaders from two large metropolitan areas with a high concentration of KA immigrants were invited to participate in the study (=102).

An Investigation of Cognitive Processing of Fear Appeal Messages Promoting HPV Vaccination: Predictors and Outcomes of Magnitude and Valence of Cognitive Responses.

An improvement in HPV vaccination rates is one of the primary goals of public health organizations. Toward this end, fear appeal communication is commonly used in health interventions, warning individuals of threats of HPV infection and promoting vaccination. However, little is known about how threat-related emotions, such as fear and anxiety, influence the cognitive processing of vaccination information and how this processing is associated with vaccination intention.

Exploring the Role of Social Support in Promoting Patient Participation in Health Care among Women with Breast Cancer.

Scholars have adopted Street's (2003) ecological model of communication in medical encounters to investigate the factors promoting patient participation in health care. However, factors demonstrated in the ecological model were bounded in the context of medical care primarily focusing on health care providers and patients. Social factors, such as patients' relationships and supportive communication with others the context of health care remain relatively unexplored.

Effects of Facebook Comments on Attitude Toward Vaccines: The Roles of Perceived Distributions of Public Opinion and Perceived Vaccine Efficacy.

This study investigated if and how exposure to Facebook comments about vaccines influences one's attitude toward the vaccines. In this investigation, comments were examined in light of their effect on attitude toward vaccines through perceived distribution of public opinion on vaccines, and perceived vaccine efficacy was tested as a factor moderating relative effects of comments on perception of public opinion distributions. Results from an experimental study ( = 271) showed that exposure to a greater number of comments in a thread expressing (un)favorable opinions on the flu vaccine led to (un)favorable attitude toward the flu vaccine through a change in perceived distribution of public opinions on the vaccination.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Empathic Exchanges in Online Cancer Support Groups: Message Reception and Expression Effects on Patients' Psychosocial Health Outcomes.

Recent studies have devoted attention to the effects of both expression and reception in communication process. However, there remain both theoretical and methodological complexities concerning and message expression and reception play significant but different roles in explaining various psychosocial health outcomes. Relying on theoretical insights from the social support literature and methodological innovations offered by computational social science, this study aims to examine the effects of empathic exchanges on cancer patient's short- and long-term psychosocial health outcomes.

How Cancer Patients Use and Benefit from an Interactive Cancer Communication System.

Despite the mounting evidence of efficacy of eHealth interventions, their mechanisms of action remain unknown. The current study analyzed patient log data as each patient engaged in an eHealth system called the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) and reports on how patients engage with different combinations of eHealth services over time. Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (N = 443) were given access for 6 months to one of four different configurations of CHESS: (1) Information, (2) Information and Support, (3) Information, Support, and Coaching (Full CHESS), and (4) Full CHESS and Mentor.

Opinion Leaders in Online Cancer Support Groups: An Investigation of Their Antecedents and Consequences.

With a focus on the nature and dynamic process of social interactions among breast cancer patients, this study argues that the notion of opinion leaders can be another crucial factor in explaining positive psychosocial health outcomes within computer-mediated social support (CMSS) groups. This study investigates the relationship between opinion leaders and their psychosocial health benefits by considering two overarching questions: (a) Who are the opinion leaders? (b) What role do these opinion leaders play in explaining health outcomes? The data analyzed in this study resulted from merging human-coded content analysis of discussion group messages, action log data analysis of interactive health system usage, and longitudinal survey data. Surveys were administered to 221 women with breast cancer; participants were provided free access to and training for the CMSS groups developed by the Comprehensive Health Support System (CHESS) project.

Predicting Retweeting Behavior on Breast Cancer Social Networks: Network and Content Characteristics.

This study explored how social media, especially Twitter, serves as a viable place for communicating about cancer. Using a 2-step analytic method that combined social network analysis and computer-aided content analysis, this study investigated (a) how different types of network structures explain retweeting behavior and (b) which types of tweets are retweeted and why some messages generate more interaction among users. The analysis revealed that messages written by users who had a higher number of followers, a higher level of personal influence over the interaction, and closer relationships and similarities with other users were retweeted.

Lurking as an active participation process: a longitudinal investigation of engagement with an online cancer support group.

To better understand participation in computer-mediated social support (CMSS) groups for breast cancer patients, this study examines two overarching questions of (1) who are posters, lurkers, or nonusers and (2) what role do these different types of engagement play in explaining psychosocial health outcomes? This study incorporates the comprehensive model of information seeking and two competing models of social enhancement and social compensation, as well as the literature on lurking and posting behaviors in online groups to answer research questions. Our findings suggest that patterns of engagement in a CMSS group differed according to patients' sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial factors. In addition, we found that lurkers had a higher level of perceived functional well-being than posters at 3 months post baseline.

Cancer talk on twitter: community structure and information sources in breast and prostate cancer social networks.

This study suggests taking a social networks theoretical approach to predict and explain patterns of information exchange among Twitter prostate and breast cancer communities. The authors collected profiles and following relationship data about users who posted messages about either cancer over 1 composite week. Using social network analysis, the authors identified the main clusters of interconnected users and their most followed hubs (i.

Integrating eHealth With Human Services for Breast Cancer Patients.

Following demonstrations of success of interactive cancer communication systems (ICCS) for patients, the challenge and opportunity are to integrate such systems with human resources. A randomized trial explored relative benefits of an ICCS, a human cancer information mentor, and a condition combining both. Women with breast cancer ( = 434) were randomized to have access to a tested ICCS (CHESS, the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System), a human cancer information mentor, both interventions, or a control condition providing a computer, training, and Internet access.

Social and psychological determinants of levels of engagement with an online breast cancer support group: posters, lurkers, and nonusers.

Despite the benefits and growing availability of online cancer support groups, many breast cancer patients still do not actively participate in them. To better understand cancer patients' online information- and support-seeking behaviors, this study explores how various social and psychological characteristics predict different levels of engagement with an online breast cancer support group: posters, lurkers, and nonusers. The study sample included 231 recently diagnosed breast cancer patients.

Predictors of supportive message expression and reception in an interactive cancer communication system.

Social support in computer-mediated settings is an important variable in health communication research, yet little is known about the factors that influence the amount of social support one gives and receives in online support groups. To shed some light on this issue, the authors examined demographics, disease-related factors, psychosocial factors, and strategies for coping with breast cancer as potential determinants of which patients provide support to others and which ones consume it. Data collected from 177 participants in the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System "Living With Breast Cancer" program revealed that individuals who are younger, have higher levels of positive reframing, and lower levels of self-blame are more likely to provide emotional support in online settings.

A longitudinal study of use of an interactive health communication system.

This study analyzes individuals' transaction log data as patients engage in an interactive health communication system (IHCS) and reports on how changes in searching and browsing behaviors predict their psychological and emotional quality of life during a cancer experience. What the results most strongly indicate about effective IHCS usage in accounting for various benefits is that it depends on how a patient uses the system. That is, improvements in a patient's status were linked to her commitment to use IHCS services over weeks of time, through either consistency or an increase in searching and browsing behaviors.

Optimizing eHealth breast cancer interventions: which types of eHealth services are effective?

Little is known about the effective elements of Interactive Cancer Communication Systems (ICCSs). A randomized trial explored which types of services of a multifaceted ICCS benefited patients and the nature of the benefit. Women with breast cancer (N=450) were randomized to different types of ICCS services or to a control condition that provided internet access.

How Does Insightful and Emotional Disclosure Bring Potential Health Benefits?: Study Based on Online Support Groups for Women with Breast Cancer.

Despite much research on the beneficial effects of written disclosure, relatively little attention has been paid to specifying the mechanism underlying the effects. Building upon the two theoretical models (the cognitive adaptation model and the emotional exposure-habituation model), this research focused on two aspects of disclosure content-insights and emotions-and examined how women with breast cancer benefit from written disclosure in online support groups. Using survey data collected at baseline and after four months and messages posted in bulletin-board-type online groups in between, we analyzed how the content of disclosive messages predicted health outcomes.

The process and effect of supportive message expression and reception in online breast cancer support groups.

Objective: To better understand the process and effect of social support exchanges within computer-mediated social support (CMSS) groups for breast cancer patients, this study examines (1) the dynamic interplay between emotional support giving and receiving and (2) the relative effects of emotional support giving and receiving on patients' psychosocial health outcomes.

Methods: Data was collected from 177 patients who participated in online cancer support groups within the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) during the 4-month intervention. Data included (1) pretest and/or post-test survey scores of demographic, disease-related, and psychosocial factors, (2) automatically collected CHESS usage data, and (3) computer-aided content analysis of social support messages posts.

Empathic exchanges in online cancer support groups: distinguishing message expression and reception effects.

Past studies on the efficacy of participation in online cancer support groups have primarily focused on the role of expression in the accrual of health benefits for participants. Unfortunately, few steps have been taken to determine whether this observed effect arises solely from the internal mental processes underlying the act of expressing or, perhaps, owes something to a nuanced, multidimensional understanding of expression that includes reception of responses to what is expressed. To test for the multilayered effect, we attend to one of the key concepts in the online support community scholarship: empathy.

Transaction logfile analysis in health communication research: challenges and opportunities.

Objective: To investigate the individualized nature of eHealth communication, it is necessary for us to go beyond the conventional approach to explain the effect of eHealth initiatives. The current article proposes transaction logfile analysis as a unique method to probe the process by which individuals locate needed information and obtains benefits out of it.

Methods: This article discusses the background of logfile analysis along with practical and methodological issues related to the analysis of log data.

Mediating processes of two communication interventions for breast cancer patients.

Objective: Test whether three mediating processes of Self-Determination Theory are involved in intervention effects on quality of life for breast cancer patients.

Methods: A randomized clinical trial recruited newly diagnosed breast cancer patients for 6 months of (1) Internet training and access, (2) access to an integrated eHealth system for breast cancer (CHESS), (3) a series of phone conversations with a Human Cancer Information Mentor, or (4) both (2) and (3).

Results: This paper reports results after the initial 6 weeks of intervention, at which point patients in the combined condition had higher quality of life scores than those in the other three conditions.

Expression and reception of treatment information in breast cancer support groups: how health self-efficacy moderates effects on emotional well-being.

Objectives: To examine the effects of exchanging treatment information within computer-mediated breast cancer support groups on emotional well-being, and to explore whether this relationship is moderated by health self-efficacy.

Sample: 177 breast cancer patients using an electronic Health (eHealth) program with discussion group.

Measure: expression and reception of treatment information; emotional well-being scale (0, 4 months).

Interactivity and Presence of Three eHealth Interventions.

A number of researchers have identified interactivity and presence as potentially important attributes of e-Health applications, because they are believed to influence users to interact with systems in ways that increase commitment, learning, and other desirable responses. This paper reports on the development of brief scales to assess the two concepts, and on use of them with participants in six conditions of a large-scale trial of interventions for breast cancer patients. Overall, the Internet scored very low on both measures.

The roles of social support and coping strategies in predicting breast cancer patients' emotional well-being: testing mediation and moderation models.

The goal of the current study was to examine how social support and coping strategies are related in predicting emotional well-being of women with breast cancer. In achieving this goal, we examined two hypothesized models: (1) a moderation model where social support and coping strategies interact with each other in affecting psychological well-being; and (2) a mediation model where the level of social support influences choices of coping strategies between self-blame and positive reframing. In general, the data from the current study were more consistent with the mediation model than the moderation model.

Predictors and Effects of Training on an Online Health Education and Support System for Women with Breast Cancer.

Many breast cancer patients currently turn to Internet-based education and support to help them cope with their illness. This study explores the role of training in influencing how patients use a particular Interactive Cancer Communication System (ICCS) over time and also examines what pre-test characteristics predict which people are most likely to opt in or out of training in the first place. With use of pre-test survey and unobtrusive individual records of ICCS system use data (N = 216), nonparametric tests revealed that only having a later stage of cancer predicted whether or not patients participated in training.